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caliber. I think the writers are older and are probably remembering their days in Manhattan. But as I said earlier, those days are gone.

So now that we've determined that the apartment you may find for less than 1,000. a month (which is what I'd consider cheap), will be about 550 square feet. It could be more or less, but I think that if you settle for that number, you will be just find and have a more realistic goal in mind.

Okay Richard, you say, you are now ready to begin.

1. Finding an apartment requires 20% determination and 80% perspiration. What this means is that in order to find a cheap apartment it will require alot of "pounding the pavement" on your part. It takes work to get anything, but who was it that once said, "anything worth having is worth working for." So get ready to put on your running shoes because the task ahead, although not impossible, will require real work on your part.

2. Leave your Pride at the door. Many of the things you will have to do will require you to swallow your pride.

That having been said, let's progress, shall we?

3. Word of Mouth, or WofM. I'm sure you've heard of this before, but one of the best ways of finding out where a cheap apartment may be is by talking to everybody everywhere, and I mean everywhere.

I once found an apartment in the very tony Soho area by talking to a man I was renting a post office box from (it was a service). The old man I spoke to explained to me how he owned the building and how he'd rent me the one bedroom apartment above the store for 800. a month. He told me that the apartments around the corner were renting for 2,500. but that I seemed like a nice kid. (Never over estimate the boy/girl next door image if you can pull it off).

With word of mouth you need to make a lot of contacts. You start out by determining where you want to live. Once you know where you want to live you need to saturate that neighborhood like an April Shower. Now you ask, "How can this be done?" Well
first, you need to be living near NYC so that you can visit the neighborhood. There are many cheap Hostels, and room rentals outside of Manhattan. There are also any number of YMCA's/YWCA's that rent. This would just be "temporary housing" and futher motivate you on your search.

Once you have determined the neighborhood, you need to make a list of public places where you can meet the people who live in those fabulous high rises or Brownstones. For word of mouth, chances are you will be looking at older buildings, possibly pre-war.

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