And so it begins…

As I sit here on my couch in my Upper East Side Apartment looking out of my window at the NYC skyline, I realize how much my life has changed in the past few years. I remember when living in NYC was just a dream that I never knew would really come to fruition. The first time I realized I wanted to live here was a trip I took to the city with my sister. I only went because my mom didn’t want Amelia to come alone. She had an interview weekend with the company she was interning with at the time. I wasn’t able to accompany her at any of the events they held so I had to keep myself entertained. I sat in coffee shops and walked around the city by myself. I sat on a bench next to the Hudson River watching countless runners pass me by. I listened to conversations of those around me wondering what it would be like to actually live here. That visit was in March of 2014 – almost four years ago. At that time I knew that it was just a dream. I was getting close to a promotion at my firm that I had been working really hard for and my mom was ill. My mom was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer when I was a senior in college at FSU. I was studying abroad in London when the diagnosis came. To say that was a hard time to be away from home is an understatement. I took so many pictures while I was there and uploaded them daily so my mom could look at them while she was in the hospital. You can still go back to my Facebook albums and see all of the pictures. Many friends and family members commented that there were too many to look at but I know my mom looked at every single one. When I graduated from FSU, I knew that I had to move back home to be close to my mom so I accepted a position in Columbus, an hour away. I spent most of my weekends at home spending time with my family and in 2014, I had been with the firm for about two years. After that trip with my sister, I started looking online at NYC apartments and made a list of what I thought were things I couldn’t live without. I actually went back and referenced that list on my phone when it came time to move three years later.

My list included the following:

• Doorman
• Laundry in building or hook-up
• Air Conditioning
• Dishwasher
• Walk in Closet
• Elevator
• WiFi
• Brick Exposed Wall for character
• Hardwood Floors
• Bedroom large enough for a queen size bed and a dresser

I ended up getting everything but the brick exposed wall and hardwood floors. I’d say that’s not too shabby when you consider the NYC rental market. I’ll get back to that later on.

[My sister and I in NYC in 2014]

I ended up getting my promotion early in the firm and in the fall of 2015 after we got some good news about my mom’s health, I decided it was time to seriously entertain the idea of moving to NYC. I told the HR department and my career coach that I would like to transfer sometime the next fall in 2016 before the 2017 busy season started and they encouraged me to wait it out until after that busy season when I would be up for my next promotion. I reluctantly agreed knowing that I would have to wait at least a year and a half. Not two weeks later, my mom ended up in the hospital with a horrific brain bleed caused by her cancer spreading into her spinal fluid and she was considered a non-survivable admit. I could write an entire book on the months we spent in the hospital but I won’t – at least not now. I will say this though – she did survive the brain bleed and we had four more months with my mom before she passed away from the cancer spreading during that time. The weeks following my mom’s death were a dark time for myself and my family. Our family was shown so much kindness and I’ll never forget it from those who drew near to us. After her death, I went back to work and to my life with a new sense of purpose. I wanted to continue living my life in a way that would make my mom proud of me. I was sad and grieving in my own way but I had a new spring in my step. I knew that life was short and that you had to make every moment count. I went on new adventures and signed up to help out in the community as much as my schedule would allow. I took care of my staff at work and I made sure to make time for friends and family near and far. I even challenged myself and starting running races. I used to be the person who would say if you see me running it’s only because someone must be chasing me, but lo and behold in that year, I ran my first half marathon. I even met the man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with but that’s a sad story for another day. Losing my mom was terrible, but it gave me the courage to live out my dreams and in January of 2017, I finally got the call from HR that my transfer to NYC was actually happening.

My search for an apartment went into high gear. I spent so much time on the internet looking at all sorts of online listings trying to figure out which apartment would be the perfect one for me (and my then fiancé). Let me tell you moving to NYC is like moving to no other place in the world. I would call places I was interested in and they would tell me that I was calling much too soon. Even bigger buildings were telling me that I needed to wait to contact them until a month out from my move date. Talk about a high stress situation for a type A personality who loves to plan. My transfer date was July 1^st and even in May, it was too soon to look for an apartment. I was working on a special project in Cleveland at the time with a whole slew of New Yorkers and they gave me lots of advice. One of them even gave me the name of the real estate firm she worked with when she moved to the city. I called them and we set a date for a time for me to visit the city to check out apartments. That date was only about two weeks from my move in date.

My real estate broker was extremely nice but after hearing the list of things I could not live without, she said that I was up for quite a surprise. I couldn’t understand why she was so skeptical when I had found so many places online that looked like they were in my price range with everything I wanted and more. Oh but I did once I got here. She had sent me several listings to look at before I arrived. These listings are shady at best. They always seem to leave out pertinent information and the square footage is something no one ever speaks of. However we were able to come to a consensus and we had a healthy list of options to look at when I was to arrive. She also told me I would need to sign an agreement with her before she showed me any apartments guaranteeing that I would pay her the broker fee of 15% of my annual rent which equates to around two months rent and that I would need to bring the following items to make an offer on an apartment.

• Employment letter proving you make 40 times the monthly rent (yes you read that right)
• Two years of tax returns
• Two months of bank statements and any other savings or 401k accounts that you have
• Two most recent pay stubs
• Most recent landlord reference letter
• Enlarged copy of photo ID

I knew getting an apartment in NYC would be challenging but I did not realize it would be like buying a house! I also didn’t realize how much money I would need to make it happen. I had been saving up but not nearly as much as I needed to have saved. Before even moving in I would need to be able to put down two months rent and the broker fee. I had calculated that I could afford around $2,500 – $3,000 per month, especially with the added help of my fiancé, so that meant in total we would need to put down $12,000.

I knew I wanted to live on the Upper East Side near Central Park. Nearly every movie in NYC has scenes in the park and I knew I had to be close by. The UES was also depicted as a safe, family-oriented area and not really being a party person, I knew that this area was the place for me. When I met the broker on that Sunday morning and we started our jaunt, I was feeling excited and nervous at the same time that this was finally happening. The first apartment she took us to was nothing like I had asked for. It wasn’t even in the right area. It was a six floor walk-up in midtown. By the time we got to the sixth floor I knew I didn’t want the apartment before we even stepped inside. I could just imagine carrying my groceries up and laundry down toppling all the while. Not to mention what it would be like if I was running late for work or if my shoes were slick from rain or snow outside. It wasn’t a bad apartment on the inside. It was actually a two bedroom like we had asked for but there was no use in spending much time there since we knew it was an absolute no. The next building we went to was an elevator building with a doorman, laundry in the building and a gym. The apartment was a large one bedroom that had been previously converted into two with an amazing view. It was more expensive than we wanted but with all of the features, we knew it was in the running. She did take us to one of the apartments I had found online that I thought was a great deal for a true two-bedroom in the UES for $2,500. What they didn’t tell you online is that the second bedroom was in exchange for the living room. The layout I saw online showed the hallway as the living room. Let me tell you that you couldn’t even fit a coffee table in the “living room” let alone a couch. The broker explained that many listings online are like that. She also said that listings will combine several apartments in one when they post pictures. It all started to make sense as I realize when I was looking at pictures that some apartments would appear to have different kitchens or bathrooms based on the pictures posted. We saw a total of 12 apartments that day. There were three we really liked including the second apartment we saw above. One of the others was an airy fourth floor walk-up that had beautiful French doors into the master bedroom, a true second bedroom and an updated kitchen. The last one we really liked was another doorman building with updated features throughout and an amazing closet. I knew I wouldn’t be happy in the walk-up so that one was removed from the list. The two doorman buildings came down to location and the fact that the more updated one could not be converted into a two bedroom. So we ended up putting an offer down on the second apartment we saw that day. After talking with a few realtors, it became clear that the second place you see tends to be the one you go with. She took us to a place she knew we would say no to first and then charmed us with a more expensive second option. The day overall was tiring and most of the time I had no idea where I really was in the city. As much as the broker fee was, I don’t think I would have been able to find an apartment on my own in that short of time frame without any true connections to the city.

Once we put the offer in, we had to wait two days to find out if we had gotten approved for the apartment. On Wednesday morning I took a bus into the city from my friend Christina’s place in New Jersey and traffic was absolutely terrible. The normally thirty minute bus ride took almost two hours that day. I got into the office in midtown around 10 am. Shortly after arriving, I got a text from the broker letting me know that I had been approved for the apartment and that I needed to have a certified check to the rental office by 3 pm that day. There were two problems standing in my way. The first was that I had a meeting downtown to meet my new coworkers at my new client at noon and would need to leave the midtown office by 11 am to get there in time. The second was that I had told the broker since I banked with a local credit union, I would not be able to get a certified check at that little notice. I began to panic. Luckily my best friend worked at the credit union and I called her to see what could be done. As I made my way across the city, she searched for shared banking for me to be able to get a certified check in time. She found a bank on 59^th street that I could go to after my meeting downtown. I called them and asked them but there was yet another problem. The amount I needed was over the limit for share banking. I called my friend again and she had a letter written for me to get approval for the amount on a one time basis. The trouble was whether or not she could get a supervisor to sign and fax it in time. I sat in my meeting at my new client sweating over whether or not the fax would get there in time. As soon as it was over, I jumped back on the subway and got off at 59^th street. When I couldn’t find this bank I started to panic. I then realized I was on the east side and the bank was on the west side. It was already after 2 pm. I jumped in a cab and got to the bank and I ran into another problem. The bank was inside the ABC building and I didn’t have a pass to get inside. I had to beg the guards to let me in. Finally someone at the bank told the guards that they had gotten a phone call from my bank so they let me in. I stood in front of the teller nervously waiting to find out if the fax had came in approving me to get a check over the limit. It had! They got me my certified check and I ran out of the building as fast as I can to hail a cab back to the east side. The rental office was on 57^th street. While I was in the cab, my broker was texting me that I was late and that she didn’t know if they would hold the apartment for me. I was leaving the next day so I had to get this apartment! My blood was pumping fast and I was sweating with anxiety. I got out of the cab and could not find the building. The broker had transposed the address in her message so I was spinning trying to find a building that didn’t exist. I called her and realized where it was. Once I got up to the right floor covered in sweat, she told me we would have to see if the property manager was still willing to see me. Once we got word that she would, my broker told me she had to leave to make her next appointment and that I would have to do this on my own. What? I was already flustered and now she was leaving me. I sat down with the property manager as she went through every place I needed to sign. She expected me to sign it without reading it. When I started to read through every page, she left me and told me she would come back when I was done. I had a whole slew of questions for her when she came back. When you are paying that much money, you have to make sure you know what you are signing. One of the most interesting things I read in the contract was that if I had servants they were required to use a different elevator… Funny thing since my building only has one set of elevators.

At the end of the appointment, I walked away with a NYC apartment in the UES. I was so exhausted and stressed out that I walked to my hotel at 5 pm and called it a day. As crazy as the apartment search was that day, I’m glad it all worked out the way it did. As I sit here writing this today admiring my view, I know I made the right choice. NYC has so much to offer and I’m going to take it up on as many things as I can. #aliciainthecity