Sunday, September 27, 2009

On your mark, get set, RENT!




We wake up on Friday thinking we have all day to enjoy ourselves now that the apartment hunt is finished. We are wrong. While I am in the shower, Laura hears from Dave the realtor who tells her we can get in to take some measurements and pictures if we can get to the apartment by 11:30. It is already close to 10 so we throw on some clothes and race to the train, no time for breakfast. We get to the building at 11:35 and wait on our stoop. Meanwhile Laura speaks with her dad who is on his way home to fax the necessary documents. While we are still on the stoop, Dave calls back and informs us that since everyone at the management office that rents the apartment is an Orthodox Jew, that office will be closing for all business at 3. Laura calls her dad back and puts a little fire under him.

The Super's wife lets us in to take pictures and measurements of the apartment. We measure, plan and photograph. We still love it just as much the second time. It really is terrific.

As we are coming out Laura gets another call from Dave who gives us an address for the management company, tells us to take a cab so we can get there by 2:30 and to hurry. We walk up to a busier street and try to catch a taxi for quite a while. It is now already after 2. We finally catch a ride and slowly inch our way toward the management office. While we are in the cab Laura realizes she doesn't have any checks to write for our first rent and asks if I can write a check for the whole amount. I certainly don't have that much money in the bank, after writing the deposit check the day before and am depending actually on $300 that Laura owes me to make up what is needed for half. We decide that I will write the check for the full amount and as soon as we leave the management office we will head straight for the nearest Wachovia, where we both bank, take the cash out of Laura's bank account at the window and deposit it into mine. Thankfully, Monday is Yom Kippur so the management company and the realty company won't be posting any checks until Tuesday.

We get to the management office with no time to spare. We rush in, sign the lease, reading bits here and there, and I write the check. I'm pretty sure we finished up there at 3pm. We go out into the neighborhood we just taxied to. Laura starts calling people to find out if someone can tell us where the nearest train is and we begin to walk. Unfortunately there are no Wachovia banks in Brooklyn. There are only maybe 3 in New York City at all and they are in Manhattan. We have 2 hours to get to one. We finally find the train and head in.

We still haven't eaten a thing.

We come out of the subway in lower Manhattan and follow streets to find the address of the first Wachovia but when we get there it is only an ATM. We are very tired and cranky. We go into the nearest business to ask where there is a whole bank and he waves in a general direction to his left and tells us we must take a train. We then circle the block looking for the train and find nothing. We ask some cops where the 2 train is and they give us a look like they've never heard of 2s or trains. We finally find the end of the line down by the Staten Island Ferry wharf and get on. The train sits for at least five minutes before starting because its the end of the line. In the meantime I've been calling mom to ask her to go deposit whatever cash she has just in case but can't reach her anywhere. We are extremely tired, hungry and our feet hurt. Finally we find a Wachovia bank and make the necessary transactions with fifteen minutes to spare. Whew! We hobble over to Papaya King and have hot dogs and fries.

After all that we took the train to Grand Central Station so I could look around. We then walked up Park Ave to Central Park, walked through the lobby at The Plaza and then went back to Drew's. Too much time sensitive drama. I'm glad its all settled now though. Sure hope I can find a job and make my rent by Nov 1!!

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