| I spent December and January preparing for consulting interviews. Five companies expressed interests. I made it to the final rounds of four, while the fifth was placed on hold. Two firms gave me the thumbs down, while I withdrew from my fourth and final rounds of another firm a week before they were supposed to fly me out to meet the executives at their headquarters. Instead, I accepted a senior consultant position with a company which has a dominant market position providing services for the advertising and media industry. I will be working with media corporations like NBC and ABC, as well as the Madison Avenue creative agencies. Although the recruiting process was arduous, I can make a case for finding an apartment to rent in NYC to be just as strenuous – if not more. My criteria were as follows – reasonable price, commute, space, and cleanliness. “Since I’m paying $1000 for a clean 500-ft² apartment in NJ, I’m sure I can find a decent studio in Midtown West or Upper West Side for $1300.” My friend who is a real estate broker in Manhattan told me straight up, “For $1200-$1500, you can get Harlem, Queens, or share an apartment in Manhattan.” I immediately ruled out Harlem and Queens because they did not meet my proximity criteria. Although I had called or emailed 20-30 listings for a month, I never got a response. Finally, I received an email response for a two-bedroom share in a nice residential building in Chelsea, located FIVE blocks from work! The asking rent was the maximum that I was willing to pay but hey… it’s a 7-minute walk to work and so many trains (1,9,C,E,F,V,N,R,W) were within two blocks! We agreed to meet the following evening, but I never received a confirmation of time and apartment number. What a flake… While waiting for the phone call, I received phone call for another roommate interview located in the same building! He wanted to meet the next evening but I pushed for that same night because I felt that in 24-hours, the room would be off the market (I later learned that in fact, that is what happened with my first scheduled appointment). Brian greeted me in the lobby with his girlfriend, Dwi. He gave me a tour of the gym, lounge, and the entertainment room. We chatted for about 20-minutes over a game of ping-pong before going upstairs to see the apartment. It was a one-bedroom that was converted into two using the living room. The apartment was immaculate, and the renting room is large enough for my full-size bed, couch, coffee table, desk, and bookcases – but just barely. I liked the room, apartment, and roommate. Brian said that he had received over 50 emails during the past four months while looking for a “certain” roommate. He would have received more inquires, but his original asking price only attracted “serious” candidates. After interviewing close to 20 candidates since October, he was absolutely certain that I was “the one.” It was kind of flattering (I guess), but I would have fully enjoyed hearing those words from the woman whom I was created to be with. Anyways… Although his asking price was slightly above my maximum, I gave a verbal agreement after assessing the whole picture. Brian was comfortable with a verbal agreement because he judged that I could be trusted (yes… but he should have gotten something in writing). Likewise, I should have left with a written agreement but, I had the same positive assessment of him throughout our 110-minute interview. Few days later, I walked 7-minutes after work to sign a sublet agreement beginning February 15th with Brian. I move in this Saturday, February 17th!!! (Let me know if you can help from 11:15am-noon at 23rd and 6th Ave. It’ll take 30 minutes and we’ll have those carts that you see the bellhops use in hotels. We can go for lunch afterwards). Although my lease doesn’t start until this Thursday, Brian let me sleep in the apartment past Friday and Saturday nights since I had a lot going on in the city (bible study on Friday, seminar at church on Saturday afternoon, Jinhee’s goodbye party, Stephen’s birthday party, and wake up early for welcome table at church on Sunday). After Brian and I had returned from our respective socials, we talked in our kitchen from 12:30am-2:30am. Yeah… we definitely get along. We talked about our first impressions of each other. Brian said that both he and Dwi were in absolute agreement about me. Sweet…I had passed the girlfriend test. =) Sunday morning, I woke up at 9:15am and was out the door at 9:30am. I walked 10-seconds from my apartment to the F-train to go to church. I arrived at the welcome table at 9:57am with a few minutes to spare. I’m already loving it! Thank you Lord for opening doors for me to live in community. May I be faithful with what you have entrusted me with. |
