a.k.a., home residence, from a private party for less than 30 days is now illegal in New York City. That's quite understandable, considering the infinite number of online classifieds littered with them. Apparently, it's not a huge concern for renters and a law that appears to be rarely enforced, at least for the little guy. Some companies and big players also manage to get away with this, though a number of the web's most blatant offenders have indeed been busted. The bottom line is, if you're comfortable with the facts and inherent risks, then you should at least focus on the "why" and whole new batch of other headaches that come along with this. There are legitimate reasons to consider this, but watch out for scams. I'll address that ugly bitch later, in the mean time lets focus on why you're considering this....You want the true New York experience:
This is sort of legit in the sense that you'll potentially get an earful from the neighbors, you'll likely get to walk up three or four flights of stairs and maybe even get the thrill of stomping on some critters in an actual kitchen instead of that little counter you get in a hotel room with a Mr. Coffee and a teacup. But does staying in an apartment give you an actual experience? Nah, try getting up every morning and walking a mile to work or cramming into a subway car like a sardine next to an un-showered, coffee breathing, paper sniffler en route to your twelve hour work day, just so you can barely cover your rent. Then hustle for the street while some dirtbag tries to peddle his wares or sing you a song after four hours sleep.
It's cheaper than a hotel:
This is true if you're traveling with a large family or group of friends, otherwise, not so much. You'll pay more for a larger place, but if you're dividing the pot among three or four people, it's cheaper and roomier than a typical peewee sized NYC hotel room, but there are some pretty frickin' legit cons to consider...
Hotel rooms are tight and costly if you're traveling with an entourage, but think about it... you're in NYC... how much time do you really plan to spend in your hotel room? Do you seriously plan to cook up a roast while you're on vacation? How much hi-def tv do you plan to watch? Are you really going to pop in a dvd from someone's media shelf while you're in NYC? A hotel serves three purposes... a place to sleep, a place to shower and a place to park your shit while you're out searching for the Naked Cowboy.
So, you've weighed the options and want to rent an apartment after all. Now comes the fun part.. not getting scammed. Sure, you can comb the classifieds and wing it, or you can use one of a bazillion services and agencies that offer this, but you'll pay dearly for that perk. What to do? Well, some hotels actually offer apartment style suites with living rooms, full kitchens and bedrooms, but they ain't cheap either. However, there's no risk, they're usually in primo locations and you can use your credit card to pay. If you go the private apartment route, you own all the risk and will likely need to pay in cash or gulp.. wire transfer (see below!). You also know what you're getting in a hotel apartment. Imagine showing up to that private rental only to find it's a dump or worse.. riddled with bed bugs! In case you haven't heard, that's a helluva problem in this town.
Getting back to combing the classifieds... I told you I would, jerky! In case you missed it on the main page, I've gone ahead and included my lovely eye-opening warning below. It focuses on Craigslist, but it relates to any site. Craigslist is just king when it comes to these shady ass-grabbers.
If you're planning a trip to New York City, chances are you've stumbled upon the Vacation Rentals
section of Craigslist (and to a lesser degree, Backpage). I bet you were surprised to see all
those fancy pants apartments for $50-$100 bucks a night! And these
aren't your run of the mill apartments that give you a view of your
refrigerator from your pull out sofabed. No, these have queen size
beds, buttloads of windows, a living room you can park your Lincoln in
and kitchens that a chef would be proud of. Well, guess what, numbskull?
They ain't real!!! At least, not real in the sense that they aren't
really in NYC. And if they are, they're from multi-million dolla
penthouses that requires a resume on IMDB or Hall of Fame stats.
Not convinced? Let's pretend for a second that you actually found a pimped out palace in the middle of Midtown with a lemon sun oozing through the drapes. Do you really think you're gonna stay in a person's apartment for $50, $60. $70, $100 bucks a night??? With that mentality, you deserve to get ripped. Simple logic dictates your stupidity. The average studio or one bedroom apartment costs $1800-$2200 a month. And that's for a tiny place with those refrigerator views I mentioned before. An apartment like the ones you see on Craigslist with furnishings up the ying-yang cost way friggin' more than that. We're talkin' $3000-$3500 on the low end and $4k and up on the high end. Ask yourselk, dummy... Why the hell would a renter charge you less than they're paying? Are the kind of people who can afford that kind of rent, the kind of people that want or need strangers parking their asses in their sheets?
Still blinded by hope? Tell you what, ya greedy gurney... shoot one of these foolios an email and tell them you wanna stay in their place. First off, the dates you want to visit will always be available. Naturally, there is no apartment. Depending on the scammer, you'll either get a short copy/pasted reply, an application or my favorite... the dreaded, "I'm overseas/out of the country and really hope you'll take care of my place while I'm gone". Classic! Secondly, ask them a few questions and pay attention to their vocabulary. Why? Because, dum-dum, they're in Africa or Eastern Europe and English is their second language. And last but not least, the final stunner... they ask you to wire transfer a deposit to hold the apartment. And there's the scam. These pricks are smart. They're not looking for the big kill, they want your deposit. Well, yours, the next guy, the next guy and so on... These asshats target small amounts of cash in quantity. They're not looking for a big score from one elephant, they take a little from a bunch of suckas! If you take one thing away from this post....Never, ever, ever, no matter how convinced you are... NEVER WIRE TRANSFER MONEY TO ANYONE!! And, if you do find one willing to accept a credit card payment via Paypal, don't think you're safe either. These scammers constantly set up accounts overseas and clean them out long before you'd show up homeless in NYC. They even arrange for people in the US with legit Paypal accounts to accept the payment on their behalf. And, speaking of unsavory business practices, Paypal won't do squat after 30 days. If you back out beforehand, there's lots of red tape since you're basically backing out of a transaction. Paypal certainly doesn't want to eat it and knows that it will if you have to resort to filing a chargeback with your credit card company - more red tape.
So, how do you spot them? Well, you could avoid Craigslist completely since 90% of the ads are fake or you can accept the fact that any apartment under $150 a night is a fugazi and any apartment that looks better than your own isn't in NYC unless you've got bank, and to echo my early point - if you got bank you don't want or need to have some filthy freaks in your sheets!
in New York City!***Or...compare Hotel rates throughout NYC below...
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