Marlowe Property
Apartment Rentals in New York: the straight-talk broker for tenants and landlords
Renting an apartment in New York moves fast, and the market punishes anyone who hesitates or gets bad advice. A good listing gets ten applications in two days. A landlord who prices wrong sits empty for a month and loses more than the broker fee would have cost.
We work both sides of a rental: people who need to find a place to live, and owners who want their apartment rented properly, to a tenant who pays on time and doesn't trash the unit. Same team, same phone number, no runaround.
Finding an apartment to rent in New York
You tell us the neighborhoods you'll actually consider, your budget, and your move-in date, and we build a shortlist from what's genuinely available, not what's already gone. New York listings turn over so fast that half of what you see on the big portals is stale within a week. We check before we send you anywhere.
We also tell you upfront what a given budget realistically gets you in a given area. If you want a doorman building in the West Village on a budget that fits a walk-up in Bushwick, we say so on day one instead of dragging you to ten showings to find out.
Once you find a place you like, we walk you through the application before you fall in love with it. That way there are no surprises after you've already given notice on your current place.
What you need for a rental application in NYC
Most landlords in New York want proof you earn 40 times the monthly rent in annual income, a credit check, and often two years of pay stubs or tax returns if you're self-employed. If you don't hit the income number on your own, you'll need a guarantor who does, usually earning 80 times the rent, or a guarantor service that charges a fee instead.
This is where most applications get delayed or rejected, not because the apartment falls through but because paperwork is missing or a guarantor doesn't qualify. We check your documents before we submit anything, so you're not the applicant a landlord passes over because your file was incomplete.
If you're relocating for work or school and don't have a New York-based guarantor, we can point you toward guarantor services that landlords here commonly accept. It's a real cost to factor in before you start apartment hunting, not something to discover during your third application.
Lease terms, rent stabilized vs market rate, and renewals
Some buildings in New York are rent stabilized, which caps how much a landlord can raise your rent each year and gives you the right to renew. Most newer buildings and many walk-ups are market rate, meaning the landlord can set the increase at renewal to whatever the market allows. Knowing which one you're signing before you sign changes how you should think about staying long term.
When your lease comes up for renewal, we look at what the landlord is proposing and tell you honestly whether it's in line with the building and the neighborhood, or whether you have room to negotiate. Landlords expect some back and forth on renewals, especially with a tenant who's paid on time.
We also handle sublets when your lease allows it and your building requires board or landlord approval. That paperwork has its own timeline, often two to four weeks, so it needs to start well before you actually need to leave.
Renting out your apartment as a landlord in New York
If you own a unit and want it rented, we handle it the way we'd want it handled if it were ours: real photos, an honest asking rent based on what's actually renting nearby, not a hopeful number, and a listing live within days. An apartment priced right in this market usually gets multiple applications within the first week or two.
Screening is where a bad tenant gets prevented instead of dealt with later. We run credit and background checks, verify income and employment, and call previous landlords when we can reach them. It slows the process by a day or two and saves you months of chasing rent.
For owners who don't want to deal with the back and forth of collecting rent, handling maintenance requests, or managing renewals every year, we can take that off your plate too. It's a smaller piece of what we do, so ask us directly what that looks like for your building.
Short-term vs long-term rentals in New York
Long-term rentals, standard one or two year leases, are what most of the market runs on, and they're the most straightforward for both tenant and landlord. Short-term rentals in New York come with real legal restrictions, especially in buildings that aren't set up for it, so we tell you plainly when a short-term arrangement isn't going to work for a given building instead of pretending it will.
Professionals on a temporary work assignment, students needing a semester or a year, and people between apartments during a renovation or a move are the people who usually come to us for shorter terms. We'll be straight with you about what's actually available at that length, because the honest answer is usually less than people expect in this city.
Why renters and landlords in New York work with us
We tell you the real number
On rent, on what your budget gets you, on what a landlord will actually accept at renewal. No inflated listing to win your business, no lowball estimate to get a landlord to sign with us.
We check the paperwork before it costs you the apartment
Income proof, guarantor requirements, credit checks: we go through your file before submission so you're not the application that gets passed over for being incomplete.
We know the difference between a good deal and a fast one
A landlord who fills a vacancy with the wrong tenant pays for it for a year. A renter who signs the first thing they see often overpays. We slow down exactly where it matters.
Same team for your search and your lease renewal
We don't disappear after you sign. When your lease comes up again, we're the ones who tell you if the increase is fair.
Frequently asked questions about rentals
How fast can I find an apartment to rent in New York?
If your budget and neighborhood are realistic, we can usually get you into showings within a few days of your first call. The bottleneck is almost always paperwork, not availability, so having your documents ready before you start looking speeds things up more than anything else.
What's the broker fee for renting an apartment in New York, and who pays it?
It depends on the listing. Some apartments are no-fee, meaning the landlord covers it, others require the tenant to pay a broker fee, typically a percentage of the annual rent. We tell you which type of listing you're looking at before you go see it, not after you've decided you want it.
Is my apartment rent stabilized, and does that affect my rental in New York?
We can tell you if a building is rent stabilized based on public records and what the landlord discloses. It matters because it affects how much your rent can increase at renewal and what rights you have to stay. If there's a dispute about your specific unit's status, that's a legal question we'd point you to the right resource for, not something we resolve ourselves.
I inherited a walk-up and I'm not sure if I should rent it or sell it. Can you help me decide?
We can tell you what it would likely rent for based on current market activity nearby, which gives you a real number to compare against selling. If you want an actual valuation for selling purposes, that's a separate conversation, but we're happy to give you the rental side of the picture first.
Do you manage the property after you find me a tenant?
For owners who want it, yes, we can handle tenant screening, rent collection, and renewals so you're not doing it yourself. It's not the biggest part of what we do, so tell us what you need and we'll be straight about whether it fits.
What if I need to break my lease or sublet my apartment in New York?
Subletting is usually possible if your lease allows it, but most buildings require landlord or board approval, which can take two to four weeks. We handle that paperwork and timeline for you, but start the conversation as early as you can, not the week before you need to move out.