Living Alone vs. Living with Roommates in NYC: What You Should Know

The First Step when Deciding To Move:

At ApartmentsTogether, we know the NYC rental market moves fast, so being organized and efficient is essential if you want to get an apartment. There is such fierce competition in the NYC rental market, especially now, that “winging it” simply won’t cut it, especially if you want a good deal. The first step in an organized search is deciding who you will be living with. There are pros and cons to living alone vs. living with roommates, and depending on your situation, roommates may seem more or less appealing.

While there is a lot to consider when deciding who to live with, it is essential that you lock in both you and your roommates' budgets before you start spending the time and effort to go out and see apartments. Late roommate additions, or roommates deciding they don’t want to move last minute, can derail your entire search. So make sure you and your roommates are on the same page BEFORE you start putting in the effort to find a spot.

Unsure about where or how to start your apartment search? Want more info on keeping your search organized and efficient to get an advantage over other renters? Want to avoid fake listings, unnecessary fees, and losing out on apartments you love? Give us a call at 212-444-2787(APTS), or head to our website: www.ApartmentsTogetherNYC.com! So… what’s the deal with roommates?

Living Alone vs. with Roommates: Pros & Cons

As mentioned, deciding who you will be living with is the first step in the moving process. Now, assuming you’re not in student housing, you will most likely be living alone, OR with friend(s), a significant other, or a (partial) stranger. Your apartment is literally where you will live and spend a huge portion of your time, so this decision is a big one, especially when NYC apartments are as small as they are.

There is a lot to consider when deciding who your roommates should be, but we will cover that later on. If you need advice on how to start finding a random roommate, we can let you know the best way to go about it. For now, we will be focusing on a few things you should be aware of when deciding how many roommates you’ll have.

Rents, Apartment Size and Privacy:

Living Alone: Lower overall rents. Higher rents per person. More privacy and personal space.

Living with Roommates: Higher overall rents. Lower rents per person. Less privacy and personal space.

Disregarding things like location and apartment finishes, generally speaking studios are smaller and cheaper than 1BR, followed by 2BR, 3BR and so on. That being said, the cost per person is what really matters here to most people. While studios/1BR may be cheaper than bigger 2BR/3+BR apartments overall, when it comes to dividing up the rents, more roommates means less of a cost burden per person. So if your main goal is to save money, adding more roommates or flexing can be viable options.

Ex. 1: A $3000 studio for a single man is more money per person than the $3000 studio shared by a couple ($1500/each). A $5000 1BR shared by a couple is more per person ($2500/each) than a $6000 3BR ($2000/each).

Ex. 2: A $6000 2BR ($3000/person) is more cost effective when flexed to a 3BR ($2000/person). You will end up compromising living space but it’s another tradeoff to consider.

Apartments with more bedrooms will typically have bigger common areas, like living rooms, and potentially even outdoor space. So basically, if you and your roommates like to hang out together and/or host others, then these larger common areas will be a huge bonus (having 2 or more roommates will also increase your chances of getting a large outdoor space). 1BR apartments, on the other hand, will have less common space in general, but that being said, it’s all yours. So, if you like your personal space and enjoy quiet time alone, that may be harder to come by when you start adding roommates.

Always consider the ratio of # of bathrooms to # of residents. We will cover this more later.

Upfront Costs:

Living Alone: Upfront costs covered by you, and you alone.

Living with Roommates: Upfront costs divided amongst all the roommates.

Although upfront costs depend on rent price, they are pretty standardized regardless of which building you pick. When you move forward with an apartment, you will most likely be paying 1st Month’s rent, and One Month security when you sign your lease. Also, you may be paying a broker’s fee, which can get as high as 15% of the yearly rent. On top of all of this, some condos and co-ops have moving fees, application fees, processing fees and more. Holy moly, I know. Now, obviously these upfront costs will vary building to building but regardless, having more roommates to help carry this burden can make a big difference.

Qualifying for Apartments:

Living Alone: Need to be making enough income to cover the standard requirement (40x the monthly rent in yearly income), or have a guarantor.

Living with Roommates: Typically easier to meet the 40x income requirement.

Landlords can be strict with who they approve. When the market is as hot as it is now, landlords get even pickier. We cover why landlords have such strict requirements and everything you need to know about guarantors here.

Some Other Things to Consider When Picking Your Roommates:

When you decide to move in with roommates, there are a lot of things you should talk about before moving forward with living together. I think we all know a disaster story about roommates, so the more honest you are with each other upfront, the better. Here are some things to consider:

Rent and Apartment Breakdown: Is Every Roommate On The Same Page?

For your NYC apartment, you and each of your roommates will have a bedroom, and then you all will share the living room. A lot of times, the bedrooms will not be the same size and you and your roommates will have to decide who wants to take what. Before you start going out to view apartments, you should discuss who can/wants to pay the most, and who wants to pay the least. If there’s a flex room, who’s going to take it? There’s a good chance one or more roommates will be willing to compromise some personal space to pay less. Having this discussion beforehand will save you a lot of stress later on.

Another quick discussion you and your roommates should be having is whether you prefer a larger common area, or larger bedrooms. Apartment layouts will vary significantly so, again, knowing who needs more vs. less personal space is crucial. Does someone work from home and need space in their room for a desk? Does someone travel for work and want to use their room as more of a locker? If one of you loves having people over, make sure your other roommates are cool with that, and vice versa. Set guidelines/boundaries before you decide to live together, and be open about your quirks/habits/hobbies that could potentially bother others. Make sure everyone is on the same page to avoid passive aggressive BS and bigger issues later on.

Bathroom Situation: What Time Do You Start Work?

This is a big one, people. Being able to use the bathroom in your apartment when you need to is a big deal, and something that definitely needs to be considered. A standard rule of thumb for living with roommates is 1 bathroom per 3 residents at the MOST (this is even a little iffy to some people). When you start messing around with 4BR 1Bathroom options, you’re asking for trouble, especially if you typically like to take your time showering or doing your business.

Another thing to consider is your work schedules. If you all are starting work around the same time, waiting for 3 roommates to shower will set you back significantly. For some groups, having 2 bathrooms is a bonus. For other groups, having 2 bathrooms is a necessity. Discuss this stuff beforehand, people! Most of us won’t even think of these things until we’re going through it!

Sleeping Situation: What Times Do You Wake Up?

This is another big one. If you’re living in NYC, chances are you’re working pretty hard (and probably playing hard too). This means that when you want to sleep, you WANT. TO. SLEEP. We all know sleep is a huge deal, so make sure you set some boundaries with what’s allowed in the common areas, and when. What is an acceptable hour to you, may not be an acceptable hour to someone else. Don’t live with someone who you don’t think will respect your personal space and the rules you’ve agreed to.

About ApartmentsTogetherNYC

At ApartmentsTogetherNYC, we have over a decade of experience in the NYC rental market. After identifying several poor practices taking place in the industry, we decided the market needed a change and that renters deserved an option, other than using brokers, when it comes to renting!

We believe the broker business models are outdated and overpriced. So, at ApartmentsTogetherNYC, we take our rental expertise and decide to use it for good; utilizing our rental knowledge, and expert tips to help one person: you.