Movin' on up, Part 2
“You can’t always get what you want” – The Rolling Stones.
Mick wasn’t kidding when he penned that song. And I’m not talking about crazy wishes like Austin Power’s arch nemesis, Dr. Evil, wanting sharks with lasers on their heads. I’m talking reasonable wishes, like 2 bedrooms and 2 baths in Lower Manhattan with natural light, lots of storage, washer & dryer in-unit, updated kitchen & baths with a monthly rent that doesn’t exceed the GDP of the United States. But I digress…
When I last left you, my husband and I had decided to graduate into being bona fide grown-ups and upgrade to a 2 bedroom apartment in anticipation of the arrival of our son a few months later. Now the fun begins…
Every New Yorker needs to decide what you can and cannot live without when looking for an apartment. I don’t care if you are a billionaire dripping in diamonds and gold. There will be compromise when you look for an apartment. That’s what happens when millions of people seek to live on the same tiny island. As a broker, I try to communicate this to clients to manage expectations at the start of an apartment search. However, inevitably, most have to learn that lesson on their own after seeing what is available at their particular price point in person. Rarely do expectations perfectly match one’s initial budget.
I know these facts to be true, and yet even I have to go through this exercise with myself as well. Like Goldilocks tasting an infinite amount of imperfect porridge, I couldn’t seem to find the apartment that was just right. This place was too dark. That place wouldn’t fit our dining table. Another place didn’t have a washer & dryer. Where were we willing to compromise? What did we absolutely need?
My husband and I came down to the realization that all we really needed was ample storage, an updated kitchen, and a washer & dryer in-unit (do you know how much dirty laundry a newborn produces?). We widened the boundaries of the neighborhood in which we hoped to live and then I stalked our prey, searching for new listings multiple times a day every day. If an apartment looked remotely interesting, we’d hasten to visit it in person. And it paid off.
We visited “the” apartment within hours of it being listed and knew not to wait. All of the hard decisions about what we could and could not live with had already been hashed out. All of our requirements were met (plus a few bonus items) and there wasn’t a single deal-breaker to be found. It wasn’t the perfect apartment. But it is perfectly fine for us right now.
Two months before the arrival of our amazing baby boy, we moved into our 2 bedroom Manhattan apartment. No longer will we be raising our little oak in a thimble. Relief…