Little Paris in Manhattan

  With Cameron going off to college next fall Jeff and I were determined to move into a new apartment this Spring.  Our lease was not up until June 1st, but we decided to start looking in February to get a sense of what was on the market in our price range. We went to an open house and although the apartment wasn't right for us the realtor had some ideas about getting us out of our lease early.  We told him that we don't have to move, we actually have a good rent for the size of our apartment, and our dream location is the tony Riverside Drive which I nicknamed "Little Paris". He took on the challenge.

  Our landlord on Manhattan Avenue is  huge corporation that has about 30 properties in the Columbia University area.  They are very impersonal and certainly are not quick to respond unless there is water leaking through the ceiling.  I don't know how many times I called in regards to rodent issues only to be ignored or to be told to put out mouse traps.  So with that said I had very little faith that they would be willing to let us out of our lease early. The only thing that we had on our side was that since the owner's bought the building two years ago they have been flipping the apartment and doubling the rent, and they could certainly take our outdated apartment, flip it and get almost a thousand dollars more a month in rent. Craig, our realtor, suggested that we list our apartment as a "lease break" and get tenants in for the remaining three months of our lease, but since I knew for certain that he owner's would be renovating the apartment and charging a thousand dollars more a month I knew that was not a reasonable option. Plus I did not want to be responsible for the sublet. Craig then said that he had contacts with our landlord and he thought they would let us out early, so that they could renovate the apartment before the busy rental season began in the summer. So there was all this conversation about getting us out of our apartment, but Craig had not shown us any rental options that were making me want to give up my current place. I was feeling rushed out my apartment so that he could rent it and obtain the fee, pushing me into an undesirable rental that he would also collect the fee on.  I hated to be cynical, but that's how it felt.

  I was out of town one weekend with Cameron and Jeff was calling me with rental options that Craig was showing him.  They were either over budget or not in the area of the city that I wanted to live. I know that you can get an amazing place in Harlem, but I DON"T want to live in Harlem. I was beginning to feel panicked.  I got home on a Sunday night and on Monday evening Craig had an apartment he wanted us to see. He had viewed the place during the day and was certain that he had found our dream apartment on 101st Street half a block from my dream location of Riverside Drive. It was $100 over budget and I was already feeling squeezed by the budget we had given him, but we agreed to see it.  There was nothing not to love.  It's the second floor of a brownstone with original parquet floors, crown molding, a bay window, and a deck!  Needless to say we told Craig to put our bid in and asked for a two year lease to neutralize the extra rent over time.

  Now mind you,. it's March and we still have three months on our current lease.  It was like taking a bridge loan. All the while our realtor is telling us that he can get us out of our lease early.  We get all of our paperwork together and submit our application with sheer blind faith that things will fall into place. Our lease was accepted on a Thursday and we moved on Tuesday. Craig made some magical calls and told me that our former rental company had agreed to us leaving two and a half months early. I gave one week's notice to our landlords that we were moving.  Again, all I have is my realtor telling me it was all good. On the day before we moved I got a return email from the landlord's secretary asking me for our forwarding address so that they could send us our security deposit back.  On the morning of our move the actual owner of the building, Jimmy, stopped by to take a look at the apartment that he would soon be renovating.  I told him that we would paint Cameron's room back to the original white and he said not to bother because the apartment would be gut renovated. He said do a "broom cleaning" and leave the rest because everything would be torn out anyway.  When I sent the secretary my forwarding address I dared to ask for the remaining two weeks of March rent that I had already paid be returned to us.  I had my deposit and the prorated rent at the end of the week.  I still don't know what happened.  The stars aligned.  I could feel it happening, but it wasn't until it had all passed that I allowed myself to believe it.

  Some information on moving in New York City:  We tried to move last year by looking for a "no fee" apartment, but we couldn't find anything decent. All the really good places hire rental brokers to vet their renters and the brokers charge the renters a fee. The fee is normally 10% of the year. Then there is the first month and security.  To move a two bedroom, 1,100 sq. foot apartment cost $1,500, which considered the two flights of stairs in the brownstone.  We certainly had more boxes than was in the original moving estimate but the moving company foreman told me that if we added extra to the tip he would take the extra boxes and clothes.  So add on 25% tip for the movers. By the time we were done we barely had two nickels to rub together, but we are in!  And we can save on dining out by eating on our lovely new deck!