A virgin no more

The Times has a great story about the emotionally exhausting experience of finding your first NYC apartment -- though it's focused on 22-year-old undergrads coming to Manhattan, it rang true for me.

I especially liked this bit from the first paragraph:

It has been a summer of firsts for Mr. Snydacker, a Skidmore graduate: after scuffling in the city’s rental market, a sometimes-lawless agora peopled with good guys, bad guys and all the shape-shifters in between, Mr. Snydacker has emerged a little tougher and, emotionally, a little older. He is no longer a housing virgin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/garden/24new.html

Did I mention we *still* don't have a copy of our lease, two-plus months into living here? Apparently we aren't alone -- the doormen tell us they hear all manner of complaining about late leases, getting stood up for showings of apartments, all the same stuff we went through. And yet, NY real estate being what it is, people put up with it. Getting a NY apartment is every bit a bizarre journey as losing that other virginity, except at least then you didn't have to put down a $3,000 deposit.