Home Sweet Home

Hmmm...maybe I'm jumping the gun calling it "home." After all, I only have an application in at the apartment--I haven't been approved yet. Maybe I should call it more like "Serendipity Sweet Serendipity." I wasn't even looking at the Gershwin, a new luxury high-rise that is literally across the street from my current temp housing. But I was at the end of my rope with my rental broker and went back to the Internet to do my own searching. Craigslist strikes again.

My "broker" was pressuring me to spend over $3200 a month (despite that being 200 over my highest, absolute top-most limit), and she even decided which neighborhood would be best for me (Upper West Side). I didn’t have much say in it. Come to find out yesterday that she’d stopped searching in other areas of the city just because I’d mentioned to her that I liked the “residential feel” and convenience of the UWS. So I was missing out on other opportunities. I was sick of the game and out of time (and patience) for it.

So….what exactly is the broker's role in all of this? Apparently, it's to do as little as possible for $5 grand or so.

Did I mention that in order to rent in NYC your annual salary needs to be at least 40 times a month's rent? Many places required 45x, not just 40. Astounding. That was another big turnoff. If you don't make that amount, you have to set aside the equivalent of one year's rent in a separate account and have your bank write a "letter of credit." And, get this--you're not allowed to pay your rent out of that account! It still has to come from your income. This is EVEN IF YOU HAVE A COUPLE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS LIQUIDITY. (Pardon my yelling.) :)

Unbelievable. Oh, and watch out for application fees. They range from $50 (acceptable) to $175. Not worth it—especially these days when you can obtain your credit report for free.

So I'm just tickled to death that I walked across the street to the Gershwin yesterday in the pouring rain and met Carol, the wonderful New Yorker in the leasing office. I tell you what, if she hadn't responded to my email so quickly to start out with, I never would've gotten this apartment. She'd just posted the apartment on Craigslist that day, and I was the first to get to it.

I can’t stress it enough to the people of NY: Use Craigslist and sneakernet to find your apartment; stay away from fees and brokers entirely! You’ll save yourself a bundle in both the rent amount and the fee itself.

Carol was so sweet; and when she saw how much I liked the gym/pool/sauna/sun deck area, she offered to throw that in free for the first year (an $875 value)! Then today when I went in to officially apply, she accepted a coupon I’d found on their Web site last night, saving me the $50 application fee. I was sold.

So let’s see if I get it. Carol was pretty positive about my chances, even though my income falls a tad short of the requirement. If I do get it, I’ll move in toward the end of January—the timing is perfect. (A lot of other places wouldn’t take me unless I moved in right away.) The apartment faces North on 50th right smack in the heart of midtown, with a nice nighttime view from the 9th floor. It’s absolutely huge with tremendous closet space. 775 square feet. (I’m serious—it’s the biggest apartment I’d seen since the broker took me out last week.) It’s an end unit with only one shared wall and has windows that wrap all the way around the two outer walls of the living room. Even a kitchen window! The only buildings I’ve seen with kitchen windows are pre-war. But this building is only 6 years old. It’s a few blocks from the Microsoft office, and just a matter of feet from the 1/9 train that I take to the client’s office. I don’t even have to cross a street to get to the subway!

Another rainy day today. Felt like Seattle except that—(I swear)—it rains UP here--up from the sidewalk into your face. Trust me on this.