5 Weeks

Well today is day #36 of my NYC apartment search. No luck. I don’t really want to list what was wrong with the three apartments I saw last week, because as I make the list in my head some of the complaints now seem a bit silly. But some are truly legitimate: no windows in the living room, or no counters or cabinets in the kitchen.

It seems to me that searching for an apartment is the adult equivalent of looking for a prom/homecoming dance dress. You can see “THE” dress in your mind— perfect color, great fit, right price… But in the real world, the dress/apartment probably does not exist.

If I haven’t said it before, brokers suck!! I still don’t know what they do for the $2,000-$3,000 I will end up paying for their “service” and getting information out of them is like pulling teeth. Yesterday my parents and I went to look at one of the apartments I had seen earlier in the week. I thought I could like it, but in the end I decided no. Anyway, the broker says she might have a “two room studio” to show me today. But we had to go around in circles with this lady to discover what a 2-room studio actually is. The 1st room is obviously a living room, but is the second room a bedroom?...apparently not! Perhaps it the foyer/entryway that is “large enough to store a bike?”...”no, the foyer is the foyer,” the broker said indignantly. No, the second “room” is the kitchen… duh Erin! I would say that someone should write a book of rental terminology in New York City, but the truth is that definitions are completely fluid, free to change at the whim of each broker.

[As an aside, my parents deserve the Nobel Patience Prize for dealing with my state of extreme unhappiness!]

Don’t get me wrong, I really do like my job. But the apartment search has just about done me in. One of my favorite transatlantic organizations is hiring a press officer in Brussels and the thought of applying is currently more than just a silly passing thought in my mind. My colleagues say that their apartment searches took 2-3 months. Sigh!