I accepted my job offer in NY with the understanding that I would be starting about two weeks later. Which meant moving to New York City in two weeks… sounds easy! The prospect seemed daunting but when you have no other option, it makes it easier. As soon as I took the plunge and accepted the offer, I started Googling for studio apartments and looking within my projected budget.
Let me tell you, it was bleak. It was so hard to tell what was an actual lead and where I should be based on pictures. Plus almost everything was out of budget AND closet sized, not even either or. I was starting to despair when I remembered rule #1 of city living: find a roommate.
So back to the Google drawing board, I found a helpful article that listed a few platforms that made finding a roommate in NYC easier. I saw the Roomie app listed and remembered seeing an ad on the subway, so I downloaded and got to it.
The whole process changed from there. It’s seriously like a dating app but for roommates and apartments. It was actually fun to look at the different spaces and image myself there, and easy to start conversations with the people on the app. You choose parameters such as gender of the ideal roommate and budget and search on a map style interface so it was simple to filter out the best matches.
The only issue I ran into is that I started about a week and a half out. The market moves extremely fast in NYC, even if you’re going through a roommate. All the girls I contacted were showing their apartments that weekend or looking to get a roommate sooner. I had much better luck the week of my flight, when I started scheduling actual meetings.
I flew in on a Thursday with an Airbnb booked through Monday and almost a dozen apartment viewings set up. I saw several on both Thursday and Friday with plenty being very good fits, but Saturday morning I found the one. I even had trouble choosing after seeing one last one Saturday night, but having so many great options was a good problem to have.
In the end I’m in an area and apartment that I love with a fantastic roommate. I may not be physically in the apartment all that often thanks to long hours and exploring the city, but I know I have a cozy home to return to no matter what and in the city that’s a great comfort.
~KS
Katydid in NYC 