Hi, I'm hoping to move to New York for 3-6 months next year with my friend and thought I'd get ahead of my game by having a look around for areas to live in. Financially, we would like a 2 bedroom apt in brooklyn. Not looking for anything flash, we just want a place to live in a safe area. Well, personally I think New York is one of the safest places in the world, but anyway...if anyone knows of websites that could help me, or just point me in the right direction I would be very grateful.
Thank you in advance,
Natalie

www.craigslist.com always a good option

www.villagevoice.com has a lot of listings too.
some good areas of brooklyn: Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights, Forte Green, Williamsburg, Greenpoint. Those are just some areas you may want to look at.

People here always avoid other safe areas of Brooklyn only because they are a bit further from Manhattan and/or are predominantly populated by first or second generation immigrants.

For example, you can rent a 2-bedroom for $1000 less or even more in, say, Kings Hihgway area of Brooklyn. This is a Kings Highway subway stop on the B and Q line. It's only 4 stops on the B express train from the Park Slope station (i.e., 7th Avenue station). Actually, the subway service from the center Park Slope on F train is kind of slow. You can get from Midtown Manhattan to Kings Highway in 35-40 minutes. Overall, the Midwood area of Brooklyn (avenues J through P around Ocean Parkway/Coney Island Avenues) is safe and is a good value. The only reason people keep talking about Park Slope/Cobble Hill is because those areas are "hip" - i.e., have bars and restaurants and places to party. If all you care about is safety and cost, you can move further south into Brooklyn. Just make sure you live close to the subway and the area has grocery stores/services around.

Another decent area to consider is Sheepshead Bay - that's another stop further on the B line or 3 stops further from Kings Highway on the local Q line.

Forgot to mention Bensonhurst (from 71st Station to Bay Parkway Station on the D train). It's a nice residential neighborhood that is also much cheaper than the "hip" areas like Park Slope, but is very lively and is currently booming. The new condos are being built are everywhere. It's mostly populated by Italians, some russian and chinese immigrants (many new chinese and russian restaurans have opened up in recent years). There are lots of grocery stores on the 86th Street (below the subway). I think the selection of fresh fruits and vegetables on 86th Street is better than in many large Manhattan supermarkets. You are just 10-15 minutes from Coney Island beach in the summer and the rental prices are relatively low, because many people in the area rushed to buy apartments making rentals relatively affordable. It's a very safe area, probably safer than places like Cobble Hill and Greenpoint. I think you can rent 2-bedroom for 1200-1300/month, 1-br for 1000-1100/month

One other thing - don't rent the apartment in the private house. Only rent apartments in the elevated apartment buildings. Private house owners often try to save on heating bills and people get really cold in the winter. Not to menton that you live right next to the owner, which can be a pain too.

FYI it is newyork.craigslist.org (Note the ORG not com I often typed in the wrong address when I was searching.) It will allow you to click on Brooklyn and focus only on Brooklyn listing and search by price range and size as well which is great. Good luck!

you get the same main page whether you use .com or .org

Once you narrow down what part of Brooklyn, be sure to type it in Keyword, such as Williamsburg. Then you will get all the listing just in Williamsburg.

Thank you all so much for the links and information. My friend and I are looking already!! Some of the apartments we've seen are very reasonable compared to what you would get in a city over here in England. Hopefully see you all soon!

Natalie x