As anyone whose been paying attention around here for the past couple of weeks already knows, finding an apartment in New York is no easy task. It is in fact, one of the more difficult endeavors one can take on in this city. So much so, that many people I’ve met here will stay in apartments that they loathe, just to avoid the inherent drama, angst, depression, blood and tears that are an intrinsic part of the search.
You think I’m joking or exaggerating, but no.
I cried, I bled, I even contemplated settling for something rather inferior because of the vicious nature of this search.
In my adventures I made some discoveries which I think are important to share. Keep in mind that I was looking for a place in Brooklyn. The Manhattan search is its own thing. And Queens? I would not venture to think I know anything about that.
To begin, one must keep in mind that whatever the listing on the apartment says about its location, particularly if you’re using craigslist, it has very little bearing on where the apartment actually is. Sometimes its not even remotely close. To deal with this I figured out a few techniques.
First, Google maps are your friend. They tell you honestly how far away the subway is. They show you where neighborhoods begin and end. They even let you know where the bars are for when you need a drink. And you will need one, oh yes. You will. The only thing to keep in mind is that even within hoods, blocks vary and until you actually visit the place you often have no idea of what to truly expect. For example we looked at a place in Bushwick that had a picture like this:
Note the stainless steel appliances, and the renovation. I certainly did, in the picture at least. When we arrived that location was deep in the ghetto, across the street from a looming and ominously dilapidated public school and there were no appliances at all, be it stainless steel or otherwise. Did the guy just post random pictures he found online? Were they flicks of his own house? I have no clue. I can tell you that what had been renovated looked as though the work was done by someone about as familiar with construction as, say… me. Also, the bedrooms were approximately 8×8. That’s not big enough for my bed. That’s not big enough for some very very tall people to lie down on the floor. Some people can rock a room that small, but not I. The listing was completely inaccurate and they couldn’t have cared less.
Speaking of inaccurate, another place we checked out was pretty much amazing. It had a backyard, a beautiful kitchen and bathroom and the bigger of the two bedrooms had 3 huge windows and a fireplace.
Unfortunately the 2nd “bedrooom” (which would have been mine) was about 10×10 and had no window.
No window… Meaning no light… Meaning, no option for A/C, or looking outside, or ESCAPING FROM A FIRE.
According to the NYC law a bedroom must have at least one window to be qualified as a bedroom at all. So the listing was actually fraudulent. Still though, the levels of desperation in the search were high at that time, and we actually considered it. It would have been me living in a closet. A very dark, dangerous fire trap of a closet. ick. Thank goodness we held out.
Holding out can be tough, especially if you have a property manager showing you around. They are trained to enhance the sense of urgency and will drop little “tips”. Stuff like they heard someone was just about to put a deposit on the place you’re about to see, so if you happen to like it, you may only have moments after seeing it to sign that lease, before its gone.
Now I’m not saying this isn’t true. We lost an apartment this way exactly, so it does happen, I just found that it was not completely accurate all the time, and plus, there are a LOT of availabilities in NY, more than anyone really wants to let on. So even if you do miss out on one, don’t let yourself get discouraged to the point where you settle for something you shouldn’t. This is exactly what we did, and it was a mess.
On Wednesday night we were looking around for hours and hours, had not found anything ands we were starving and desperate. We saw a place that was beautiful, spacious, stainless steel everything and perfect (or so we thought). So we jumped on it.
The neighborhood wasn’t exactly what we wanted, (we had to step over crack heads on the way in, and there was a huge section 8 project in the same courtyard as our building) but the property manager said that the train wasn’t too far and should I mention it again? I will. The apartment was beautiful. Look, I have pictures:
We made a rash decision and decided to go with it. We put in an application fee and it was to be our new home.
The only problem was the fact that it was buried DEEP in the ghetto and 6 long blocks from a train. There also was no bus line on that street. These are two things that we had said early on we would not compromise on, but fatigue, hunger and desperation made us foggy and irrational.
We were going to live in the absolute ghetto hood. And we had signed papers that made it not only official, but also impossible to back out of without losing a LOT of cash. I had no idea just how bad the situation was at that point, but over a fabulous Mexican dinner, at a spot near the realtor, we forced smiles and tried to convince one another that what we did was right. And I tried to imagine living in a neighborhood where I felt unsafe going for a jog in the middle of the day.
to be continued…
Uh oh, the hoods of new york…id keep looking jill. If your stuck there you better carry around some protection, seriously. Like a taser or maybe just fist your car keys. Sorry to sound so harsh but something to keep in mind.
I never have to worry myself, im broke, I look broke, and Im kind of a big dude. Your a smart girl i know youll be just fine, drop me a line sometime.
Nothing wrong with stepping over crack head, headS= no good!
I know the desperation of the empty tummy, it can be horrid.
I pray for your feet:)
hollah!