Apartment Hunting - A full contact sport!

A friend recently said to me, "From what I hear, apartment hunting in NYC is a full contact sport". After viewing 40 apartments over the last four and a half weeks, we have finally signed a lease! And yes, it is a full contact sport!

And what a broad spectrum of potential abodes we saw. We looked in TriBeCa, the Financial District, NoLIta, the Lower East Side, the West Village, the East Village, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, the Flatiron District, and the Upper West Side.

We looked at the insanely tiny (this is New York after all), and apartments up 5 flights of stairs (which I couldn't be convinced to traverse each day with a baby under one arm and the stroller under the other - not to mention the groceries!).

There were one bedrooms (in which we were supposed to erect additional walls to create a second bedroom aka "cupboard" for the baby to sleep in - because he doesn't take up much room right?).

There was the apartment block I was denied entry to because "babies are not permited on building sites" - a fact which may make living there difficult since the baby is non negotiable.

We saw an "apartment" which was actually a sewing factory (and the fact that the dress Whoopi wore to the Oscars this year was made there will not make me want to live there more - no matter how often you repeat it).

There was the loft with the "6 foot" ceiling in the second bedroom (interesting that I could not stand up being that I am 6 foot and no I am not mistaken I am not 6 foot 2! And no it won't be perfect for the baby because his mother needs to be able to enter his room without risking concussion).

And there was the apartment Nathan didn't even let me see - retreating out shaking his head.

Then there were the brokers! Like used car salesmen but somehow worse. We met no fewer than 5 brokers and, with exception of Lior our final broker, all were useless. Sentences would start as follows:
"Now I know this is above your price range but..."
"This isn't a true 2 bedroom but..."
"This apartment does have some stairs but..."
"That air conditioning unit isn't the correct fit so it is packed in the space with bubble wrap. Not attractive but it works" (don't worry about the choking hazard not to mention risk of small child falling through the gap!)
"There is no washer/dryer but do you know you can send your laundry out to be done?"
"This apartment is a little small but..."

And the list goes on!

Then finally there was the Forward Building in Manhattan's Lower East Side. I literally heard angels begin to hum "Aaaahhhhh" as we entered.

• 24 hour doorman (tick)
• Elevator entry to apartment (tick)
• Washer & dryer (tick tick)
• 1,435 square feet (tick x 1,435 squared)
• 2 complete bedrooms (tick tick)
• View onto a park (tick)
• Children's playground in that park (tick)
• Lovely open kitchen (tick)
• 2 bathrooms & a tub (tick tick tick)
• Bike storage facilities (tick)
• Additional storage space (bonus)
• Roof deck (bonus)
• Built in very large flat screen tv (bonus)
• Famous land lord (cool)
• Famous neighbour (extra bonus and cool)!

Of course, one final note should be, that whislt we looked at a staggering 40 apartments in the flesh, hundreds more were perused and discounted online. All of which was completed on the 11 cm x 6 cm screen of my iPhone (being that our computer is in storage).

We may be left bruised and bloodied, and in need of new glasses, but we have a place to live. Isn't that what this contact sport is all about anyway!?