Goodbye Essex St.

I’m actually going to miss this little apartment. I can’t believe my roomie and I have been living here for a year! Sitting here looking at the expose brick made me think about all of our crazy memories. My roomie, Vi, and I had over 20 people who have slept on our love seat futon/pull out couch that’s in our living room/kitchen/dining area.  Like they say, living in the Lower East Side is like living in a shoebox. What’s strange is that the size of the apartment didn’t bother me. I actually quite liked it.

Vi and I live in the hip area of the Lower East Side. We actually rented this apartment one day before Vi had to leave her apartment in Brooklyn, so basically it was out of desperation. Even though it was a last minute decision, it was the best decision ever! The convenience of the location and cheap food definitely made the application fee ($50) + rent ($2100) + security deposit ($2100) + broker fees (12% of one years rent), worth it. If we were hungry, we can walk 3 stores down to get 10 dumplings for 5 bucks. If we were bored, SoHo was 10 minutes away. During the summer time, we would walk across the street to the Hester Street Fair to buy jewelry, eat unique food and to look at cool vintage items. This last minute decision made me fall in LOVE with New York, especially with the LES.

Most of you are probably thinking to yourself, why would you want to leave your apartment. Well, here’s another NY apartment tip. Make sure to ALWAYS to look and ask your broker for 1) storage/closets 2) does the superintendent live in the building 3) what’s consider “late” when turning in your rent. 4) What’s the procedure when you’re locked out of your apartment on the weekday 5) How are the rodents?  TRUST ME, these are REAL LIFE ISSUES living in New York. These questions may seem silly back home in Washington and common sense but New York is all about the hustle and you must have great attention to detail or you will get screwed over with your time, money and energy. Because of our lack of attention to detail, we rented out an apartment with 1 small closet (located in my bedroom), the super./mangers living in another building in Manhattan, the super/managers changing the rent due date, and being locked out for almost 2 days.

So here we are, calling a U-Haul and trying to find a rental space because Vi and I are official HOMELESS. We got screwed over for the two apartments we wanted to move into so now we’re moving in my boyfriend and his roommate’s apartment for a month.  Guess we just can’t catch a break! 

It’s still unreal that we’re moving out. Even though this place is a shit hole, I feel like our shitty situation definitely gave me the best memories in NYC.  Goodbye Essex St!