This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Pace chapter.
So you’re starting to look for an apartment in New York City? Woohoo! You’ve created your wish list and compiled what things you can’t live without, now it is time to start looking at places. But to your dismay, the things you wanted don’t exist within your budget. Here is a list of New York apartment expectations versus their harsh realities.
- “I want to live in Manhattan.” Unfortunately your budget will only allow you to live in Brooklyn. Deep in Brooklyn.
- “Can’t wait to live in this beautiful studio apartment all by myself.” Yes, that studio apartment is beautiful but you will probably need to share it with three other people to be able to make rent each month.
- “I need lots of closet space for all my fab New York outfits.” Closets in New York City apartments are tiny so usually you’ll have to sell your soul for storage space to store your winter clothes.
- “I need to live close to a subway station. I love public transportation.” ‘Close’ to a subway station usually means a fifteen minute walk with trains running every twenty minutes. Also, getting around via public transportation is a total joke right now because construction is happening on every line so the trains never run like they should.
- “I want a sunny apartment with a nice view.” I hope by ‘nice view’ you mean a view of a brick wall because that’s what you’ll be looking at in the apartment you can afford.
- “Laundry in unit/in the building is a MUST!” Good luck carrying that laundry to the laundromat down the street.
- “I love to cook so I need a great kitchen, preferably with stainless steel appliances.” You’re probably going to end up with appliances straight from the 80’s. But count yourself blessed if you end up with a dishwasher.
Even though it is a struggle to find a decent apartment in New York City that’s within your budget, you still get to live in the greatest city in the world. Plus Seamless. That’s pretty cool too.