Sep22007
I won’t be moving in…
Due to an unfortunate turn of events, I won’t be moving into the $1890 apartment.
To make a long story short, the landlord needed an updated piece of information from my guarantor. This made her angry, and she has now backed out on me.
I need to find an apartment that is $1500 or less, something that — by landlords’ regulations — I can afford on my own, without a guarantor. My friend has set this Friday as an upper limit on the time I can stay, so I need to find something and move in by then (or else I’ll be homeless!).
If anyone has any information that might help, I’d appreciate it very much.
Tim, I’m sorry to hear the bad news! The only thing that Grandpa and I can come up with is to call his nephew, Ken Gogel, and see if he might have some ideas about renting in NYC, since he’s such an experienced traveler. It’s a long shot, I know, but maybe worth a try!
Good luck, dear! It will all work out!!
Tim, what about approaching your new employer for some help with this? Is that feasible?
[From Tim: They might be able to help. I'll ask them after the holiday weekend and see if there's anything they can do.]
Tim, I am surprised that your employer hasn’t already offered to help. You most certainly should feel free to ask them for help.
New York’s a big city and a little bit impersonal, but so are Toronto and San Francisco. From my experience with employers in those cities, the employers worth working for (and many who were not worth working for) expected new staff to run into problems like this and offered relocation assistance.
This is a situation you should remember when you are a hiring manager. Are you hiring a unit of production or a person? Units of production can be left hanging in the wind, but people are only mistreated this way for a reason.
If your employer won’t help–and you still want to work for them–get back to me privately and I’ll suggest some New York people you can ask for help. But really, your boss should the one be calling in favours, not me, not your family and not your other friends.
Don’t forget about hostels, if it comes to that.
Day 15 and still no luck
If you need somewhere to stay for a while when looking for an apt, consider renting a furnished room (I did this in boston, from craigslist) in the city.
You can have a place to stay for a month or 2 while you straighten things out. Typically, they cost about %60-%70 of a studio. But you get the advantage of not having a lease, and it comes ready to live in. Usually with a shared kitchen/bathroom.
good luck!
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