Okay, okay, I get it. Nobody feels sorry for me because most people have to make cross-country moves for law school and I’m probably only going to move a couple blocks away. But still! Finding an apartment in New York City is super stressful and makes me believe that Dante forgot to include a circle in Hell reserved for real estate brokers.

Columbia is one of the few top law schools that guarantees housing for all three years. As with most things that at first seem too good to be true, so was this. Right now I’m living in a converted three bedroom apartment with two other girls on the upper east side. I thought University housing would save me a considerable amount of money so I wanted to take a tour of the apartments when I was at an admitted students program a few weeks ago. Only the studio apartments interested me since, at 25, I’m far too old and ornery to throw myself into a random mix of strangers for the next three years like I did in undergrad. So I toured a studio and it was cute, but FAR more money than I expected to pay. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we’re in a somewhat troubled housing market right now. Incidentally, that works out quite nicely for me, a renter. But apparently CLS hasn’t gotten the memo.

So I’ve decided to find a new apartment on my own. I’m torn about moving to the west side though. I really don’t want to do it. As it is, I’m far enough away from my friends (who mostly live in Brooklyn or Queens). But my tour guide said most students (something like 95%) live on campus and I worry that I’ll feel socially alienated living so “far” away. Then again, I want to make sure I maintain my non-law school life (see: Resolutions) which means putting in face time with my friends in the boroughs.

In New York, apartment listings generally pop up about 30 days prior to move-in. Browsing Craigslist.com, I’m still seeing ads for June 1 move-in dates even though May is more than half over. I understand that not everyone has an obsessive compulsive need to plan out every detail of their lives months in advance, but this is a little ridiculous.

All that aside, here is the REAL dilemma: I put in my notice at work and informed my boss that I would like July 2 to be my last day. I really wanted a nice long break before law school starts and I give my soul over to Columbia. Six weeks ought to do it. But what I failed to consider is New York’s collective procrastination when it comes to apartment listings. Ideally, for a September 1 lease (as my current lease runs out August 31 meaning I get to move after classes start – but another ranting post on that later) I would start apartment hunting in late July/early August. But at that point, I will no longer be gainfully employed. Landlords like to see recent pay stubs, the previous year’s tax return, a letter of employment, etc. from a lease applicant. I need to prove I make 40x the rent. Failing that, I would need a guarantor who makes 80x the rent. But I don’t have one of those lying around.

I’ll wait until the June listings come out and if anything acceptable turns up for September, I’ll jump on it. If, however, I’m forced to wait until later in the summer…well then I might just be forced into committing some kind of crafty deception. I’ll keep you updated.

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