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What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

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#2

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

It's dead-on. I just spent the last three weeks doing this.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#3

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

I saw this last night. It reminded me of my early days in New York. The whole "roommate who doesn't actually want you to live there" bit is so freaking true--I always laugh when I read those ads.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#4

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

Kad, hopefully you're ok. Whenever I hear that someone just moved or was apartment hinting here, I want to buy them a massage and a full weekend at a spa to help them relax.
#5

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

Yeah, I've looked at Craigslist a bunch of times, just because I was curious. Not completely serious yet. But, I don't get the ads for the roommates and the person basically will let you pay half of their rent and that's it. I also love the ones that are like "You have full use of the kitchen, but you can't use the stove or cook meat because I'm a vegetarian. But, it's totally cool if you aren't."
"I don't want the pretty lights to come and get me."-Homecoming 2005 "You can't pray away the gay."-Callie Torres on Grey's Anatomy. Ignored Users: suestorm, N2N Nate., Owen22, master bates
#6

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

But, I don't get the ads for the roommates and the person basically will let you pay half of their rent and that's it. I also love the ones that are like "You have full use of the kitchen, but you can't use the stove or cook meat because I'm a vegetarian. But, it's totally cool if you aren't."

Moving into someone's existing apartment can be difficult. Many times, the person you are moving in with can tend to treat you like a guest, rather than a co-inhabitant. If you find yourself in such a case, you basically have to assert yourself and say that you're not a guest--you pay rent, this is your home, etc.

That said, if you can tell that there will be red flags from the ad, it's probably best just to not even put yourself in that situation.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#7

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

I am fine now that I have a place lined up. I was literally seeing a place or two in the morning, going to work, then seeing two more places afterward at night every night. I'm able to discern which ads are legitimate- everyone I met and the places I saw were, for the most part, fine.

The ads are ridiculous. So many "no living room use, no kitchen use, no guests." Like, what? If you're lucky, someone might have put a microwave and a mini fridge in your room. F*CK your needs, right?
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#8

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

Yes. I find those odd too. I also love the ones where they just give you a number to call with no information. You bothered to make an ad on Craigslist, so surely you can at least say what the person would be paying for.
"I don't want the pretty lights to come and get me."-Homecoming 2005 "You can't pray away the gay."-Callie Torres on Grey's Anatomy. Ignored Users: suestorm, N2N Nate., Owen22, master bates
#9

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

Basically, if I see an ad that says anything like the examples Kad gave, it's an immediate red flag for me and I don't even pursue it. That said, back a few years when I was looking for a roommate situation, I encountered a couple people who had normal sounding ads that turned out to be that way when I met them for interviews. Basically, you want to be treated like a roommate, not like a guest who's overstayed his welcome.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#10

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

I don't live in NYC, but I've heard the horror stories on this board and elsewhere about trying to find a place to live there.

Based on that link, I think apartment hunting in NYC would drive me bonkers!
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
#11

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

According to NYS law, a room cannot be called a bedroom if it doesn't have a window. Now, I know on Craigslist this is meaningless but if you are using a real estate agent, keep an eye out for this.
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
#12

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

That article has reminded how amazingly fortunate I was when I moved from Miami back to the New York Tri-State area 2 years ago. I was blessed to have friends with a HUGE home renting out a room with it's own private bathroom...and if I posted what I am paying a month for my digs you would all want to kill me. So, it's good to have great friends who've got your back...
#13

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

That about sums up my last two apartment hunting experiences and why I have only moved once in the last 6 years.
#14

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

Amen to the one about cleaning up before showing people your apartment. How about doing that before photographing and placing the ad for it in the first place? Make your bed and throw out your garbage, while you're at it! Some of those gross pictures blow my mind. How do people not even think about making a good impression?
#15

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

Carlos, when you say you're in the New York Tri-State area, does that mean you're living in Bridgeport?

I've been in NY since 1980, so I still have that mindset that "New York" means "Manhattan between Canal and 86th."

I did ONE roommate situation with a stranger in like 1988 - it lasted 4 months; sometimes it works, but most often it doesn't, because this city make people INSANE. If you gotta live with someone, and you're older than 30, it needs to be a friend or lover.

The place I have now, I've had since 1990. It's something of a dump, but it's a cheap (that's a relative term, out-of-towners) dump in Manhattan.
#16

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

Some of those places look like the previous renter is currently in prison for kidnapping and rape, but they just left his stuff there and bumped up the rent to list it as "furnished".
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#17

What It's Like Apartment Hunting In NYC

When I moved from LA to NYC, I expected to see signs in windows that said "For Rent". Then I was told you needed a broker. Whaaaaaat?
"Through The Sacrifice You Made, We Can't Believe The Price You Paid..For Love!"

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