How much for first apt?

<p>How much did your graduates spend on their first place?
How much bang for the buck did you think they got (convenience, space, quality/safety of the area, etc.)? How easy was it for them to afford on an entry level salary?</p>

<p>Will be finishing school (undergrad) in about a year and would like to have the first few months rent saved before I move, so I'm wondering how much I would need. I'll probably be in a major metro area (NYC/SF/CHI/DC/maybe BOS) and I know the general price ranges, but some estimates that include signing costs, moving fees and other hidden expenses would be very helpful. Links to a rent calculator or other resources would be great too. Thank you.</p>

<p>D1 lives in NYC. She paid to live at a hip place, easy to subways, restuarants, bars and work, but it is a convertible 2, sharing with a friend. She spends about 30% of gross(not including bonus) on rent, which is quite low. Most of her friends spend about 1500 to 2500/mon on rent (you can go down to 1000 if you share with more people). Some parents do help out on rent, but we don’t. D1 doesn’t have any loans, she doesn’t pay for food (eats at work), so she has a lot of disposable income.</p>

<p>Typically, the bare minimum salary you would need would be three times your rent. Four times would be better. You will need to have AT LEAST one month’s rent additional for a security deposit, in some cases two month’s rent. If you’ve never had utilities in your name in your new city, you’ll need a deposit for those also, maybe $100 or so. Do you have any furniture? A lot can be gotten for free from relatives (you’d be surprised how many people have been dying to get rid of the stuff in the basement), but you’ll need to buy at least some stuff, used, on Craigslist plus a few new items (like a mattress-don’t buy one used). The small stuff starts to add up quickly, too, like cleaning supplies, lighting, dishes, towels. So, I’d say IF your rent is going to be $2000/mo, then you will want $4500 to $6500 saved up. But some in some cities the rent will be much higher, so you may decide to get a room with another person until you get more established financially. I don’t know if you are male or female, and that makes some difference regarding safety of the neighborhood, IMO. A secure building is important for anyone, and convenience to your work is essential. I strongly urge against a long or tedious commute, because you want your time and energy to go toward your work (and some fun as well). Good luck to you!</p>

<p>Many NYC landlords will want a guarantee by a responsible person living in NYstate with a NY bank account. The only people we know getting by on 1K per month in manhattan have at least one person sleeping in a dining alcove, etc.</p>

<p>D1 didn’t have any credit card in her name when she graduated from college. She only had our AmEx and her debit card, but she didn’t need a guarantor for her apartment. Both she and her roommate had a job, and that was sufficient. D1 paid 3 months, 1 month security, 1 month rent upfront, and 1 month realtor fee. She was fortunate because her firm gave her a sign on bonus.</p>

<p>I agree with sopranomom that safety is important, even if you have to pay up for it. I would also stretch your budget a bit to get a place you could stay at for 1 year or 2. It is time consuming and costly to move.</p>

<p>For what it’s worth, my neice lives between Harvard and Central Square in Cambridge, MA, a very desireable location. She has 3 room mates, and shares a room with her best friend (so not a huge sacrifice), and their room is very large with skylights and very attractive. She pays about $800 rent, probably $1k all in which is about one fourth her gross salary. It’s not fancy, but it’s safe and has its charms. She is several years out of college though – her prior place was in a less desireable neighborhood (Allston) and she paid about $750 for a nice room of her own and had about 5 other room mates who were primarily grad students.</p>

<p>Our S got a job in DC. We helped him find a nice condo to rent in a suburb near his workplace for $1200/month, I think, plus utlities. We also paid that much as a security deposit. He lived there a few months and then had to move because the smoke from someone in the building was making him wheeze. Have no details about his new place, other than it’s somewhere in Arlington and within his comfort range with covered parking. He is in a one-bedroom place with covered parking. He has never asked for our help and we have not offered (tho we did pay 1st month’s rent and deposit–had him pay it forward by helping D with her rent). We BELIEVE his rent is well under the 1/3 or 1/4 of his gross. He has no loans or other debt. We shipped & gave him a used car, which he drove across the country with and has been using but will need to replace very soon.</p>

<p>I live in cambridge ma and pay ~$850 for 1 bedroom in a 4 bedroom place. When I first moved, I lived closer to harvard and paid ~1200 for 1 bedroom in a 4 bedroom place (plus utilities in both cases). When we moved in, we needed first month, last month, security deposit, brokers fee (1/2 month in our case, but often full month). So that’s 4 months of rent up front. Both of my apartments have been nice and very well located, it’s possible to get by a decent amount cheaper in the area.</p>

<p>“would like to have the first few months rent saved before I move,”</p>

<p>I’m confused. How will you be able to save for a few months of rent in advance of your moving to one of these very, very high-priced metropolitan areas to start an entry-level job?</p>

<p>Two of my kids came home for the one summer immediately following college to work and save before moving on to their cities and first apartments. My sons got solo apartment units; D went into a shared housing situation with graduate students. Everybody took housewares, fabric, lumber, tools from here.</p>

<p>If you can afford Manhattan, great. But many young people are also choosing more square footage in subway-near places like Williamsburg (Brooklyn), or Astoria and Long Island City (Queens), or even New Jersey with a careful look at the Path train in. You need someone to advise you on how each subway line works, to understand which neighborhoods are genuinely a close commute into Manhattan. If you want a larger apartment, that’s how to do it.</p>

<p>S-2 likes living in Downtown L.A., near the financial district and Little Tokyo. He found an affordable studio apartment for himself @ $700. in an elevator building. It’s fine for him, not so safe on latenight streets for a female. Most of his friends, however, for similar money, prefer to band together to rent a detached L.A. house in a more suburban setting, with backyard barbeque, pool, living room…and each takes a bedroom. They like to stretch out, like in Entourage. But my son’s tired of roommate drama, so is happier to squeeze into his solo studio.</p>

<p>Your OP is hard to address since there are many kinds of “entry jobs.” My 3 are in the performing arts, and all live in very small apartments, on frugal budgets and just make ends meet. They’ve figure out to cook and make coffee at home. </p>

<p>By contrast, I have one neice with an upscale Manhattan job and a business major degree. She used a broker to rent a 1 BR place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with a pretty rooftop view of the city. I assume it’s around 2,500, and she’ll live more elegantly than my own kids because of the kind of work she does in a financial industry.</p>

<p>OP, without knowing your industry and where you will locate, it is hard to give you a figure. The rule of thumb is you should pay no more than 30% of your gross. If you have student loans to repay, then you should spend less.</p>

<p>Our S is saving for his first house. We told him that keeping his house payment (with taxes and insurance) to 25% of take home or less would be ideal so he is working with that number. We have seen too many kids “need” to get that “hip” apartment and end up not being able to save money. He is maxing out his retirement accounts now because he can. We are hoping he gets used to living on very little money. This may not be possible in NYC however but with roommates, maybe.</p>

<p>You won’t find a 2 bedroom for less than $2000 a month in Manhattan (and if you do, tell me!). My d’s apt. is in a cool neighborhood, but a dingy building (5th floor walk up). She can’t afford her half on her entry level salary, so I’m helping out.</p>

<p>I dont think OP is asking for advice re what % of salary to pay, I think she wants specifics re cost of housing.</p>

<p>Dance, I agree. I helped my DD look. I work in Manhattan, so I could look after work, drive her in on weekends. She had a roommate lined up. NO 2000/month 2 bedrooms. The one 1000 studio didnt have its own bath, it was down the hall, so I said no. We looked on craigslist, stuff would dissappear in a nano second.</p>

<p>kayf, My daughter was lucky because a friend lives in the building and let her know as soon as an apartment opened up. Word-of-mouth, it’s the best way.</p>

<p>Friend’s daughter is renting a small studio in Manhattan, about halfway between Columbia and Wall St., third floor walk-up. I think she said it was $1900 a month plus utilities. But… she had to pay something like $3K to a broker to get the place, and her folks had to submit a huge amount of paperwork (income tax records, bank statements, investment statements) to be the guarantors. They don’t live in NY; perhaps it would have been easier if they had. They did think that it was a huge hassle. Income had to be at least 3x the monthly rent with some decent work history, or you needed a guarantor. I don’t know what the deposit was.</p>

<p>Dance, OBVIOUSLY word of mouth is best. Its kinda like saying let them eat cake.</p>

<p>If you move to DC, you shouldn’t need a broker and you shouldn’t need to pay a finder’s fee. You may need a guarantor, but the qualifications for guarantors are much less strict than in NY. </p>

<p>My daughter lives in DC, in an area where studio apartments go for $1300 to $1700 per month, and a two-bedroom shared by two people is not significantly cheaper per person. She has adequate space, in a well-maintained building, in a nice area that’s about as safe as you can get in a city. Convenience is also excellent – she’s two blocks from the Metro and has a grocery store within walking distance. She gets a lot of bang for her buck, but she’s paying a lot of bucks.</p>

<p>I think she paid two months’ rent in advance, along with a few other obscure fees that the landlord conjured up out of nowhere. And it cost her maybe $2000 to furnish her place (from scratch, and mostly from IKEA). Finding the apartment took about three hours (on the phone talking to apartment building management offices), but she had spent considerable time investigating neighborhoods and compiling a list of suitable apartment buildings ahead of time.</p>

<p>She can afford her apartment because she works in private industry and had a decent starting salary. (Also, she doesn’t have – and doesn’t need – a car.) Young people working for the government or nonprofits earn less and have a more difficult time.</p>

<p>I should add that a lot of young people working in DC don’t actually live in DC. They live in close-in Virginia suburbs. If you end up taking a job in DC, you may want to investigate those areas. People who live there seem to like it.</p>

<p>gmtplus7, you’ve never heard of working during college? Saving money? I don’t remember the exact figures but I purchased a new car at the beginning of my senior year, made all the payments, and still graduated with about $8k in the bank that I saved up during the year… while working 2 jobs and taking 18 credits each semester.</p>

<p>Some people can indeed save money while working during college. But that doesn’t work out for everyone.</p>

<p>Regardless, most young people find that there are considerable costs involved in the immediate transition from college to work. They may have to pay a deposit on an apartment and a month or more of rent before they have received their first paycheck. They may need to buy a car. They need clothing for work, and they won’t know whether the clothing they already own is suitable until they find out the geographic location of the job and the dress code. They may need to pay to move furniture if they already have some or buy furniture if they don’t. And all of this happens all at once in most instances. </p>

<p>The exact costs of the transition vary greatly from one person to another. But typically, it will add up to several thousand dollars.</p>