Archive for October 6th, 2007
The Great Apartment Hunt: Chapter Four
On Sunday we continued or tour of “Not Manhattan” by checking out Riverdale in the Bronx. Riverdale is actually a pretty ritzy location. It boast two Metro-North Stations and the end of the 1. The apartment complex I looked at was Skyview. It’s a co-op; which just means that all of the apartments are individually owned while the building association takes care of maintenance and the grounds. Unlike Manhattan, Skyview boasts space… space enough to have a large pool, tennis courts, a dog run, and parking. Glorious, lovely parking.
We looked at one apartment, an alcove studio, which was roughly the size of our current apartment if you took out the wall that makes this place a “one bedroom”. Bonus: it was fully furnished… which means that we’d save a little bit of cash by putting off replacement furniture for a couple of years. This led to the following conversation:
Ms. L: Doesn’t it creep you out a little to sleep on a used mattress?
Me: I spent six years of college retrieving furniture from the dumpster at Raymour and Flanigan. I’ll get over it.
Ms. L: But it’s gross.
Me: Is there any chance that we’re not buying a mattress cover anyway?
Interestingly, Riverdale’s right next door to another neighborhood in the Bronx that I didn’t know existed: Fieldston. Fieldston’s like… real houses with real yards located in the Bronx. Most of the places are absolutely gorgeous and probably worth millions of dollars. In fact, driving through it in my buddy’s Matrix, I was pretty sure we were going to be asked to leave.
Negatives. The commute is on the Metro-North, an Express Bus, or a MTA Bus/Subway combo. Neither of which is great. The Metro-North is a pain because I’d have to live on a train schedule (even though I work near Grand Central). Express Buses, while great in theory, are a disaster because they have to deal with traffic. Absolutely pass on the bus/1-train combo. The lease is a maximum of 2 years. That’s the maximum that the building allows people to rent their places. Then they have to either shit or get off the pot. Negative number 3: It’s a co-op… which means we both have to go through a whole interview process followed by the board voting on whether or not we’re worthy to stay in their building. The problem with this is that by the time the application process is completed it would be the end of the month. Negative number 4: the girl doesn’t like it. It’s a studio, the owners want double the security deposit because they don’t trust the Ninja on their furniture.
Unfortunately, I love the place. The terrace (Good Lord, I’m going to end up turning down a place with outdoor space all my own) even had a nice view of the Hudson River and the George Washington Bridge. For $1400/month + $100/month for an off-street parking spot I get a place in a complex that I like, my car back, and 1 building over from one of my old college roommates.
Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure the 51% of the vote that women own will over-rule me.