For those of you who have known me for a while, you may have realized that I’ve moved at least once a year since 2004.

In 2004, I moved twice, once across state lines. In 2005, I moved three times, all three times across state lines. In 2006, I had a sort of mini-move that lasted all of a few weeks, then back, then another move. In 2007-2009, I moved once a year.

I really like my current apartment, and I was hoping and expecting to stay here longer, but my landlord tried to raise my rent $200/month with less than six weeks’ notice to the end of term (and yes, for those who might ask, this is legal, if obnoxious).

Sick of horrible Manhattan landlords, and suspecting that Manhattan brokers deliberately put people in apartments that will turn out to be short term so they can get another fee the next year, I decided that maybe it was time to move to Queens.

I started looking in Astoria, but Brendan, my boss and friend, suggested the neighborhood where he and Rina live, and gave me the number of the brokerage they used when they found the home they currently live in.

I made an appointment, and went out looking at apartments. It’s about a half-hour from Manhattan, but with that you get bigger spaces, cheaper rents AND cheaper groceries. I liked the first place I saw, and though I looked at some others (one so big I had no idea what I would do with it), I settled on in quickly.

Let me tell you a few things. My bedroom will be bigger than my current living room. My kitchen will be the size of my bedroom. My bedroom will have more windows than my entire apartment. I look out on a quiet, tree-lined street instead of an airshaft. My electric bill will be included in the cost of the rent.

And for all of this, I will actually be closer to a movie theater and closer to a grocery store than I am now in Manhattan.

Mirrored from Antagonia.net.