Blog Archives

March 2010

Should you be building a . . . first apartment dowry?

It'd be Sharp Thinking to Buy a Solid Pair of Knives for your Apt!

February 2010

Should Your Personality Type Dictate Your Neighborhood?

When Dealing with Sublets, Get Everything in Writing

The First 10 Items You Need For Your First Apartment!

Stay Warm ...and Frugal!

January 2010

10 more things you'll NEED for your first apartment

Our Favorite New York City Neighborhood Blogs

New York City Neighborhood Guide

Keep Your No-Takeout New Year's Resolution!

December 2009

Shop After Christmas Sales for Great Apartment Bargains!

How Much Should You Be Tipping This Holiday Season?

Google Helps You Plan Your Commute Before Signing the Lease

November 2009

How Much of Your Paycheck Should Go Towards Rent?

How to Cozy Up your Apartment for the Holidays. . without going home

Top 5 Warning Signs That the Apartment Ad is a Scam!

Join My First Apartment on Facebook!

October 2009

Emergencies Happen. You Need a Great Landlord

Lowdown on Your Tenant Rights in NYC!

Add These to Your Apartment Hunting Check List

Swankify your New Apartment -- Starting with a Fresh Coat of Paint

Tips to manage the move to your new apartment

September 2009

How I Ended Up Using a Broker

Stop that Check!

Play Detective Before You Sign That New Lease!

Beware New Condo Buildings with Unfinished Apartments!

August 2009

Moving Out when You Can't Stand your Roommate

Haven't found your dream apt for Sept? Wait for October!

What Kind of Credit Score do you Need to Rent an Apartment?

Save Money during Summer Heatwaves!

How Much Should You Budget for Utilities?

July 2009

Girl vs Rank, Disgusting Fridge

Better web alternative to Craigslist - finally!

Use Networking To Score A Rad Pad

The Great Clean Up of My Old Room

June 2009

Roommate Bootcamp - My First Apartment style!

After a flood the size of Noah's Ark, I'm getting renter's insurance!

Protect yourself financially when it comes to new roommates

My Roommate Wants Us to Live with Her Unemployed, Recovering Alcoholic Friend!? Help!

Required Roommate Reading

May 2009

Is your apartment ready for summer? Get on it before it’s too hot to move!

Moving to Manhattan!

A beautiful apartment is possible no matter its size!

I got my rent lowered by $300 per month!

Should you be roommates with your BFF?

April 2009

Beware of Empty Lots Next Door - They Can Turn into Construction Sites!

Apartment Broker Confessions!

Cheaper rent is not worth your sanity!

Looking for your first apartment? It’s time to make your necessities vs. amenities list!

Get the Most out of Graduation Gifts in these Lean Times?

March 2009

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

Check out Apartment Therapy's sales guides by city!

How to make that funky room smell go AWAY

The PadMapper Maps Craigslist Ads aka is Best Apt Search Engine Ever!

February 2009

Bad Roommate Story of the Week

Furnishing your new apartment is easy as pie...maybe less tasty though.

How to Start Your Apartment Search Using Craigslist

It's a Renter's Market!

January 2009

Real Job vs. City Decisions 3 Years Later

What to Pick First - the City or the Job?

How to Handle a 3-week House Guest

Trying to Beat the Post-Holiday Blues!

December 2008

Tips for helping you survive being home for the holidays!

My roommate got fired. . .now what?!

The Holiday Shakedown: How much should you tip your mailman + others?

Cheap Studio Apartment in Manhattan up for Grabs!

Tis the season. . .to negotiate with your landlord!

November 2008

I am thankful for . . .a pretty great living situation!

So, is my boyfriend annoying my roommates?

Q & A with a no-fee Rental Agency Part 2!

Q&A with a NYC Rental Agency

YES WE CAN! The Youth Vote Matters!

Are you voting on Tuesday, November 4th? I am!

October 2008

How to break-up with a roommate

When is roommate drama worth the fuss? Ever?

20-somethings are thrifty -- because we have no other choice

September 2008

Apartment Hunting Lessons from Ugly Betty

Lease Negotiations --"True Life" Part Two...Victory!!!

Lease Negotiations --"True Life" Part One

More Rent Negotiation How-To's

The new word in the renting game is -- NEGOTIATION!

August 2008

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

Why Timing Matters in the Great Apartment Search

How much is it worth not having to sign a lease?

Another Commute Consideration When You Look for Apartments

July 2008

More ways to use your walls!

Apartment Magic: Turn Your 1BR into 2BR

New insurance plan makes it easier for first-timers to rent

How to deal when when your friend is looking for an apartment too

When the Subletter Renegs on the Rent

June 2008

You're sick. . . is your Apartment prepared?

Welcome to Brooklyn, IKEA!

More...HIDDEN COSTS OF LIVING IN A BIG CITY

Furnishing La Casa on a Budget

Living in Park Slope -The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

May 2008

More Apartment Websites!!

Compromise, Compromise, Compromise

When is it time to rock the landlord boat?

Maybe living “alone” ain’t so bad after all.

April 2008

Spring Dumpster Diving for Free Furniture!

Transference: blaming your apartment is easier than admitting moving to a new city is hard

Did I take that apartment too soon? EEK!

Moving to a pad in a new city: Part 2

Finding a pad in a new city

You've Found a Great Apartment -- How do You Find that Great Roommate?

Questions to ask when visiting prospective roommates

March 2008

Using Craigslist: A Sample Email That Got Results

Using Craigslist: How to Sell Yourself to Potential Roommates.

We have a winner!(OR, I FOUND AN APARTMENT!!)

Checking Craigslist Like a Madwoman, But No Luck Yet

Mo' Apartment Searchin / Mo' Problems

Location, Location, Location! Checking out the Neighborhoods

My Permanent Apartment Search Begins( for real)!

The Commuting Game . . .surprisingly less fun than Parcheesi

February 2008

Making a Moving List and Checking it Twice

Lesson learned: Work out the roommate "What Ifs" before moving in

Going somewhere new means leaving someplace else

Posting on Craigslist Housing Wanted worked!

My handicap? Still being in Chicago when I need to apartment hunt in New York!

By Golly, It's a NEW Apartment Searchin' Blog!

January 2008

If a Broker Makes a Promise, Get It in Writing

How Much Does It Cost to Move?

Beat the Winter Blues

My ten steps to green your apartment

Kelly M's guide to affordable Brooklyn neighborhoods

Kelly M's housewarming party and gift ideas

December 2007

Six ways to survive winter in your first apartment

Holiday tipping basics

Strategies for your first apartment hunt - Part 2.

Strategies for your first apartment hunt- Part 1.

November 2007

10 Ways To Make Your Apartment Greener

How to have a happy Thanksgiving in your new apartment - some do's and don't's

Decorating and furnishing when you and your roommate have different styles

Kelly M's tip for making small spaces livable

October 2007

Win their respect! or How to be the best new roommate ever.

Ten essential places to find in your new hometown

How to make friends in your new hometown

How to furnish your first apartment without breaking your budget or losing your mind

How to Secure Your Rights as a Roommate

Kelly M's tips for furnishing from Craigslist "free"

Friend-of-a-friend. Or, How I Found a Great Apartment Without Really Trying

Is this "settling down"?

September 2007

10 Items to Check Before You Move In

Blogger Updates: Jeff in Chicago, Kelly in NYC and Jessica in Chicago

You're Sniffy, You're Sneezy, and it's Time to Blame your Apartment

August 2007

Apartment's First Anniversary!

Alissa's Tips for Buying a Mattress

Organizing Your Desk (and Other Miscellaneous Things)

July 2007

What Your Money Will Buy You: The Furniture Version

Moving to an off-campus apartment

June 2007

Furnishing your apartment... How much will it cost you?

My Top 10 Places to Shop for the Home

Don't be a product hoarder!

May 2007

No wire hangers! Tips for an organized closet.

How to tell your roommate his girlfriend is a problem

Let's get organized!

10-Step Countdown to Your First Apartment

April 2007

How to find that first apartment, one more time...

How much do I need to save before moving?

Looking for a few good first apartment BLOGGERS!

When a murder happens on your block, security becomes VERY important

The FATEFUL conclusion to the Couch Cover CATASTROPHE!

March 2007

Need Judge Judy in the battle of the sofa slip cover

Laundry-O-Rama

Craigslist Easy as Pie

February 2007

To Move Out, or Not to Move Out, that is the Question

U-Haul, eek, part 2

Moving and a Shaking( U-haul or I-haul?)

January 2007

Major Cities with Cheapest Rents!

IKEA bed-making contest

The Final 3: Change of Address, Cable/Internet/Phone, and keeping the lights on

Renovation gamble that paid off

John, 38, ready to leave home, needs your help

Redecorating to make old new again

December 2006

Flooded Toilets and Ants, Oh My!

Living with Strangers, er, Roommates

November 2006

Long-distance Apartment Hunting Made Easy

Make Money by Blogging for Us

Credit Scores and How I Lost My Dream Apartment

Making an Apartment into a Home

How long will it take to find your first apartment?

October 2006

Why there is no such a thing as a perfect landlord

No More Achoo! Getting Allergies Under Control

How much is that doggie in the window?

Understanding Your Lease Obligations

Money Issues Between Roomies

September 2006

Got Gas?

Sites Kate Likes

Links I love!

Surviving a Visit from Your Parents

Alissa Rents in Euro Land

What You Should Know about Using a Rental Broker

Five Lessons from My Search

A Few More Internet Resources

Blogger Update: Kelly has finally arrived in New York City

Five Six Things to Do Before You Move In

The Housing Virgins of Manhattan and Other Apartment Hunting Stories in the News

August 2006

What did you think I would post about next?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Crafts with Apartment #1

How to throw a bangin' housewarming bash

Why, oh why, oh wireless?

Apartment Beautiful: Wall Decoration

Adventures in the Shower

It's a boy!

Taking advantage of your new kitchen

July 2006

I love my new chair. And Craigslist.

Kate's Apartment

Keeping cool?

Dispatch from Apartment #1

June 2006

Turbocharge Your Hunt

February 2006

How to lose cash, a friend and not get the apartment

Romance in the Air?

The Crazy Spaces That People Rent Out

Ode to IKEA

January 2006

True Story of an Attempted Rip-off

Know Your Heating Rights

$1000 Rent Around the Country

December 2005

Happy Holidays!

Which home gift are you dreaming of?

Tipping your way to a happy New Year!

November 2005

Let the Hunt Begin