Renting in NYC

I’m headed to the Big Apple in two weeks to spend four glorious days shopping for my new abode.  My live-in boyfriend (henceforth referred to as D) is also coming…however, he will be working the entire time, so the pleasure of looking at thousands of fixer uppers and dealing with famously tricky brokers will be enjoyed by me and me alone.  Apartment hunting is never fun, but this year will be particularly stressful for the following reasons:

• Our 1-bedroom budget has doubled while our gross income has halved.  Do I sense impending personal financial meltdown?
• Typically, brokers charge fees of approximately 15% of the total rental value of the apartment.  In a pricey market like Manhattan, this figure falls in the thousands.  Absurd!
• Here in the Midwest, Craigslist is a perfectly acceptable alternative to brokers for securing an apartment.  In New York, apparently this is not so.

And let’s face it, four days is not a very long time to secure a semi-permanent place of residence.  To anyone out there offering advice, please keep it coming.  Especially if it is in the form of an honest broker referral or the name of a management company with lots of listings in the Village…