Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye. Where to even begin.
So, as you heard, I got the Nightly Show job. (Whaaaat?) Meaning it then became time to look for a place, ’cause you know, I gotta stay somewhere if I’m gonna work full-time, right?
I actually did a tiny bit of looking at apartments before my interview, just kinda like, “eh, I’m here, why not?”
And from the moment I walked out of the Nightly Show building, my apartment search got real!
All the horror stories I heard about looking for places in New York were true – realtors telling you they had a great place, just to say, “Oh, that one just left the market, but now that you’re here, let’s go to this other place” once you get there…
(Now, places do go quickly. So, I suppose it’s a possibility that that’s actually a real thing that just looks super bad. But it was annoying.)
I also was brought to a “two-room” place that was a studio. Granted, I only need a studio. But still! It was something I’d actually already seen. So it was a waste of everyone’s time. I hadn’t seen any two-room places, which is why I didn’t mention anywhere I’d been before to this realtor. She wasn’t showing me a studio, so why would I mention studios I’d seen? …Oh. Because she actually was showing me a studio.
Aye, aye, aye.
Of course every place was small. And expensive. Some were weirder than others. Some had cooler things than others.
There were some that didn’t even have bathrooms.
And there was legitimately a point where I asked myself, “Do I really neeeeed a bathroom?”
…Or should I pay more than I paid to live in my gorgeous LA place to still not have a bathroom?! (These are real questions I asked myself that of course seem silly now.)
Ultimately, the apartment I went with was the biggest studio I saw for the lowest price, and I found it the day after I started my job. (And it’s rent stabilized and within walking distance from work! So, I definitely lucked out there…)
I also learned that it seems like winter is the best time to move. I got in in October, which is still a pretty good time, but my understanding is that rents drop even a little lower once you get to November. Nonetheless, what I needed was open when I needed it. An that was lovely.
The realtor was nice enough to show it to me at night (when many realtors were all, “daytime only!” (which of course was hard, ’cause I was working a lot).
So, it seems like everything’s coming up roses! Or is it? (Well, it is pretty much. But goodness there was a bump in the road – which we’ll get to tomorrow.)