*VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE!*

A Little Rewind:

Miss Emmy and I have been looking for housing since, well since BEFORE we got to NY... but really, we started looking the second day we were here.

Our first weekend consisted mainly of Craiglist searching, calling/emailing potential landlords, waiting for potential landlords to call/email us back, setting up meeting times, and hauling our butts over to Brooklyn to check out the places we'd found.

We did have some good leads in Brooklyn, decent prices and okay places, for the most part. A couple "NO WAYS!" (like the no-window, stuffy-beyond-belief, basement apartment we saw first) and a couple "Oh, pretty cools!" (like the three-story Victorian with REALLY cute features and tons of space).

However, nothing was really coming together. Either the potential landlord did not seem to excited about us (like telling us they had SO many people still looking instead of offering a lease) or we just weren't willing to make the 30 minute train ride to a so-so neighborhood for a so-so apartment.

Our New York Friend's roommate, The Only Boy, had a friend who we had heard about prior to The Big Move. She was moving to Virginia and looking to sublet her one-bedroom on 137th St.

When we had arrived in NYC, The Only Boy told us that she already had someone applying, but that he felt it would fall through. After our first weekend plugging away at the house hunt we found out that the applicant for "our apartment" had indeed fallen through.

The Only Boy got us in touch with his friend and went with us to look at the "our apartment" on 137th on our first Monday in NYC (one week ago).

We really liked the apartment.

It was $1100 for a one-bedroom, small, but very cozy, with a bedroom just large enough to fit both of our beds and a roomy living room with plenty of space for both a desk/vanity and a dining table (the bathrooms in NYC are VERY teeny and hard to get ready in, so we have decided most likely a vanity will be needed at some point).

We spoke with The Only Boy's friend about the landlord's requirements... there were MANY. My mom had already faxed us W2s and pay stubs for her and my dad, but it turned out that this guy wanted... TWO years of 1040s (W2s just would NOT do), THREE consecutive pay stubs, SS Card, ID Card, AND a letter of recommendation from a previous landlord (how well do they know their tennants to "recommend" them??)

My poor mom, rushed back to the house on her lunch break, prepared documents for the third time in two days, and faxed everything to us at Our New York Friend's work. I wrote the recommendation letter (having worked for the previous landlord) e-mailed it to my old office, had my boss sign it and fax it back to us.

THEN... a 16 page fax later... Our Potential Future Landlord had everything he needed to accept or deny our application for "our apartment."

We waited.

It felt like for-EV-er.

But, soon enough he called us with the news......


WE DIDN'T GET THE APARTMENT!?!?!


Now, I know what you are thinking... "Well, of course you didn't get it, you only LOOKED for three days, what do you want? A miracle!?"

Well, YES, we did. Is that too much to ask for? Or at least a little luck? LOL. :) Afterall, it was "OUR APARTMENT!" (When we took the subway past the 137th stop I would tell Em I could read the sign that said "Em and Lo, if you lived here, you'd be home by now.")

We had already fallen in love with the street it was on, 137th. (It has a cafe that we found on our first walk down Broadway and have since eaten at more times than I can remember and other cute, NEW restaurants... nice for the Washington Heights area which consists primarily of Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds and dimly-lit neighborhood bodegas.)

We had already fallen in love with the idea of living on the SAME BLOCK as a subway stop.

We had already given up the idea of living in Brooklyn, half-an-hour from everything big.

SO... When The Man Who Was Dead To Me told us he had another apartment in the SAME BUILDING... he once again became Our Potential Future Landlord.

The other apartment he had available was a two-bedroom!!!!!

However, we would be paying much more for it, $1500. That was definitely the high end of what we had been looking to spend on housing... BUT for a two-bedroom in Manhattan, even as far up as 137th, trust me, it was going to be a DEAL... if we liked it.

The bummer: we had to wait until today, almost a week after losing the one-bedroom, to see it. They were putting in new floors. So we waited... impatiently... and half-looked for other things, but really hoped that this one would pan out.



Fast Forward:

We FINALLY saw the apartment today...

We love it!!!

We arrived to the building a little after ten this morning and finally met Our Potential Future Landlord, face-to-face, after speaking with him, playing phone tag, leaving messages with his management team so many times throughout the week.

The super showed us the apartment while the landlord waited outside. (We are not really sure why... is he too good to show us the apartment? LOL)

On the 5th floor of an ELEVATOR building (!!!!), we opened the door to apartment 57 and found a big, bright, two-bedroom... with EQUALLY sized rooms (this is a rare find in NYC... we have seen so many aparments with one normal room and then one glorified closet), facing the front of the building, with a nice sized living room, a teeny, tiny bathroom (oh well, can't win them all) and a decent kitchen.

We were very excited and are pretty sure that the young super thought we were the biggest dorks ever... cause, we are, especially when we are excited.

Then, we went back downstairs and spoke to Our Future Landlord. We did not put any money down today, though we were both eager to do so to keep from losing "our apartment" for a second time. He will be contacting us today or tomorrow and sending us the lease.

HOORRRAAYYY!!!!

After only ten days in The Big Apple... WE HAVE A HOME!!!! YAAAYYY!!!!!!



Hopefully, that puts some people at ease, knowing that their silly, little CA girls are making it so far in the city. :) PLUS, tomorrow, Miss Emmy has an interview!!!! YAY!!!!

Okay, this took too long to write, I am very tired and I think Our New York Friend's apartment has some sort of gas-leaking thing going on in the kitchen, I feel woozy. Must... open... windows... :) More later!!! xoxo!!!