Hello everyone, welcome back!
Where did I leave off…oh yes! The apartment search! Right!
Okay, so I arrived in New York City and went straight to my friend’s place
where I would be staying while I hunted the concrete jungle for a place to
live.
Earlier in the summer, a friend of mine from grad school
helped me get in touch with an Aggie who’s a real estate broker in NYC. During
the months leading up to my move, I coordinated with her about various things
like what my budget was, what kind of place I was looking for, what
neighborhood I wanted to be in, etc. Thank goodness I had her! If I hadn’t, the
whole thing would have been WAY MORE stressful.
When you apply for an apartment in New York, the process is
very similar to applying for a mortgage. You must be approved, based on your
credit, income, bank accounts, and such. In order to qualify for a place
without having a guarantor, you must make about 40 times the monthly rent in
annual salary. Due to the fact I wanted to live in neighborhoods closer to my
job in midtown, and the fact I chose not to have a roommate, I wasn’t going to
be able to swing it without a guarantor. Luckily, my grandfather agreed to help
me out.
Before I arrived, my broker had me collect the documents
that leasing agents would most likely require once I found a place I liked. The
real estate market in New York is ridiculously fast-paced. You have to be ready
to move quickly once you find something you like or else, it’ll be gone. I
learned that the hard way!
Feeling quite optimistic and ready to find my new home, I
looked at two places the afternoon of my arrival in the city. The first place
was WAY bigger than I had imagined a NY apartment being. It was a one bedroom
and had quite a large kitchen area and living room. As I was looking around I
started thinking that it was pretty spacious and I liked it. Then came its
quirky charm…the shower…was in…the kitchen. What looked like a very unassuming
pantry door, turned out to be the door to an upright shower…right there…in the
kitchen. Like a dum-dum, I did not get a photo of this kitchen shower…but oh
my! I had never seen anything like it in my entire life!
Once we wrapped up there, we went and looked at another
smaller studio apartment. And boy was it smaller than that first one. There was
a decent-sized kitchen, a quite nice bathroom, and then the actual studio part.
I honestly think I would have had to get a twin-size bed…and maybe just a little
loveseat…and that would be all the furniture I could fit. TINY.
My broker and I ended the day talking about what I liked and
didn’t like about those two places and where we were going to be looking the
following day. The next morning, I went and walked around the neighborhood
where the first two places were located and I realized I really liked the area
the first place was in. Kitchen shower and all, I was ready to commit to that
one. I figured it would make a good story one day. When I met up with my broker
to see another place that afternoon, I told her about how I thought I might
want to apply for the first place. We took a look at place number three, which
was a really nice one bedroom, and then we parted ways so she could figure out
how I could apply for apartment number 1 and number 3…in case one was a no go.
You following?
Unfortunately, when we reconvened to look at the next two
places that afternoon, Apartments 1 and 3 were gone. Applications were filed by
strong candidates and there was very minimal chance I would be able to beat out
those applicants. See what I mean about that fast-paced real estate market?
So…onto numbers 4 and 5.
The second of these two places ended up being a really nice
alcove studio. We decided, since I was in a bit of a time crunch and since it
was the favorite of all the available ones I’d seen, I’d go ahead and put in an
application.
Without going into too much detail, the alcove studio didn’t
pan out. The leasing agent and management company kept requesting more and more
personal documents regarding myself and my grandpa, mostly my grandpa, in order
to approve me. They weren’t satisfied with bank statements and tax returns.
They kept wanting more. It became pretty apparent that they really didn’t want
to give me the apartment. Every time we sent them a new document, they asked
for more. This lasted about four days before my grandpa pulled the plug and
said no more. It was frustrating, but also a relief to just say okay we’re out.
While all this was happening, I looked at two more places
and found another I really liked. But alas, it already had an application and
security deposit. Another one bites the dust. Total apartment count as of now:
7
Finally on Tuesday afternoon, my broker and I looked at 5
more apartments and guess what….apartment number 12 ended up being THE ONE! (For
all you Aggies, pretty cool it ended up being the 12th apartment I
looked at, am I right?) Finally after nearly a week of searching, trying to
stay positive, and a tearful phone call with my dad, I found an apartment! And
it’s pretty adorable, even if I have to climb up four flights of stairs to get
there. We moved quickly and two days later, on September 3rd, I was
signing a lease.
The only problem was, I couldn’t move in until September 8th….My
mom had come in to town to help me get settled and had a flight home on the 7th…and
we were going to be homeless when our friend left to visit Texas the next day…
As you can see….I may have found an apartment, but there was
still much more adventure to be had….
Tune in for Part 3 tomorrow!
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