Philip

Most importantly know what you can live with and what you can't. Can you live with the bathtub being in the kitchen? Can you live with only having 3 electrical outlets? Can you live on the 5th floor of a 5 story walkup (no elevator). All of these are real examples. Plus you don't always realize the implications of what that means. For example, if you are having furniture delivered, most delivery companies charge extra for every floor above the 2nd (if you are in a walk up building).

Just to reiterate what others have said. When you go to see an apartment have your checkbook with you ready to write a check. NYC is a very tight market and there is no time to "think about it". When I rented my apartment (several years ago now) there were 25 other people seeing it at the same time I did (on the first day of a two day showing) and each one pulled out a check and wrote a check to cover the application fee. One girl asked if she could bring her mother back in two days and the rental agent told her "In two days, someone is going to be moving their furniture in." If you don't get one apartment, keep trying. Different landlords have different requirements (for example, I know a landlord that will only rent to college students because he wants to turn the apartments over every two years and raise the rent).

Caitlin

Maura (and others moving to NYC or helping someone to), i wanted to add another though, not about finding a place, but about cost of living once you have it. As I'm quite sure you're aware, the cost of living here is quite high. Except for retail goods, many things, from groceries to movie tickets, cost a bit more here (a lot more than in the middle of the country), especially in Manhattan. This reflects the market but also the high real estate costs and overhead for businesses here. You should be aware that the "overhead" for residents, on top of rent, costs more here as well. All household service, from cable to phone to (especially) electricity (NY state has the second highest consumer rates in the country after Hawaii), costs more here than elsewhere. I found the differences in cost for these things shocking when I first moved here, and I was coming from an expensive area in California. Something to consider when you are working out your budget. While you can't really shop around for utilities or cable service, with local competition, you can get flat-rate deals for phone service that are better than basic Verizon (formerly Bell Atlantic) service. And with other everyday expenses and things like eating out, you can find better prices if you go to the trouble. It's a great place to live if you like the big city, which is why we put up with all this.

Amy

I'm hoping there are some New Yorkers out willing to answer one more question about moving. Would you recommend making a special trip to the city about a month before moving, in order to find an apartment, and then move in the following month. Or is it better to just make the move all at once and find a place asap?
Your responses are appreciated. Thanks to everyone!