The Apartment Search

Looking at apartments is rarely fun, but NYC puts its own spin on it. For starters, apartments go very quickly, so I have been advised to decide quickly. One person told me, "If you see something you think you MIGHT like, take it."

I'm still trying to fight the shock at sticker price and small spaces. Basically, I will be getting 1/3 of the space I have in Dallas for 3 times the cost. But hey, no car payment or insurance...

"Luxury" is a term used loosely here. Some of the places that boast "luxury apartments" should not be able to print that word on their signs. There should be some level of standard for "luxury."

Brokers are NY's special gift to renters. You have to use a broker to even get in to most of the buildings, and a broker's fee is typically 15% of your annual rent. Like realtors, some are more palatable than others, and I received many suggestions to use more than one.

I got two referrals for brokers. The first is a friend of a new coworker, and he was great. Very low-key, nice and knowledgeable about the area we were in. He showed me some terrific places, (definitely what I call "luxury"), but they were more than I had originally thought I'd spend. According to NY standard, I can afford it on my salary, but it still seems like a lot to me.

The second broker was actually a colleague of the person I was referred to, who happens to be in Florida on vacation this week. This colleague is a skinny, petite, NYer who looked and acted like a character from a movie or Sex and the City. She obviously misjudged me - what is important to me, the standard of living I'm looking for, and what I can afford - and she showed me these old, run-down buildings that were pretty lame. Well, one had a nice view of the East River. The closets were insanely small, and she tried to convince me that this is standard for anything I'm going to see. Unfortunately for her, the luxurious places I had seen previously with the other broker don't meet her description.

I decided to go with the nicest place I saw. It's a brand new building (still finishing construction, actually), so I'll be the first one to live in my unit. The doorman wears white gloves (!), there's a fitness center and lap pool, and it's in a great neighborhood, Tribeca. The name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street." My 1-bedroom apartment has granite countertops, a washer and dryer in the apartment (unheard of in NYC), and beautiful marble tile in the bathroom. The windows in the living room and bedroom look southwest. From my view, I can see the new construction going on at the World Trade Center and see some of the Hudson River. It definitely feels like luxurious living.