With my job at JPL ending, and no VMS programming or systems administration prospects in Los Angeles on the horizon, I decided to send my resumé to a few headhunters in New York. I had been planning to go to New York for a weekend vacation towards the end of March (no, I'm not going to link to that circuit party), and figured I could set up a few interviews for that time. It seems that there was quite a shortage of VMS programmers in New York City, especially with Y2K around the corner, as I received lots of responses from the headhunters. So I packed up my only suit and headed to New York. I had three interviews and within a week received two offers. One was easy to turn down, as it was way too corporate and I'd have gone broke buying dress clothes. The other had a casual work environment, a decent salary, and an interesting project.
So I went home, packed up my condo, and found tenants who would take care of my cats until I found an apartment in New York. Three weeks later, after 18 years in Los Angeles and on my 40th birthday, I arrived in New York to start a new job with Instinet.
Until I found an apartment in New York, I would be staying with my college roommate Ron in a fourth floor walkup in the Lower East Side, across the street from two rock & roll clubs, sleeping on his futon couch. I figured I'd be there only a few weeks. The realities of New York City appartment hunting quickly set in. It was six months before I found another place to live.
The first problem with finding an apartment in NYC is that its almost impossible to do without a broker. A broker is a real estate agent who works for the apartment manager but gets paid by the apartment hunter. The only value the broker brings to the apartment hunter is the list of apartments available that day. Its not like the broker has ever seen any of the apartments ahead of time, as an apartment usually lasts three days before being filled. The broker fee is usually 15% of the first year's rent, which is just about 2 months rent. So with first month and a security deposit, you need four month's rent to just move in. With rent for a one bedroom apartment ranging from $2000 to $4000, that's a lot of money to put down at once. You can't even search the newspapers for apartments, as almost all listings are really by brokers expecting their little broker fee.
The second problem is that to be considered for an apartment, you have to be making a decent salary. Most property managers require your yearly salary to be at least 47 times one month's rent. I don't know where they go that number. My new job does pay well, so I did qualify. But they said "You've only had this job a few weeks, so we must use the salary from your previous job." which was in Los Angeles. That job didn't pay anywhere near 47 times the monthly rent. So even though I've owned a house for going on 15 years, and was at my last job for 8 years, I repeatedly got turned down. They said come back when you've been at your new job for a few months.
Months pass. My friend Ron, who's sofa I'm sleeping on, decides to move in with his boyfriend, and asks me to take over the lease of the fourth floor walkup. He wanted to renew the lease, just in case things don't work out in the new apartment, but I only agree to stay through the end of October, the end of the current lease. Also, I've now retreived my two cats from my tenants, who are turning into tenants from hell.
October arrives, and I'm again actively searching for an apartment. I'm even checking out places in Jersey City. Then out of the blue I get a call from someone I had met back in May, asking if I was still looking for a place to live. His roommate is moving out, and as he is out of town most of every month, he's looking for someone he can trust. I check out the apartment, talk things over, and move in November 1st.
For the next year, my cats and I live in the heart of Chelsea, in a very modest 2 bedroom apartment on 16th between 6th and 7th. My roommate is a dance club DJ who is out of town 3/4ths of every month.
more to come...
