You’ve been uptown, downtown, and uptown once more, getting off trains and on buses at stops you’ll never use again. You’ve ducked out of work early, taken wrong turns and obsessively refreshed Craigslist (at work, natch) for postings in your price range — shuddering at ones that include the phrase “the living room is occupied” — all on account of finding the perfect NYC apartment share. Le sigh.
And that’s all BEFORE you to show up to an open house and find you’re ONE OF TWENTY-EIGHT PEOPLE vying for the same. Tiny. Space.
Today I’m sharing one little tip with one big purpose: how to get an edge over all those losers!
Sources say this is the exact sheet I distributed while apartment hunting in Manhattan in 2008.
Win apartments and influence people with some great PR (read: shameless self-promotion) in the form of a onesheet — a single-page document that summarizes what you’re selling: YOU. Don’t forget a “headshot”!
The impetus for my patented Shameless Onesheet strategy was this: Once upon a time, I was one of 40-some-odd applicants for an illegal* 10-bedroom converted loft on Canal Street. I was put up against a wall like one of “The Usual Suspects,” holding a wipe-off board with my name on it. And while I didn’t have to intersperse the phrase “give me the keys” with beaucoup de profanity, I did narrowly lose out to a Spanish woman suffering from a massive sanity fail.
Anyway, after you’ve seen the place — which, assuming you’re looking in Manhattan, takes about six-and-a-half seconds — and feel it’s right for you, hand the sheet to your prospective roommate(s), but also make your enthusiasm known right then and there. Follow up the next day via e-mail and make sure to attach it — who knows if it’s already lost among takeout menus and last week’s Onion.
Make it pithy and unique: share your favorite movie quote, the link to your blog or an easy recipe. Stand out, and you just might get in.
*Do not attempt.
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