My Story: Apartment Finding

Courtney and I flew directly from Newport Beach to New York to hunt for an apartment.
We were up early Saturday morning and hit the pavement hard. Literally. We both were wearing our flip flops and ended up walking over 11 miles a day, up and down the west side. By day 3 our feet were broken.

We looked at about 13 apartments on Saturday and 10 more on Sunday. We mapped out our routes between 72nd and 96th sometimes backtracking to make it to various open houses or appointments with brokers. We were busy all day, stopping at mealtimes to evaluate the apartments we'd seen, rate the ones Courtney liked best and check the notes we'd made on each one.

Saturday's apartments were numbered on the map. Sundays were lettered so I could keep them all straight. And we remembered their key features. Our very first apartment on 72nd was a great contender -- nicknamed "Maria" because that's the name of the owner who met us there. Then "Justine," the broker, (on Amsterdam) was next and also a great apartment but only had one closet.

"96th" was too far away. Was just a different feeling. "Matt the Super" showed us two in his building but both had awkward kitchen layouts and not great light. "David" (another broker) was a great apartment on 82nd and the windows looked out on a large area of fire escapes -- which was a lot better than just a light shaft. 5th floor walk-up, but still a contender. "Highrise on WEA that we went to twice" was an awkward layout and only light shafts out of windows. "Brick wall #1 with guy on computer" was a nice apt. with an older kitchen but seemed farther away as it sat closer to Central Park West. So was "Brick Wall #2 that we went to later in the day."

"Evan with another guy" showed us two new apartments that were TINY but one had a huge rooftop area. He was also really weird when Courtney called to ask him about another apartment. He said, "I wouldn't even show you that one because you're not going to like it. Courtney said she thought the first two were a little small and he said, "Maybe you need to increase your budget." We think maybe he thought she was another client as we'd only met him once and never talked about our budget or her style?! Made us laugh. And finally, a doorman high-rise on 71st with a few newly remodeled apartments that were also tiny and wouldn't hold a couch in the kitchen so were a lot more like dorms.

We were so glad to get back to our hotel and rest. And when the alarm went off at 8:00 p.m. I next to shouted, "Courtney get up, it's already 8!" We didn't want to miss our plan of checking out Columbia before it got dark.

The next morning started with 9:00 church. Testimony meeting in the family ward which was sweet and inspirational. Glad we went. We quickly changed our clothes at home after and started our search again.

"Ryan's apartment" (whose girlfriend just broke up with him which was extra sad because of the two wedding announcements on the fridge) had tons of storage and also was right on Amsterdam. Another on Amsterdam we liked but not as much as the others (also a 5th floor walk-up). A no-show.

One building was super old with two apartments to view but one apartment had no storage and the other smelled like Natural Gas. I outlawed that building. Then we saw "couple with a stroller" -- a cute apartment with a great layout that we were showed at the same time as a couple with their baby. It felt right that they should have it instead of Courtney.

We ran through about an 8 story building looking at apartments on every floor that got smaller the higher we got. One didn't even have a bathroom! We kept looking mainly out of curiousity at how small they could possibly get. Too much like dorms.

Closer to West End Avenue we looked at "cute backsplash" at the same time as "guy Facetiming his girlfriend." Courtney decided he and his girlfriend should look at that. (Although I wished I had "couple with a stroller's" number so I could tell them about it!)

Our almost final apartment was on 72nd and entered through a bar. The broker was a no-show. Tired and hungry, we debated if we should stop and choose from the apartments we had on our list. We had a lot of good choices. Courtney was debating if she wanted to live on a quiet street or on busier Amsterdam. Amsterdam might not feel so lonely. But a side street might feel more welcoming to come home to. We had one more apartment on our list but it was way up on 87th. Should we stop? Courtney looked at the photos again and remembered, "This is the one with a back porch." Oh right! Sounds charming. Ok, we'll go. Somehow we got up there before the open house ended. Did we walk or take the subway? I can't remember now.

Ariel showed us two available in the building. It was a quiet street of brownstones. The back patio looked out at more brownstones with gardens and trees. 1st floor walk-up. Two closets -- one extra large. New cabinets in the kitchen and new tile in the bathroom. And with that, Courtney found her home.

We met with the official broker an hour later to fill out paper work and the next morning got up extra early in the pouring rain so we could get downtown to get cashiers checks from our bank. We rushed back uptown and signed the deal, then while her super was finishing cleaning and painting, we measured every inch of the apartment and documented all its features. Every 250 sq ft of it.

We visited my cousin, her husband and baby on Sunday night. They live in a stunningly beautiful apartment in the 20's.
To top it off they have a true naked man living next door. Could watch him clear as day washing his dishes.