How to Find a Place to Live
If you come to New York alone to restart life, you’re either insane or too optimistic to care about how difficult your life is about to become.
Rest assured it will be difficult, unless of course you were given a relocation stipend to begin a six-figure dream job that is going to pay nicely for your brownstone apartment in Park Slope.
But I did it. I am proof, someone from the cushy West Coast, that if you are extremely determined and slightly out of your mind, you will be rewarded. And while rewards are subjective, the only one I truly cared about was being able to stay in that incredible city. I refused to be banished, at least on terms that I couldn’t control.
And here’s what I learned from packing up my life and finding myself without a place to stay in the midst of interning for one of New York’s most celebrated chefs (without pay):
- Pack light.
Pack only what you are certain you can handle alone. Pack only what you are sure you can lift off an airport carousel, into a taxi, out of a taxi, up five flights of apartment stairs, down three flights of subway steps and around Midtown Manhattan during rush hour. Avoid the pathetic effort to lighten a sixty pound suitcase by leaving your least favorite pair of flats by a trash can in hopes that a homeless person can make some good use out of them.
- Always have cash for a potential down payment/proof of seriousness.
Finding a room in that city is as hard as finding a life partner. Almost. It’s competitive, it’s a crap shoot, it’s exhausting as hell. But in the chance you stumble upon a gem of a room that you’ll definitely take if offered, provide the very enticing option of a little money upfront.
- Along those lines, always always go see a room in person.
Perhaps I’m the only fool who needed to learn this lesson. But, always make sure you see pictures, make sure you are comfortable in the neighborhood. Walk around after your first visit and feel it out. Would you be okay walking there at night from the subway? Be honest and truthful about your gut-instinct.
- Post your own listing on Craigslist.
Go make a “housing wanted” listing to promote yourself as a normal, sane, hard-working individual who JUST NEEDS A ROOM, PLEASE!! Be relatively honest about who you are and why you’re a great potential roommate and your price range. You have nothing to lose by doing so and at last, you’re the one that gets to sift through the responses.
And this is how I landed my dream place. My first housemate (who I should really refer to as my saving grace) found me this way and reached out first. He said he liked my “spunky post” and through his dry sense of humor and willingness to show me the room right away, I was sure we’d get along and that I wanted to take the room. I still can’t believe that it happened this way. But happened it did, and if it can work for me, it might certainly work for you.
