This week’s edition of “Renting in…” comes to us from Shankar Desai. Shankar Desai is the Co-Founder and CEO of Naked Apartments. Naked Apartments matches renters with brokers and landlords in NYC to make renting an apartment easy.

New York’s reputation as the “Greatest City in the World” is well deserved; in just a few hundred square miles, you can visit skyscrapers, parks, rivers and dense urban areas. Delicious food from all over the globe can be found on every block, and whether you’re looking to spend $2 on a meal or $200, the choices are limitless. Activities also abound, and you could spend every day attending a concert, museum, musical or sporting event without seeing the same thing twice. However, the prospect of making the move to New York City is daunting for many. People may fear high rent prices, tough neighborhoods and the seeming impossibility of finding an apartment that fits their needs. But with a few simple secrets, you can make New York City feel like home for a long time to come.

The first step to moving to NYC is deciding where you want to live. Start by deciding what’s most important to you in a neighborhood and do some research online. Want fresh, authentic Asian food as soon as you step out of your door? Try Manhattan’s Chinatown, or sacrifice proximity for price and check out Brooklyn’s Sunset Park or Flushing in Queens. Pierogi and borscht lovers will love the Russian enclave of Brighton Beach, and those craving Caribbean flavors would be wise to check out Crown Heights.

If it’s transportation you’re after, Midtown and Hell’s Kitchen provide access to the most subway lines and train routes in the city; Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene are close behind.

For those most seeking a safe, attractive place to raise a family, look into TriBeCa or Park Slope. No matter what area you decide on, the next step of finding an apartment can be the trickiest. Don’t get discouraged, it can be relatively painless if you go about it the right way.

When it comes to finding an apartment to rent in New York, you have many different tools at your disposal. The most widely known is probably Craigslist; you can search through thousands of listings all over the city without ever stepping foot outside your home. But Craigslist apartments are often misrepresented, i.e., listed in a different neighborhood than they are actually located, or show beautiful pictures of a massive space standing in for a dingy, roach-filled closet. And while some of the brokers who list on the site are great, typical contact can range from pushy to non-responsive.

On the other hand, you could go to a local Real Estate office in your desired neighborhod and have a broker help you. A broker will work very hard to find an apartment for you, but you may have to check out a clunker or ten before you get to the good stuff. Additionally, you’ll be charged a fee, usually equal to a month’s rent or more, for their services.

The third option is to use a targeted rental site like NakedApartments.com. You tell the site what you’re looking for in an apartment, such as price, location, and number of bedrooms; brokers use this information to compete for your business and offer available places. From there, it’s up to you to decide which ones you want to see in person. A site like NakedApartments is also great, because they offer many “no fee” listings as well as direct-to-landlord contact.

Finally, before you can sign a lease you must make sure you have all of the proper paperwork in order. Most landlords in NYC require a letter from your employer stating your job title, salary and other details, along with recent pay stubs, bank statements, a W2 form, a copy of your photo ID and money for a credit check (usually around $75). Some landlords may want more or less information; check with them individually to find out. The more prepared you are, the more likely you will be to get the apartment of your dreams.