Our Apartment

Our apartment is great. It was the first apartment we saw on the Monday morning that we started looked at apartments. Paul had replied to a Craigslist ad for an apartment in Nolita (our neighborhood the previous summer), and of course the Craigslist ad was posted by a broker. We were completely uninterested in working with a broker and paying the insane broker fees, but her Craigslist ad got us into the office and we had no other appointments until the afternoon, so we went ahead with the appointment. Those brokers are tricky. The broker asked us our max budget and a list of priorities and did a quick search of apartments…and we never did see the (less expensive) apartment from that original Craigslist ad. Again, those brokers are tricky! We liked the first apartment (our apartment!), but it was the first apartment, so we had to keep looking. The second apartment the broker showed us was off the list. It was a loft and Paul was too tall to stand up in the lofted bedroom.

Apartment number 3 was the WORST! The awkward, sweaty-handed broker had posted it on Craigslist as “perfect for couples.” It was a hovel. The linoleum floor was peeling, the kitchen was dollhouse sized with rusted appliances from the 1950s, and it was dark. When the broker asked us if it would work for us, we both responded with an emphatic NO! We were supposed to see a second apartment with him, but I guess he decided that showing us another apartment based on his misleading ads wasn’t worth his time. On the way down the stairs he ducked into another apartment without a word and we never saw him again.

We looked at 3 more apartments near Soho and the East Village. Sigh, I loved those apartments. High floors, hurricane windows to keep out the noise of the New York City traffic, modern kitchen with granite countertops, washer/dryer, open floor plan, doorman, gym, and gorgeous rooftop. We briefly considered doubling our apartment budget, but eventually decided that we had to be rational…

The last apartment was saw was in Tribeca, but several blocks south of the first apartment we had seen. It was nice, but no washer/dryer and pretty far south of our ideal neighborhood: Nolita!

We ended our day-long apartment hunt with a few margaritas and guacamole back at Dos Caminos and starting discussing our options when Paul got an email from our broker telling us that our apartment was going on the market the next morning and that we had to act fast. Of course we were wary of her broker tricks, but we decided that it was by far the best apartment we had seen that day. After a token drop in the rent and INTENSE haggling over her broker fee (and a few more margaritas!), we committed to the apartment! We spent the next day gathering tax returns, letters of employment, and landlord recommendations from years back and we signed the lease and collected our keys on Wednesday. I immediately called the movers and they were able to delivery everything to our place early Friday morning. Now it’s just a matter of unpacking…and getting rid of furniture fit for our Charlottesville-sized place…

Please visit us!

Our Kitchen!




Living Room with southern exposure, which we were assured is the most desirable of the exposures.


Bedroom.


I can't believe we have a washer/dryer... My officemate at work will be thankful ;)


Boxes Everywhere!

Back in the USA!

We are back from our trip! We arrived in NYC late Saturday night, October 9th, after a little 6-hour flight from Bangkok to Tokyo and a lovely 13-hour business class flight to New York (thanks to American Airlines miles and a lot of persistence on Paul’s part). And we have been staying with Paul’s parents in Westchester, who had delicious homemade mac and cheese waiting for us when we arrived after our 36-hour-long October 9th.

Despite the jet lag, we managed to drag ourselves into the city on Sunday to start scoping out apartments…and to satisfy my obsession with brunch at Dos Caminos. By Monday, we were trekking all over the city (well, all over below 14th street!) looking for a place to live. Monday night, we committed to an apartment. Tuesday, we gathered all the documentation required for our application. Wednesday, we went back into the city to sign the lease and collect our keys. And Friday the movers had all our belongings in our apartment by 9AM. And we were officially moved in! We live just a couple of blocks from the Canal metro stop.

I will try to keep “blogging” about our trip (aka, just writing about what we did when I have time).