NYC Rentals: 7 Reasons Why It’s Like No Other Apartment Search

June 10, 2014 | By Melissa AuthorMy First Apartment

While New York City is (in my opinion) the best city on earth, it easily becomes one of the worst cities when you’re looking for your own apartment. Whether you’ve lived here for years or are ready to relocate, the apartment search is stressful, and, like everything else in this town, expensive. Here are seven ways it’s different from…

20 Tips for Surviving New York City on a Budget

September 5, 2011 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

Maybe you saw last week’s semi-sappy post about leaving NYC. Well, this week I thought it might be more helpful to share some of my NYC honest-to-goodness learnings. 1) Use a broker when searching for apartments. It’s more $, but you’ll get a better deal on the month-to-month rent plus a better place in the…

Goodbye, New York

August 31, 2011 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

I was about to email a friend whose name begins with “L-e” and my grandpa’s now-expired email address popped up within Gmail – an address I haven’t had the ability to use in over four years. Almost the length of time I’ve lived in New York. Gramps wasn’t New York’s biggest fans; he once asked…

Introducing Hudson Heights, an Affordable NYC Neighborhood

February 3, 2011 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

Today’s guest blogger Christopher is introducing his favorite neighborhood. Hudson Heights by Christopher Rizzo Hudson Heights is not an official New York City neighborhood, but in a few years it probably will be. This enclave in Northern Manhattan has become extraordinarily popular with students, artists and young families that are priced out of other areas…

Introducing Elyse, Our New Guest Blogger

July 27, 2010 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

Elyse is an NYU student who just recently managed to free herself from the college dormitory system. With her two roommates she is now rubbing elbows with the hipsters in the Lower East Side. First Apartment Living: The Infant Stages I’ve been living in my new apartment for about one and a half months. If my apartment life were a…

NY Mag’s Top NYC Neighborhoods and Time Out’s Rental Deals

April 23, 2010 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

TimeOut NY & NY Mag Apartment Issues Have Arrived! Which means…it’s officially Apartment Season in NYC! Think of it like the hunting season, except that instead of coming home with a poor, dead animal, you just get to come home. To your own place. No small feat! It kind of baffles me that both Time Out and…

Our Favorite New York City Neighborhood Blogs

April 19, 2010 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

Last week we shared some good evergreen NYC neighborhood guides. After a quick read of one, or all, you should have a pretty good idea of the main New York hoods in addition to some outside charmers. Once you’ve decided where you think you want to live, though, it’d be a good idea to get…

New York City Neighborhood Guide

January 14, 2010 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

One of our readers wrote in last week letting us know that one of our links was broken (thanks!). Alas, the link was to a great source of info about NYC neighborhoods and so now she feels rather left in the lurch. Well, let me first do a bit of self-advertising and let you all…

Since when is it hard to find a subletter in NYC? Since Now!

March 28, 2009 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

Greetings from the new world. What kind of world, you say? Well, apparently, it isn’t the world of obscene rental costs and banging your head against the wall because you aren’t getting chosen for a Craigslist Apartment. Which, you know, is great and all — unless you’re the one trying to sublet the room you’re…

When will you feel like a New Yorker? NYTimes says – when you become a jerk.

August 28, 2008 | By Alissa AuthorMy First Apartment

I’m kind of kidding. But. . .not entirely. The Times ran an interesting article this week on how long it takes people to feel like New York is their home. This of course makes one think about what home means – and what New York means in turn. What defines New York when compared to,…