Housing Hustle

Finding a sublet on Craigslist is time consuming and frustrating. A friend had found me a month long sublet in Park Slope Brooklyn. I was excited. Then a week before my move date, the guy cancels on me and I'm forced to start my search over again. An entire week was spent replying to every single ad in New York that fit my crieteria of location, cost, and duration. Before I left Michigan, I managed to set up three housing appointments, two of which only came through. It a flipping numbers game.

The first was in Prospect Heights Brooklyn, next to Park Slope. The place was OK, at best. It was located on a major 6 lane road that housed the Brooklyn Museum and Library on one side of the street and nothing but housing on the other side. The subway was 15 min in either direction. Two bedrooms separated by a small kitchen, no living room. Old building. The roommate was a 30 yr old teacher who taught twice a week and stayed at home the rest of the week, in poor health physically and mentally.

The second place was in Harlem, two blocks from Columbia. The subways is literally a block away.. you turn a corner and it's right there. It's been remodeled recently so the foyer has red marble floors, and the apartment itself has new hardwood floors and new drywall. The kitchen and living room are upstairs and the bedrooms are downstairs. My room is gigantic. It must be 15' by 20'. There's enough room for a large bed, a couple couches, and an office area The window leads out to a private patio area that is fenced in from the alley, which is also fenced in from the street. There is one roommate who's a grad student and seems real chill and cool.

It just feels shady saying telling people that their apartment is your number one choice, when in fact, I say that to everybody. Then you step in their apartment and put on your best face, saying everything right except "yes i'll move into the apartment." You walk out the door with your own opinions of the place, hoping the next is better, yet not wanting to jeoporadize anything. It feels like such a hustle, like you're dating two chicks at once.