In this video, Elliot Bogod, a real estate author, educator and blogger, and Founder and Managing Director of Broadway Realty offers his expert advice on renting in Manhattan. He covers topics such as market conditions on rentals and how to qualify for an apartment rental. This is essential information for anyone looking to rent in one of the most competitive markets in the country.

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SPEAKERS

Elliot Bogod, Michael Levitis

Hi, everybody, it’s Michael Levitis with Elliot Bogod, and we have a podcast Alpha Insider where we invite different experts in different fields to share their knowledge to educate the public. As you know, our expert on real estate in Manhattan is Elliot Bogod, Elliot, welcome back.

Elliot Bogod 23:55
Thank you, Michael, thank you dear listeners and viewers.

Michael Levitis 23:58
Thank you. Appreciate it. Eliot, it’s very important to recognize that in Manhattan only 32-33% of people own real estate. The rest are renters. So rental market is a huge slice of your business. It’s a huge slice of living in Manhattan. So it’s important dedicate one session to rentals. So let’s talk about that. We know that during the pandemic COVID there has been a lot of amazing great deals and rentals. I believe those deals are gone. They’re a thing of the past, right?

Elliot Bogod 24:43
Yes and no. It’s a very good question and a lot of things changed in the beginning of this year, in April, May of this year. The markets came up a lot in rentals and with started seeing the prices that are charged for rentals before pandemic. So it came back a lot. People are getting paid, they started paying the same rent that they paid before pandemic.

Michael Levitis 25:18
Exactly, because people are, like we discussed in our previous sessions, people are coming back, people are experiencing remorse for leaving New York City. People are coming back who left and then there’s an influx of new blood, people who want to experience Manhattan. Now people are moving back in especially from areas from around Manhattan from Astoria, downtown Brooklyn, Coop City, so you can see the rents going up, right?

Elliot Bogod 25:45
That’s correct. But I should tell you that a lot of areas that still have rental deals.

Michael Levitis 25:54 That’s what I want to hear.

Elliot Bogod 25:56
So we happen to find people great deals in areas such as Battery Park City, Gramercy Park, Midtown East, there is some deals to be found and people are getting great rents and great deals.

Michael Levitis 26:14
Yeah, Battery Park I love, it’s a being in Manhattan, but you have that suburb feel, you are in a separate boro, a little town away from Manhattan, but yet you are in Manhattan. So it’s really, really amazing, especially if you have small kids or teenagers, I can just roam around, it’s pretty safe. So at some point, we should do a whole session just on Battery Park. It’s an amazing place to live, I believe. What other trends do you see with rentals and where do you expect the market to go in the next year?

– 1 – Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Elliot Bogod 26:55
So during the pandemic, we saw one or two months, some buildings gave three months, rent free to have one or two year leases, and so people saved a lot of money during the pandemic’s, now we have to find those deals, and it’s getting harder and harder every day to find deals. But the deals are there and so September is a busy month for us to look at the apartments and more people are coming back, as I said, so we always find the right deal. People are looking and they finding those apartments,

Michael Levitis 27:40
Elliot, let’s remember though, that it’s a journey, it’s a process to get approved for rental in Manhattan. The requirements are I would say a lot of times more strict than in other boroughs or other cities. Can you tell us what are some of the income and possibly asset requirements? Usually, I mean, I know every building is different, but overall, how to get qualified as a renter in Manhattan?

Elliot Bogod 28:11
So we have a lot of questions from landlords and a lot of questions from tenants, the tenant has to make 40 times income to qualify for that party. So if, for example, your studio is only $2500, that’s the rent, you have to make the 100,000 foe example and of course, you have to have a good credit.

Michael Levitis 28:42
That’s gross, gross income, right?

Elliot Bogod 28:46
Just the gross income. Of course, if you have a guarantor, your guarantor has to make 80 times that. So 200,000 for guarantors,for a $5,400 apartment. There is some other options, but we find those options in some buildings acceptable for landlords, we find ways for people, I just had a Canadian client who started working for a company and we found a way for him to qualify with the Canadian credit. So it’s always something that you have to. We know the business, we doing rentals for 25 years.

Michael Levitis 29:38
That’s very important because, first of all, you don’t want to waste your time. You don’t want to waste the broker’s time or the landlord’s time, you have to come prepared. If you’re looking to rent in Manhattan to meet with Elliott or his team ahead of time, show your documents, show your income, so that Elliot can determine what kind of apartment you can afford and what kind of apartment you can actually get approved for. Because you may think you can afford it, but the apartment management is going to think otherwise, you don’t want to waste time, right? What about asset requirements?

Elliot Bogod 30:18
So, asset requirements, basically for rentals, they want to see your prior history or grantors. You didn’t have any judgments and things like that. Your credit is good. Your assets are not important in rentals, your asset only important when you qualify for the mortgages. But for renters, it’s your credit and it’s your income or your guarantors income.

Michael Levitis 30:53

– 2 – Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Elliot, thank you for such an answer, it gives us a whole picture of for how you can get qualified and how you to find the right apartment for yourself for rentos. At our next sessions, I’m want to talk about cops because coops, they’re even much more strict because there you have income and asset requirements, and a slew of other requirements. So I think we should do a whole session on that. For now, we want to thank you for giving us an overview of rental market in Manhattan. You bet we’ll call your back in more and more for other interesting and frequently asked questions on buying, selling or renting real estate in Manhattan, because you are the person to go to, you actually know this market. You live in Manhattan, you breathe Manhattan, you know all the neighborhoods, all the buildings. So you are our expert on this topic. Elliot, again thank you for your time. Thank you everybody for turning in and until next time, as always.

Elliot Bogod 32:00
Thank you, Michael. Thank you, dear listeners and viewers. Happy to be with you.

Michael Levitis 32:04 Thank you.