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The Worst Room - Photos of Cheap Rooms for Rent in NYC
- nilkn 13y agoI'm paying $1200/month in Houston, but it's 800 sq. ft., newly refurbished hardwood floor, granite counter-tops with kitchen island, new stainless steel appliances, double vanity sinks, rain shower, a little balcony, washer/dryer in unit, and I have a five minute walk to work and also lots of restaurants and night life.
- shin_lao 13y agoThis reminds me of Hong Kong apartments shots: http://petapixel.com/2013/02/19/cramped-apartments-in-hong-kong-shot-from-directly-above/ http://petapixel.com/2013/02/19/cramped-apartments-in-hong-k...
- jlgreco 13y agoA few of those, for the prices that they are, would be great with the current furnishings removed / decent furnishings brought in. There is a time in my life where I would have jumped through hoops to rent some of those. For example that 300/mo "Breakfast Nook" one looks like it would be perfectly fine with the other person's shit removed. (I am not a resident of NYC)
- jumby 13y agoYou mean, like the stove, refrigerator and assorted kitchen shit?
- jlgreco 13y agoNah, just the bed and the trash (well, trash/assorted kitchen shit, or whatever it is). You might get extra space by swapping the fridge with a mini-fridge but I honestly wouldn't bother.
- pavel_lishin 13y agoAs IvyMike pointed out, that is absolutely not a full apartment - that kitchen is going to be used by the other residents, of which there are almost certainly two at the absolute minimum.
- jlgreco 13y agoYes, on closer inspection I agree.
- guylhem 13y agoSpot on. It also caught me eye as a great deal - the space is badly used by the current resident, but even if the stuff couldn't be removed, $300 for a clean place with a window and a bed in Manhattan certainly is a great deal. Just make sure to read about the history of the place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Heights,_Manhattan#1980s_Crime_epidemic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Heights,_Manhattan#1...
- notahacker 13y agoI'd actually see the Breakfast Nook as good value for money, unless there's something particularly awful about the district. Or somebody else uses the kitchen...
- IvyMike 13y agoI'm fairly certain the "Breakfast Nook" is renting JUST the nook at the very end, and the kitchen is a shared space.
- jlgreco 13y agoHmm, yes. For that price, that would make much more sense. Even so, it could be fine with the right roommates (is that mess made by the previous tenant, or the person/people that would still be living there?). If the kitchen is a shared space that price could actually be fantastic if there is further shared space that isn't pictured (though I doubt there is).
- reinhardt 13y agoMeh.. if you think these are bad, try Copenhagen instead.
- Roedou 13y agoFrom the perspective of a non-NYC resident, this is terrible. I had understood that bedrooms in the USA had to have a closet and a window/external door. Is that not the case?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- jurassic 13y agoA bedroom is where your bed is. I've never rented a place with closets, so I think that's pretty common -- especially in older buildings.
- nirvdrum 13y agoI guess it's different for renting purposes. But when selling a house (at least in MA) there are rules as to what makes a room a bedroom. I think they do need to have closets. And there's a minimum bathroom : bedroom ratio that needs to be maintained.
- dublinben 13y agoIt usually isn't legal to rent a 'bedroom' without an exit window. The NYC rental market is underregulated, overregulated, and corrupt. This page demonstrates this well.
- wikwocket 13y agoAt least here in the Midwest, yes a bedroom must have a window. For example if you want to finish a basement so you can say your house has an additional bedroom, I believe you need to add/finish a basement window-well.
- graue 13y agoI'm a recent NYC transplant. In past places I've lived (VA, DC, MN) it's definitely the law that a bedroom must have an egress window — not just a window, but one that opens and is large enough you could exit through it in case of a fire. In New York, either that isn't the law, or it just gets violated a lot more often. Since moving here I've seen a surprising number of places where the bedroom has no windows. However, there is definitely no requirement (in any state I've lived in) for a bedroom to have a closet. Some do, many don't.
- incision 13y ago>Appalling Lets have a little perspective [0]. 0: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/02/22/_60_percent_of_the_world_population_still_without_toilets.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/02/22/_60_perce...
- throwaway1980 13y agoSure, but the price is what makes the condition appalling.
- sukuriant 13y agoThose ... really aren't that bad. Well, not all of them at least. Some of them even seem quite livable. Maybe we need to see room dimensions or something? If they're all 5x7 feet or something, that might be a bit more understandable
- shardling 13y agoA lot of them could just be pictures of the corner of a room. Without context it's hard for me to say they're terrible.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- w1ntermute 13y agoSee this Verge article on the NYC renting startup Urban Compass: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/7/4304374/urban-compass http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/7/4304374/urban-compass Also, the short book The Rent Is Too Damn High: http://www.amazon.com/The-Rent-Damn-High-ebook/dp/B0078XGJXO http://www.amazon.com/The-Rent-Damn-High-ebook/dp/B0078XGJXO These are all very solvable problems, it's just very difficult to change the status quo.
- rayiner 13y agoThere is no hope for NYC on defeating the NIBMY crowed. If I thought there was, I'd personally go around raising money to fight the preservationists.[1] As corrupt as Chicago is, I do love one thing about it: the corruption sometimes works in peoples' favor. Recently, Northwestern University wanted to tear down its hideous old womens' hospital to put up a new medical facility: http://d22r54gnmuhwmk.cloudfront.net/photos/1/zg/re/MTzGREjiZWtjkHf-556x313-noPad.jpg http://d22r54gnmuhwmk.cloudfront.net/photos/1/zg/re/MTzGREji.... The usual suspects bitched about architecture blah blah. Rahm was like "STFU" and Northwestern got a permit to tear that shit down. The funny thing was that they basically abandoned it during the scuffle with the preservationists (like 3-4 years). I'm convinced the plan was to basically be like "oops, looks like it's not safe to occupy anymore!" (buildings break down surprisingly quickly during periods of no occupancy). [1] I secretly dream of doing a non-profit specializing in litigation against preservationist groups.
- jacques_chester 13y ago> buildings break down surprisingly quickly during periods of no occupancy In Australia, this tactic is known as "demolition by neglect". Sometimes an "accidental" grease fire starts to speed up the process.
- throwaway1980 13y agoIs preservation ever good?
- rayiner 13y ago
- fossuser 13y agoThese look pretty good to me - and the rents are actually reasonable. Crappy Palo Alto Studios are pushing $2k and it's hard to find anything cheaper than $1300 even in a share.
- virtualwhys 13y agoNo windows, madness, is the big shitty really all that to suffer solitary confinement...and pay for it to boot?
- jlgreco 13y agoUnlike solitary confinement, you are always free to leave your apartment and enjoy the city. If you rent this sort of apartment then you should be prepared to live a lifestyle that does not involve expecting to be entertained by things that are in your apartment; if you want to do that then you can live anywhere else.
- mikecane 13y ago>>> If you rent this sort of apartment then you should be prepared to live a lifestyle that ... might include roasting to death due to a fire blocking your only egress.
- jlgreco 13y agohttp://www.nyc.gov/html/om/pdf/2010/2009_fdny_year_end.pdf http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/pdf/2010/2009_fdny_year_end.pdf I don't know you, but I can tell you with confidence that you have better things to worry about.
- mikecane 13y agoWhatever that is, Firefox can't display it. And personally I don't worry. I'm not "living" in one of those cells.
- jlgreco 13y agoIt is called a "PDF". It presents data on fire related deaths in New York City. They are practically a rounding error. Congratulations on finding a nicer place to live.
- thecoffman 13y agoFor all of the people in this thread saying "some of these aren't that bad" you seriously need to get some perspective. Come visit what's disparagingly called "flyover country." I live in the St Louis area and pay $450/month for my apartment. ~1100 square feet with a yard and a parking spot in a nice, safe neighborhood. I fully realize that I may not have all of the opportunities available here as I would in NYC or San Francisco, but I've never struggled to find interesting, well paying jobs and there is more than enough going on in the St Louis area to keep a person entertained. Far be it from me to judge other peoples' choices. You should do whatever makes you happy in life but, when you find yourself saying that a room the size of my closet "isn't so bad" of a living space, you might want to take a step back and reassess some things.
- jlgreco 13y agoOf the factors that I consider when I decide what city I want to move into, apartment size/price is pretty far down on the list. Those who weight those things differently will of course not live in those sort of places. Neither is more correct than the other, nor does one require more reevaluation than the other.
- Kylekramer 13y agoDepends on how you live. I am a east coast city person through and through, so it might be my bias, but these rooms seem not all that terrible. Raising kids, living with a significant other, sure. You need space in those. But for a post-grad getting started who isn't a homebody and mostly just needs a place to sleep and store food, I don't see why they'd need to reaccess their life.
- jlgreco 13y agoYeah, I'm coming from the perspective of someone who spent much of their early life on the east coast. At that point in my life my apartment was just that place I crashed after partying. I hung out, ate, and generally lived elsewhere throughout the city. These days my life has changed and my apartment is more of a place that I wind down after work. I would not consider living in these places now, but in my past? Absolutely.
- k-mcgrady 13y agoYou must have to really love New York to pay such high prices for places like those. I don't mind living somewhere small and not particularly nice but those places seem terrible.
- Duhck 13y agoYou should look in NJ (specifically Union City, Jersey City, West New York). I live in Weehawken and spent all my energy looking (for months) in NYC. After living in Astoria (amazing neighborhood) for two and a half years, I decided I wanted more space. Benefits of living in NJ are: 1) More space 2) Cheaper rent 3) Nicer apartment for the money 4) No NYC residents tax (anywhere from 2-7% depending on income level)
- everyone 13y agoMost people in the world do not have this level of luxury in the accommodations. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/housing/housing2.htm http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/housing/hou... I'm honestly a bit annoyed by this article. Someone wants to live in one of the most populous cities in the world with quite high density and also expects a more luxurious setting and a low price?
- mikecane 13y ago>>>Someone wants to live in one of the most populous cities in the world with quite high density and also expects a more luxurious setting and a low price? Yes, because that is how New York City used to be. This crap of these illegal one rooms are driven by people who don't give a shit for native New Yorkers or the laws at all.
- TomMasz 13y agoEven cells in solitary confinement have windows.
- moskie 13y agoComparing these rooms to solitary confinement is pretty stupid. You can't leave solitary confinement whenever you want (hence, "confinement").
- nilkn 13y agoIt might be stupid in most aspects, but many of the cells do have windows. In many areas of the developed world it's actually illegal to rent out a room without a window.
- notahacker 13y agoI'm now looking around my London room (rent approx $1000/month; other living spaces shared) and realizing that with its L-shape and slight roof overhang, it probably works out smaller than half the ones featured on the NYC blog, though it does have a window. On the other hand, the ad I responded to mentioned a "roof terrace" which would have elicited a few chuckles if they'd put up a picture of the wobbly ladder leading to the standard flat roof. Funnily enough, its a dubious feature I actually like for the views and the way it catches the sun rather better than the bona fide garden I had in my last place. I quite like walking everywhere too...
- dreen 13y agoyeah thats what you get in zone 1. used to do some refurbishment work, its amazing how you can go from £500/month with a solid building to £500/week with something thats barely holding together, in just a few streets.
- Osmium 13y agoI've been living in London myself for little under two years now and I still can't get my head around the rents. Heaven forbid you want to live on your own as a young person... I've also lived in Berlin. And yet somehow that city didn't seem to have the rent problems other capitals seem to. I have no idea why.
- zergrushidiots 13y agoThis would be a great post. On Reddit.
- mcosta 13y agoThis was normal during the housing bubble in almost all the european capitals.
- hcarvalhoalves 13y agoThat's sad man. People in NYC are paying what would get you a nice apartment elsewhere for the equivalent of a basement, closet or prison cell. Some of those should be even illegal to rent as residential, no?
- aneth4 13y agoThese are rooms to sleep in. If you think these are that bad, try visiting a real slum. It's first world privilege to consider a small clean room in New York City a horrible place.
- angersock 13y agoYes, and indeed all those pigs tightly packed into the slaughterhouse have food and water and shelter given to them every day, while even today feral swine wander under the harsh elements in search of food and a place to drink. :/
- aneth4 13y agoYou're missing an essential element: the living conditions of a human in a NYC apartment are entirely voluntary. People rent overpriced tiny places because they can't afford full priced full sized rooms. If overpriced tiny places were not available, full sized rooms would be more expensive and many people would not have the choice to live in a small cheaper room. Anyway, if you want the real culprit of NYC and SF rental pricing problems, it's very simple: RENT CONTROL IS EVIL. Rent control causes hoarding, and the higher market prices go the more hoarding and the higher prices go. It's a vicious cycle.
- rayiner 13y agoGod, coming from Chicago I find the New York housing market to be such a disaster (though I live in Westchester so I put my money where my mouth is, I guess). I remember paying $1,800 a month of a 250 square foot room on the UWS where the closet had been turned into a bathroom. I lost weight that summer, because I was literally so disgusted by the filth of all the old buildings. I remember visiting an apartment in Astoria (around $1,200/month for a share of a 2BR) and literally leaving in the middle of the walk through because the bathroom was so old and gross. The only (relatively) good deals in Manhattan are in FiDi, where I'd imagine the historical preservation nazis are less nazi-ish about tearing shit down and renovating. At least last time I checked, there was some reasonable new construction/renos down there that didn't cost $5,000/month for a 1BR.
- jacques_chester 13y agoHalf the responses in this thread remind me of the Four Yorkshiremen skit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo "Looxereh!"