Renting a room in New York via craigslist

[Horn89]

Has anyone had experience with this?

Making a last-minute trip to NY this week. I've always considered doing the craigslist thing for a room (renting a bedroom in a private apt instead of paying for a hotel).

Found a place that's close to the area I'll be working. Seems like a good deal. The owner wants a deposit via Paypal, says the deposit is refunded (also via Paypal) when I leave.

I know craigslist is just full of scammers. Should I be worried about getting scammed?

Also, I found an exiled Nigerian king who wants to pay me to hold onto some money for him. That's OK too, right?

Seriously, I would appreciate any advice about the room.

 

[FondrenRoad]

My sister rented an apartment for a week in Williamsburg. Everything went fine. The place was nice. She had to pay a deposit, but didn't go through paypal. She sent a check to the owner at the address of the apartment she was going to stay at. I think that's a better way since you will tie the check and the owner to the actual room or apartment. If he's able to rent it to you, he should be able to receive mail there. If he can't or won't, I'd definitely think its shady.

If time is an issue, you may want to think about an online escrow service instead. That way neither of you can **** the other over.

 

[kmac30]

FR has a good point. i wouldn't do the paypal payment.

the girl that lived next to me (in nyc) used to rent her apt out over the holidays. not sure if she made them send a deposit or not, but i don't think she did.

what area are you looking at?

 

[hornphil]

paypal does have some measure of fraud protection.



link

 

[austintex]

God bless craigslist. You can rent an apartment for the night and then rent a girl to take back to it.