After many weeks of fruitless apartment searching, finally I have found two places that I would want to call home in Brooklyn. Along the way I’
ve met many crazy people and seen some dreadful apartments (especially in Manhattan). If nothing else at least I found out that I have no desire to live with 7 foreign people above busy Canal Street, in a railroad apartment - where you walk through the other girl’s bedrooms to get to the kitchen & bathroom, an industrial loft in a shady area of Brooklyn, in a tiny twin-bed room sharing with a creepy older British guy who talks in monotone, in a laid-off lawyer’s bedroom while he slept in the living room, down in the dirty basement with a future sex therapist and some messy guy in his 40’s, with a girl who’s extremely anal about cleaning and
doesn’t tolerate any dirty dishes in the sink, or another girl who’s a macrobiotic marathon runner and
wouldn’t let me use chemical cleaning products, in a upstairs room with a big hole in the ceiling which probably leaks water when it rains or with an environmentalist guy who tells me up front that the TV belongs in the closet. I really wish I had brought along a video camera to film my experience of looking at these New York City homes.
Here are the two that I liked the best and have put in offers for:
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Rent: $830 / 3 bedroom & 1 bath apartment, on the 4
th floor of a fantastic marble building literally a block from the Grand Entrance to Prospect Park. Lots of house plants, natural light throughout the apartment. TV and comfy common room furniture, a bit messy overall (could be due to the moving out situation). The area seems very safe and nice. Bonus is that it's a sublet for just the summer and I could move-in starting this week.
Super convenient transportation, within walking distance to the 2, 3 and the B, Q train lines. So my daily commute into
SoHo would probably be under 20 minutes and easy to visit Tim as well.
Living with 2 girls – One of them is a French student who’s leaving at the end of June, the other is a chill social worker in Brooklyn who has lived there for 3 years.
Smaller sized bedroom but will fit my current bed and a dresser. Big closet and storage nook.
Butler Place at Plaza Street (
google map)
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Rent: $1000 / 2 bedroom apartment, on the 2
nd floor of a new renovated building in South Park Slope area. Not such a pretty street to look at but close by to the park and 7
th Ave (with all the boutique shops and restaurants). Available 6/1, taking over the leaving girl's 6 month lease.
Living with another girl, Pascale, an artist who also works for
Helmut Lang. She
wasn’t home to meet because she works crazy fashion hours and travels a lot.
The amenities in the apartment are amazing – new kitchen appliances, dishwasher, air conditioner, FREE washer/dryer (in the hallway). Another big plus is that I would get my own full bathroom. Nicely furnished living room with a small flat screen TV and a decent sized bedroom with all white furniture & a big sliding door closet.
Prospect Avenue at 8
th Avenue (
google map)
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I’m heavily leaning towards the marble building right by the park and living with the cool social worker lady because I think I would get along well with her. I really need to make my final decision today because I have to hand over lots of rent money on Thursday night!
