The Adventures of Zach in the Big City

Or, the craziness that is finding an apartment. All in all, I must say, it was a painless process, in hindsight. Where else could you move that you would find an apartment listing on Friday night, call about it on Saturday morning, travel to see it on Sunday, and find that it was already taken? And they say that this is the slow time of year. Nevertheless, the story does have a happy ending.
So, we did indeed see a perfect apartment listing on Friday night and called the realtor at 8 a.m. Saturday morning... I know, you're never supposed to call that early, but she didn't answer anyway. After a lot of debating, we decided that Zach would go up on the train early Sunday morning (as in a 6:20 a.m. train), look at that apartment and several others, and bring the bus home. I stayed in VA and just wondered what was going on all day. As mentioned above, the apartment we had seen listed was no longer available, but there was another, nearly in the same location, that was the same cost for rent and just as convenient. So, we set our sights on that one.
Finding a great place is one thing, getting someone in New York to rent to two students is another... Suffice to say that God was very gracious, and that after some negotiating (we really did have a great agent to work with), the landlord decided to trust us. We didn't find out until Monday afternoon that we had gotten the place, and that was after a few more rounds of negotiation, so it was a bit of a rollercoaster weekend... All that, together with the fact that Sunday started at 5 a.m. and ended around midnight, made for 2 tired, but very happy apartment-leasees come Monday evening. I, of course, have not yet seen the place, except for a few pictures on the phone (our camera battery died as Zach got there), but I trust the judgement of my good man.
So, this is just a lesson that the blessings in life come when you least expect them, and you always have to be ready. We weren't planning on seriously looking for a place until April, but we found out that would have been a big mistake. The market up there is so dynamic that prices rise about 30% on places like this in April May and June as students come in for summer school... What a blessing! I am looking forward to seeing the new home and trying to figure out what we can take up there... It won't be much--did I mention that it's a studio... maybe 400 square feet? Yes, we are in for some changes!