The amazing apartment race: NYC intern edition
Like countless other aspiring young urbanites, I have dreamt of New York.
From Park Slope to the Village to Spanish Harlem; I want it all. In fact, my distant lust for the rhythm, culture and grit of New York is the one cliche to which I have no qualms about subscribing.
Manhattan hopefuls of the burgeoning professional persuasion will use anything short of fisticuffs to score an internship and a ticket to the city -- and that's exactly what I did. And while intuition might say that getting the job ought to be the hard part, I quickly learned that landing that dream would turn into a housing nightmare.
Nearly three weeks of full-time prowling on Airbnb, Subletter, Streeteasy, Metrosetter, and of course, Public Enemy Number One Craigslist (not to mention hoards of local companies and brokers whose names I'll mercifully withhold) yielded little to nothing. There were twice as many scam artists as actual apartments and a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed coed from the opposite coast made for excellent prey.
A network of high school, college and family friends who were keen to the city and its sometimes treacherous ways proved no match for the New York apartment market. Despite being the country's largest housing market, the vacancy rate is at an all-time low of 2%.
If you ever find yourself hunting for a New York apartment in the digital age, you'll soon yearn for the simpler days of snail mail and bulletin board postings. The web is rife with scams, something those of us who spend our days on Facebook, Twitter and even Reddit often forget.
My search proved to be a valuable and humbling learning experience. I realized that if I didn't want to shatter the bank completely, I would have to sacrifice safety, space or location, and in many instances all three.
It also occurred to me that I probably won't be able to afford my quixotic New York lifestyle for an extended period of time in the foreseeable future. But now that I have found a place to call home for the summer, I'm going to take a massive bite out of the Big Apple while I can.
For those facing this same New York scavenge, here's some lessons I learned along the way:
Trust institutions
For once in your life, the man is your friend. While scammers abound, universities and legitimate (albeit overpriced) housing companies will be your saving grace. I ultimately opted to take a course at a local university in order to apply for housing there. I'm just grateful to be in the right borough.
Check your Carrie Bradshaw whimsy at the door
You will not live within Manolo Blahnik-adorned walking distance of Balthazar. You won't be wearing Manolos at all. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can find the local market more suited to a student budget.
Never send money for a sight unseen
Enlist a city-slicking friend or two to your cause and have them scope out the apartments with a camera phone handy before pulling the trigger. Don't be surprised when a listing alleges to be in an apartment building that doesn't even exist.
If it looks too good to be true, it is.
It was the perfect apartment at the perfect price point, straight off of Craigslist. A few hours later, I found the same photos on a legitimate broker's site with whopping fees. The original poster had evidently pulled the photos to lure unsuspecting tenants. The actual price point? Not so perfect.
Nail it down by March. Period.
For a summer sublet, sign on the dotted line before spring break, regardless of whether or not you've been hired yet. Trust that if you want a job in New York badly enough, you'll find one by the time June rolls around. As for the apartment? I wouldn't be so sure.
Allegra Tepper is a Summer 2012 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here. Follow her on Twitter at @allegraceline
This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.