I have discovered

[ThomCat]

that less than 1% of apartment buildings and homes that are renting in NYC are wheelchair accessible.

Less than 10% of those will allow dogs and cats.

Less than 5% of those are in places that within an easy commute of lower Manhattan where my doctors are.

That leaves me only 1 in every 20,000 apartments that is currently available for rent in my price range that I can look at right now.

These are approximates, of course, based on talks with the broker I have doing searches with me.



There just aren't that many apartment listings in my price range for me to check out. I'm hitting dead ends over and over and over and over again. OUCH! x(



Of course, if I was wealthy I would have a lot more options, but I am not. I need a place to live. It shouldn't be this damned hard! :(

I am off to go view an apartment. We know it is not accessible, but if it looks good the owner said he's willing to BUILD A RAMP for me and MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE! How cool is that? :) Please let this work out! The big drawback is that it's farther out on Staten Island. I don't know that I want to live out in the boonies of Staten Island. But such is life.

[crim son]

1. Let us know how it looks.

Right now at least you know you'd have an accommodating owner, which is a boon. :hi:

[ThomCat]

3. I think I'm going to take this place.

The living room is tiny, but the kitchen is large. It has a HUGE enclosed back deck. It's a longish bus ride to the Staten Island Ferry, but it's only one bus, with no transfers, so that's okay.

The landlord is right down the block, and he has a disability too. His brother lives in the basement apartment, and he's the carpenter.

I met the upstairs neighbor, and the landlord has done car repairs for her. So he's neighborly and nice.

I liked them, and they liked me. I have an application I have to fill out, but it looks like I have the apartment. :woohoo:

[crim son]

4. FanTASTIC!

Sometimes when you least expect it, something good happens! I'm happy for you, Thom! :hug: :woohoo: :hug:

[ThomCat]

7. After beating my head against a wall and dealing with hundreds

of brokers and landlords who don't return calls, it's wonderful to have something go so well. :)

:hug:

[BarenakedLady]

8. That sounds great!

I hope it all works out for you.

:hug:

[ThomCat]

11. I really, really hope so too.

:hug:

If this falls through somehow I am going to hate starting over again.

I really want this to work. :)

[bluesbassman]

2. House hunting is the pits. Best of luck to you.

Are you looking because of the pet issue at your apt? What's the status on that?

[ThomCat]

6. Yes,

It turns out that the building has a legal right to have a dog-free building. Period.

So no dogs are allowed on the premises except for the one dog that is grandfathered in.

So the dogs are no longer allowed to visit. That means JennaLaw can't come and stay for the weekend. She has to come all the way from Connecticut, and then turn around and go all the way back. The dogs have to stay home all day without her, and she has to go home to take care of them.

I'm finding a new place to live where she and the dogs are welcome, and as soon as she can find a job down here she'll be quitting her unpleasant job up there and moving down here to be my roommate. :)

It looks like I may have found that place this evening. I have an application to fill out, and the landlord is going to run a credit check on me. But my credit is very good. So I shouldn't have a problem.

As soon as he finishes building a ramp into the apartment I'll be moving in. :7

[bluesbassman]

9. That is fantastic news!

Congratulations. Make sure you post some pics hen you guys move in for us west coasters.:)

[ThomCat]

13. Parts of the apartment have some really tacky 70s touches.

The photos will be SO COOL! I can't wait to get in there with a camera! :7

I'll definitely post a bunch of photos when I can. :)

[Shell Beau]

5. I am pretty disgusted by the 1% wheelchair accessible.

That just sucks. :hug:

I guess I am so damn niave that I thought it was law for places such as apartments to be handicap accessible. x( I hope you find a place soon. :hug:

[ThomCat]

10. Almost all building have at least one step to get in.

Which immediately makes them NOT accessible. :(

And, a whole lot of older buildings in NYC don't have elevators because they were built before elevators. Walk-up apartments are still very common. As long as they are not substantially renovated (60% of the building at one time) they are grandfather-claused and do not need to be accessible. So even if I can get in the front door, I could only get to the ground floor apartments (maybe). :(

But, if this place I found tonight doesn't fall apart somehow then I have found a place. Yay! :woohoo:

It'll just take about a month for the ramp to be built. The landlord needs to pull up some hedges, pour a concrete slab, and build a ramp up to the porch.

[Shell Beau]

12. Good luck! I really hope it works out for you!

[ThomCat]

14. Thank you very much!

:hug:

[Callalily]

15. Glad you found a new place,

with a very accommodating landlord. Hope it all goes well.

:hug:

[ThomCat]

17. I hope so too.

:hug:

If this falls apart I'm going to be horribly depressed about it.

I have been looking for a new place off and on for months, and almost constantly for a few weeks. I've done nothing but search all this week. I'm getting burned out on making the same phone calls over and over and getting either negative responses or no responses at all.

If this goes through I'll be really buzzed for quite a while. :7

[Haole Girl]

16. Hope you find a place soon

:hug:

[ThomCat]

18. If all goes well, it looks like I just did.

Trust to lounge vibes or something. As soon as I post about it, I find a good place. :)

:hug:

[Haole Girl]

22. Oh, Yay!!

:hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

19. My dear ThomCat!

I've just read your entire thread, so I know about your GREAT news!

I am seriously jazzed for you, sweetie!

I'm sure your credit check will be good, and you WILL get this apartment...

Now, in all the excitement, LOL, don't forget to PM me your new address; I want to update you on my Holiday card list!

Congrats!

:woohoo: :woohoo:

:hug: :hug:

[ThomCat]

20. As soon as this goes through and is confirmed

I will definitely PM you the new address. I promise. :)

But I'm not going to jump the gun. Unfortunately, this could still fall through at a couple of different steps.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

21. Well, then, I will continue to hold the good thought for you!

:hug:

[elshiva]

23. Dear Thomcat, I hope this apartment works out for you.

:hug: :hug: You deserve the best, honey. It sucks that Jenna can't visit you if it's "dog-free."

[ThomCat]

24. I hope so too.

:hug:

Then I have to go through the trouble of changing over my address in all the bureaucracies that I'm stuck dealing with.

I'm sure a couple of them will fuck it up and end up canceling my benefits at least once. But I guess I'll just have to plan for that.

[elshiva]

25. Please don't bang your head against the wall.

You are wonderful person, please don't hurt yourself. :hug:
Bureaucracies suck. I hope you don't lose any of your benefits. You are very brave, honey.