A (Small) Reduction

There's been some helpful leads coming in, and we're tracking each of them down.

One was for a 1 bedroom apartment on Rugby Road, in Ditmas Park. We know the neighborhood, and in fact, I had seen the apartment a few weeks earlier.

Standing inside the unfinished apartment at the time, George, the super - holding a styrofoam cup of gin and soda - said the apartment was renting for $1,575 a month. To move in, they'd require first month's rent, plus last month's rent.

Oh yeah, and $1,000 for the super himself. When I asked why, George said it was for his "finder's fee."

When a reader suggested that very same apartment the other day, I figured I'd call that super again. The apartment was still available, and it's nearly finished. "I just have to hook up the faucet in the bathroom," he said.

I told him the rent was a little out of our price range.

He paused for a moment, then said he could lower it.

Immediately, I imagined him saying it would drop to $1,400 and how quickly I'd grab it and how I'd sort of feel sorry for everyone else who saw the apartment but passed it up because of the price and how I'd take away from this whole thing a priceless lesson about the value of communicating (i.e. haggling) and how, quite possibly, I may have stumbled upon a solution to fix every other facet of my live.

He said, "I'm authorized to go down to $1,560."

I sigh a little, and said we still needed to look elsewhere.