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October 10, 2006
Renting in New York
To start, the vacancy rate for rentals in New York is estimated at less than 0.7%. To top it off, the tenant pays the broker's commission, not the landlord! We pay 15% as a commission on top of our rent! And I won't even disclose what we pay in rent. Your heart would skip a beat.
Last Friday, we decided to extend our lease on our wee studio apartment to December 8th. Our terribly unhelpful broker fired back an email saying that the building has been sold, will close December 31, and the new owner wants the building vacant. What was that? Did you say, get the f&!% out?
Great. Friday before a long weekend. Let's see. Who do I call first?
I called the broker for our condo to get a status update. If we could be in before the end of the year, we would be okay. "I'm sorry, she's gone for the day". Why am I not surprised?
I called the building management company to find out if we could figure something out for January. The woman who handles our building was covering reception, so she would have to call me back. She never called back.
I called another broker who I really like, and asked if she could help us out. "I'll call you back."
I started to surf the web looking for hotels with kitchens. In Manhattan. There are a few, if you're willing to fork over a king's ransom. But, in a pinch, we would do what we had to do.
Finally, late Sunday afternoon, the condo broker called. They will apply for the occupancy certificate this week, and we will most likely close before Christmas. Whew!
Yesterday, we decided to stroll down to our new hood, wander around, and maybe take a peak at the building to see if there was progress.
Oh, yeah, baby! Progress, indeed! We have four huge windows in our condo, and half of one was always covered in plywood. The plywood was gone. The exterior was being painted, and with the lights on in our condo, we could see that they were putting on the finishing touches. We wandered around to see the lobby. Whoa! They had finished the floor, and were spraying white paint.
For the first time in quite a while, we feel confident that we will be in our new condo before Christmas. Which is good because we have to be out of our wee apartment by December 31.
Exactly what do I expect the answer to be when I ask if we can start rolling our apartment lease weekly? We are very excited, and the final stages of planning are now in play.
Posted by dave at October 10, 2006 11:25 AM