That's Life in the Big City

Friday's Wall Street Journal article on crazy Manhattan rental prices was enough to make any potential newcomer to the city shudder. $1,000 a bedroom -- to live with a roommate -- is considered a deal? The average one-bedroom is over $2,600? Prices are up nearly 12%?

But what the extremely well-reported article by Emily Meehan didn't mention is: we've seen this before.

I moved to New York two decades ago, after the granddaddy stock market boom of the 80s had crested. Subsequent to that, I saw a number of land rushes, including one so bad that the media wrote about a man who time-shared an apartment, so he had a bed but not 24-hour access.

Newcomers to the city survived then, and they'll survive now, just as newcomers to other high-priced cities, like San Francisco and Chicago, will navigate their cities' crazy real estate markets.

The trick, honestly, is to be flexible. I've had terrible roommates (the half-deaf girl who was oblivious to her IM chiming all night) and great roommates (the one who would make me dinner whenever she knew I had a particularly tough job interview).

The best way to have your pick is to be organized - get a letter from your employer stating that you work at XX company at YY salary - and to be as financially sound as possible.

And, whether you're going to see a roomie or an apartment, it doesn't hurt to overdress a little. I'm a landlady, too, and I cut my last student renter a break because when I met him he was wearing a tie. I thought it meant he would be responsible and take out the garbage, and he did.

Try to be that kind of roommate or renter, too; it will make city life easier until you get a place of your very own.

Like the time-share guy. I would have sworn that story was an urban legend until I met him - and now, years down the road, he and his wife have a townhouse that has been written about in magazines. As far as I know, he can fall asleep on the bed anytime he wants.