Spring is “here” and the cold should be lifting soon but Punxsutawney Phil was a little off his prediction February 2nd. He just said, “no more winter…” just so he could go back to sleep. Snow is supposed to fall again tonight in NYC and we’re at the end of March.

Not only are the seasons of the weather changing but also seasons of my life too. That’s Us Inc hired a great friend of mine that I have worked with in the past to focus on supporting the current software clients and also selling to new clients. Him and I are collaborating together with ideas on client retention, niche market selling, software enhancement ideas, support documentation and training techniques. Previously, this was all my responsibility in addition to managing developer tasks, innovative website design, ad template design, social media and blog management, search engine optimization and signup tracking all while taking a step back to view the entire project from a 10,000 foot level to change directions with technology advancements and marketplace focuses.

When I choose to focus on something, it’s all or nothing. Maybe all or 10%, but if I tip over that 10%, it’s 100%. If something is worth your attention, why not obsess over it to make it great.

Marlyse and I have been leading a Life Group for the New York Dream Center and now we’re passing that baton to another couple, actually 2 couples. So, we built up the momentum to then be able to split our group into two groups. We are stepping back from leading a Life Group due to the new roles we get to explore a little deeper.

Marlyse is leading more mission trips in NYC for youth groups, college groups and life groups that are looking to make a difference in New York’s inner cities and areas that need assistance. She is making more connections with other organizations and collaborating everyone together.

She is also building up the community development programs in Chelsea, East Harlem and Rockaway Beach by finding new connections for food donations so we can continually give out large quantities of food to these areas. This will build the outreaches past the amount of volunteers that are weekly volunteering! We will have more food than we can manage unless people are able to assist.

I have taken on the role of Band Director / Worship Team Developer. As the Dream Center has expanded to a new campus in East Harlem, 3 services need worship teams and we want to split the roles between different musicians so it will not make for a seriously long day. I am organizing the songs, members playing and practices. Also, I am organizing Worship Workshops to build up new members to be part of the Sunday Service Teams, Mission Trip Teams and Worship Night Teams.

In addition, there is a rehearsal space / recording studio that a group of us are building up to begin renting out the space as an income generator for the Dream Center. We are looking forward to being the best studio space in all of Astoria, as I think it might already meet that title!

Need something good to listen to?
Oceans – Hillsong
Playlist of Dream Center songs

I live in New York so I should try everything. Going to see the ball drop at Times Square on New Year’s Eve is not something that you catch locals doing! This is why we are not normal NYC residents.

We left our apartment at 1pm and got to the 1 train stop at 42nd St around 1:30pm. From here, you can see the Times Square “bow tie” but it is all fenced off where you cannot get in. The bowtie is where Broadway and 7th Avenue cross between 46th St and 44th St.

Here is where the fun begins. “Where am I supposed to go so I can get into the bowtie for New Year’s Eve?” No one working the event has that answer. Not any of the officials, not the news anchors you see, not the businesses nearby. Ask anyone and everyone will tell you the same answer of “I don’t know.” I am going to be pretty detailed with street names and cardinal directions. If you cannot follow along, please enjoy the map below! I’m also referencing time stamps which go along with our YouTube video below.

We walk east to 6th Avenue (because all of 7th Avenue and Broadway are closed) and we walked up to 49th Street. (0:25) There is supposed to be a security checkpoint up here but we walked on 49th from 6th ave over to 7th ave and did not see any checkpoint. So we walk down 7th and got stuck in a “bull pin” of people between 47th and 48th streets. Asking everyone, “Is this the checkpoint?” No one with answers but plenty of confused and angry people pushing forward. The problem is, we could not even see the ball from this point of view so we really did not want to get stuck here.

We crossed the street (still on 7th Avenue on the west side) where we were fenced in. Still unsure where we needed to be, suddenly the cops removed the barricades and a running of bulls commenced. People flooded the streets still in use by vehicles and now were unable to move due to thousands of people surrounding them. (1:05)

By now, we have slowly baby-stepped into an area where a big TKTS sign obstructed our view. (2:00) We needed to move to the left. So, anytime there was a shift in the crowd (cops moving us or cars needing to pass), we pushed ourselves to the left as if we were being pushed. We were able to clear that sign.

Marlyse saw an NBC reporter looking at the crowd and talking with people, asking where they were from. Every answer was another location and the reporter seemed uninterested. (3:00) Mar knew they were looking for someone from NYC. She made eye contact with the reporter, they asked and found out we were from New York and they interviewed her putting her on national TV! If you want to be on TV, wear a costume, be overly enthusiastic, stalk down reporters and talk to them or be a New Yorker.

Then, we saw the bull pin we were first waiting in on the East side of the street actually WAS released to go into the bowtie. Then they fenced off that area and then released at least 7 blocks of pedestrians to fill the street where we were. I asked numerous cops if they were going to close the streets. They all said no.
They do not close the STREETS but the close the AVENUES! Wrong question I guess.

What should I do before getting into the mob of people?

Go to the bathroom. Empty every part of your body and as for preparation, do not drink a lot of anything on the 31st. It will be cold out so you will not use much energy nor get really dehydrated.

What should I take with me?

I saw people with their iPads taking photos. Don’t be that person. Use a camera. Plus, you will have 6 strangers touching you at any given point. And those 6 strangers changes out at least every hour so you will have at least 100 people that have touched your body or grazed your pockets. You may get to know them but not enough to know if you are getting pick-pocketed. Wear a jacket with inside pockets and keep all items in the inside pockets that you want to keep.

Bring snacks! Beef jerky, nuts, fruit snacks but nothing messy. I brought a Subway sandwich and still had them put tomatoes and Southwest sauce on it. That is messy when you are (again) touching so many people. I ate it anyway and people gave me some space. I wore a Camelbak filled with water (do not do alcohol, as cool as you think you will be sneaking alcohol, you are standing for 10+ hours with nowhere to go).

Take a tall folding stool that can fold up and you could hook it on your belt or something. I brought pain medicine for my back and legs just in case (I am sounding like I am 90…)

When should I get there?

We got there at 1pm and I think next year we will get there at noon. Get into an area and look for the availability to advance to the bowtie. If you are not in dire need of being in the bowtie, I could see getting there at 2pm.

Let me know if you plan on going this year or your experiences while you were there!

It has now been five days without power or water in the Elliot-Chelsea Housing Projects between 25th and 26th streets and 9th and 10th avenues. The New York Dream Center has been assisting with donated non-perishable food, water, candles, hot meals and hopefully today we will be able to provide insulin for those that need it.

Tuesday started with a team of about 15 people passing out bottles of water, granola bars, wet wipes and fruit. Thursday there were well over 50 volunteers scaling up to 22 floors to deliver care packages, buckets of water to flush toilets, Dominoes pizza and sodas and find out other needs people have. The database of apartments started out around 200 and now has grown to 482 apartments. Some apartments have 1 person and some have 6 in them. We will define how many are in each apartment today.

Day 1: http://youtu.be/-WIaxWFFd0Y
Day 2: http://youtu.be/RztnAmsp7fs
Day 3 will be combined with Day 4

My friend Kayli said the following:
Every door is a story, a need… “There’s a lady downstairs paralyzed on one side, can you check on her?” …”The gentleman than lives there is quite old and usually has a nurse; he hasn’t had attention since Sunday…” …”Can you check on my mother? She’s on the 12th floor.” …”Can you bring me insulin? I’ve run out and I’m diabetic.” …”Do you have anything to eat?” …and we’re gonna keep knockin’ on each one.

My friend Jesse said the following:
Many people pitched in, Including Chuck who was a rough character, it was God appointed because he was on the same bus that we road from 160 blocks up. He was genuinely interested in our well being. He even offered us a knife for protection. We met him again at the site where his auntie stayed. Chuck pointed to a group of about five men and said “those are my goons there, they are watching out for you.” He even told us about how God saved his life after being shot through the chest. After handing out the supplies and knocking door to door making sure the needs were met we handed out bags and bags of candy (it was Halloween) to all the children so they could have some joy.

We have been using our Honda Element to transport supplies but we are low on gas and there are empty stations all around the city. All 5 boroughs are empty and I would have to drive past Yonkers to fuel up. The George Washington Bridge is so backed up that someone with supplies in New Jersey was trying to cross for 2 hours and still did not even reach the bridge. They are going to bicycle over the bridge with a carrier full of food and water to get to us.

The Dream Center has gone to Costco, Target, BJs and other stores every morning to load up on supplies – buying entire pallets of water and food.

If you feel you have the ability to donate to this cause, you can go directly to the Donations page of the Dream Center. You will be able to see where your money is going to with my recap videos. You are making an impact on thousands of less-fortunate people during this time.

I am more than blessed to live on higher ground in New York City. I still have power, water, gas and nothing is flooded. Washington Heights sits on top of a hill (I’m guessing) 80-100 feet above sea level. I would like to find out exactly how high up we are from the water.

Most of everyone I know were not so lucky. Some do not have power all the way to one couple has a destroyed car. Marlyse and I are jumping in the church van to go around, assess everyone’s damage and help in whatever way we can.

Here is some footage I filmed from Monday night (10/29/12):

• 6pm walking the dogs on the Riverside Bridge :: http://youtu.be/1xcFdBs2MhU
• 7pm walk around Broadway in Washington Heights to see trees down, stores open, signs flying away :: http://youtu.be/E6-5erBTINo
• 10pm walk down to the Hudson River :: http://youtu.be/1WiMUoM7zSM
• 10pm walk on Broadway to see more signs down :: http://youtu.be/CKJajvscVOY

I will take more footage when we are in Chelsea and closer to downtown to help others.

The checkout line at Trader Joe’s wraps all the way around the store. “Don’t worry about the line because we have 29 registers to help you!” says the sign at the 30 minute mark. I finally checkout with all of my Pumpkin Party goods and a few “storm foods” that I picked up. Some people had a full cart of organic foods that it seemed they were planning on feeding an entire church. The problem with Trader Joe’s organic foods is they go bad quickly! So, you cannot stock up too much or you will have food going bad.

While walking out of the store, there is now a line to get into Trader Joe’s wrapped around the building. People are asking if the line is for the grocery store or if there is something special going on. “Nothing special, just filling the fridge!”

As I patiently wait for Sandy to knock out my internet, power, water, heat or gas, all I see is some sprinkling and gusty winds up in Washington Heights. 5pm on Monday night and there is not anything notable yet but I will capture what I see with my GoPro when I walk my dogs later on.

There are a lot of other things I would rather be doing than to look for an apartment in the busiest city in America. If you ever go and look at an apartment in New York City, you have to make a split decision to call this place home or to move on to the next apartment. There is no time to spend the night thinking about it. We discovered some great information that will help us for the next time and will help you now!

Measuring without a Measuring Tape

Looking for more room or do you just want to make sure your couch, bed, table, entertainment center fit nicely in your next apartment? Wear your “apartment hunting” shoes and measure out your furniture. My couch is 7 Diesel’s long. If you wear a different pair of shoes, you could end up 1′ short that you needed for your couch.

Take it a step further (no pun intended) if you are downsizing and measure your current rooms to see how they would stack up to your next apartment. If you think it would help, sketch out a quick diagram of each apartment you are looking at. This way you can look back at your notebook to see what each layout looks like. When you get up to looking at 4 apartments per day, 5 days in a row, they all start to look the same. You may end up in an apartment out of impatient frustration. In your notebook next to your measurements or sketches, be sure you jot down the address and broker that showed you the apartment. I saw different apartments with 5 different brokers.

Reason for the Season

There are seasons when rent is cheaper. During the winter time after November, you are more likely to not pay a broker fee and the rent on the exact same apartment will be cheaper. The reason is people do not like to move during the winter so if an apartment becomes available, the building is desperate to gain a tenant. The best thing to look for is a “No Fee” apartment which means the building owner will pay the broker from the first month’s rent or the deposit the new tenants put down. The nicer apartments and better areas will charge first month’s rent, security deposit and a broker fee. So, you would need at least $5,000 to move into your new home. After April, the No Fee apartments disappear, unless it is in a rough area and the apartment owner cannot get anyone to rent the apartment. Prime time to move to New York and get the best deal on an apartment would be between November to March.

Needs and Wants

Make an exact checklist of what you need and also add what you would like, but could do without. Physically write this list down so you do not overlook an absolute need you might forget about while the broker is pressuring you to fill out the paper work on it. Here is our needs/wants:
Needs: Under $1800, 2 Bedroom, 4 floor walk up or less, pet friendly, 3 blocks to a park, 3 blocks to a train, laundry in apt or in building, area that is not sketchy, more space than we are in now.
Wants: elevator, south facing to get sun in apt, close to Harlem River, Harlem west of 7th Avenue, Washington Heights, Hudson Heights, Inwood north of Broadway or south of Dyckman.

Every street block is different

We just looked at an apartment on 137th Street between 7th Avenue and Lenox Avenue. While walking there, I passed nice brownstone apartments between Frederick Douglass Blvd and 7th Avenue and started to get excited about what I am about to see. Once I crossed 7th Avenue, I was in a different part of town. While the apartment was freshly renovated on the first floor and duplex style, I did not feel comfortable there at all. The size of the apartment and the price were both right, but that stretch of the street is rough. Working from home would not be comfortable and I would not feel like that would be my safe place.

If you are looking to move in a few months, you should start looking at streets now. Document the areas and exact streets you would like to live on. Buy a Manhattan map and get green and red highlighters. This will make looking for apartments easier when the time comes. Brokers have a database of apartments that updates throughout the day each day. You can give them your specifications and call them up to see if anything has opened up in the areas you are interested in. Or at least you will be able to know that you have “that street” highlighted in red due to whatever reason.

Who should I work with?

It all depends on the area you are looking for. We’re looking for above 100th Street where there are some snoots that have never stepped foot about 100th Street. We used Bohemia Realty Group to find our new apartment.

Obviously Craigslist.org is a great place to start for searching. Another one is PadMapper.com which is a listing aggregator, pulling the addresses from Craigslist and putting it on the map. Problem is most brokers will not post the whole address so location could be completely off. If you are looking on a website that does not use Date Posted, you are wasting your time. When I search Trulia.com, the first ad to pop up is from 73 days ago. That apartment has probably been gone for 71 days now.

How much money do I need for a New York City apartment?

You do not need to be a millionaire to move to Manhattan. The cost of living is higher, do not get me wrong. I could definitely have a huge apartment in Tampa for the price I pay in New York! You just have to budget accordingly.

For example sake, we are going to talk about an apartment that is $1,600 per month. When signing a lease, you need to have 1st month and security deposit. The security is the same as your monthly payment. In addition, there is an application fee (typically $100 per person), a deposit to get the apartment off the market (typically $500) and then a broker fee. The deposit will go towards the broker fee. The broker fee generally is 15% of the total year lease but you can talk them down to 12%. Try for more if you can! 12% of a $1,600 per month apartment is $2,304. The total amount you need before you can move in is $1,600 + $1,600 + $200 (2 people) + $2,304 = $5,704.

If you find an apartment (off season) without a broker’s fee and the landlord is paying the broker, then your total would be $3,400 on this same apartment. Most of the time, you will not find as good of an apartment at $1,600 per month without a broker fee. You may find yourself in a rough part of town! If you do end up finding a good apartment without a broker fee, you might find that it is $1,800 per month which you would find that it would equal the $1,600 per month + the broker’s fee. If you end up staying for more than 1 year, the $1,800 per month apartment is now costing you more.

I do not have that kind of money in the bank.

My wife and I have impeccable credit. We pay off every credit card every month. But we did not have enough in the bank to pay all of the fees so we called up one of the credit card companies that we have been with for a long time and asked for a cash advance with 0% interest for a year. They gave it to us and deposited the money in our bank so we could use it the next day. I ONLY recommend this if you are good with balancing your money and know that you could pay off (loan amount / 10 months) each month. If you get approved for a year at 0% interest, shoot to have it knocked out in 10 months. Could you still afford the monthly rent amount plus 10% of the loan? If so, then go this route to help out on the initial costs.

Disclaimer:

I am not a broker and I am merely only an apartment hunter blogging about my experiences and what we did to help with our apartment hunting. Working with different brokers may have different fees and results. Have a good time apartment hunting in the Big Apple!