EricaJoy

Tips for moving to New York

This will be brief because I’m on a shoddy connection (VZW Broadband cards suck in Brooklyn).

So the iPhone == iMustHave. That’s all that needs to be said about that.

New York is extremely different. I found myself trading a “preferred neighborhood” (read: gentrified) for apartment size, proximity to the train, and a washer/dryer in. my. apartment. You don’t understand. The washer/dryer is like apartment gold in NY.

Not having a car can be a pain. Thank goodness for Zipcar. Tomorrow I shall make my grand shopping trip, not to make another for a number of months. I only wanted to get things for my apartment. Instead, due to zip code favoritism, I have to go buy my groceries since Fresh Direct won’t deliver them to me. Shame on you Fresh Direct.

With my move to New York almost complete, I feel like I can share the tools that I couldn’t have made this move without. Here they are, in some semblance of order:

1. Google Reader + Craigslist Apartment Listing + Backpage
• Customize your search on CL and Backpage to fit your needs. Add those feeds to Google Reader to make one big list of apartments you can easily peruse. Peruse religiously. Add feeds you may find from other places. Continue to do this until you’ve found a few apartments that look promising.
2. village voice > Neighborhoods
• Once you’ve found the few promising apartments, figure out what neighborhood they’re in and read about the neighborhoods. You really want to do this to avoid getting a nice place in a not so nice neighborhood (unless you like to live on the wild side).
3. onNYTurf: NYC Subway Google Map Hack
• Map the places you’ve found to check their proximity to a subway station. This is KEY. Nobody wants to walk a mile in the rain just to catch the train.
4. Precinct Crime Statistics
• Again, you only need to check this if you care about such things.
5. Kayak.com
• Once you’ve found a good looking place and insured its not in BFE (unless you want it to be, but why?) you need to go see it in person. Use Kayak to find a cheap plane ticket and almost reasonably priced hotel room (seriously it’s New York, all of them are going to be overpriced).
6. HopStop.com
• The best way to find your way around the city. You put in Point A and Point B and it finds the best route between the two. I think it’s better to go apartment hunting via train because you get a better sense of what your commutes are going to be like if you move in to the place you’re looking at.
7. Moving to New York from the Wired New York Forum
• Nothing beats talking to someone from New York to get the scoop on New York. Ask questions here. They’re relatively friendly.

Okay so I lied, this wasn’t brief at all. I thoroughly intended it to be though and it’s the thought that counts right?