[MUSIC]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. For our last 15 minutes today, we'll open up the phones. Now, to those of you who are in the process of moving right now, or maybe just moved yesterday, where are you moving or where did you just move and why? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Why are we asking this today? Well, yesterday was May 1st, a day with a lot of historical significance in New York City. An article on the website, Untapped City, describes that history this way.

In the mid-18th century, mayhem filled the streets of New York City every May 1st when every lease, residential and commercial, expired simultaneously. This was an annual event called Moving Day. Think about that. Every commercial and residential lease in the city expired on the same day. Picture the streets overflowing with horse-drawn carriages, carts, wagons. Do you have a sense of the mayhem? Apparently, this was a long tradition dating back to colonial times and lasting through the beginning of the 20th century.

Our question for today is, we know that a lot of people still move on May 1st. It's one of the months of the year where a lot of leases tend to expire. Kind of a three-part question, did you move yesterday, did you move more from or more to? You understand the question? If you just moved, or if you're in the process of moving soon, are you moving more to get away from the place you're leaving, or are you moving more to go to the place you're going to? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

Beyond that, do you have any tips and tricks? Maybe if you just went through the process, and so you're good for a while you can share the tips and tricks that you came upon along the way. Things other than looking at the listings on the relevant websites with the big broker fees. Who has a tip or a trick for finding a decently affordable place anywhere in our listening area? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692 for this day after Moving Day call in. A little more on the history while your calls are starting to come in.

"The housewife of New York today--" wrote The New York Times in 1873--wakes up to other thoughts than those of flowers and green boughs on May mornings." "To many it is a dream of torment, confusion, and expense. Landlords and real estate agents--" well, they even had real estate agents in 1873-- are the evil spirits that rule the day. When New Yorkers celebrate the day as they invariably do, it is, if not in sackcloth and ashes, amid dust and piles of carpets and confused heaps of furniture."

Wow. That from The New York Times 150 years ago about Moving Day, May 1st. 151 years later, today, hopefully moving is at least a little bit easier. In a nod to the tradition of Moving Day, we are asking, did you sign a lease yesterday or actually move yesterday? Are you moving more to or moving more from, and can you share some tips and tricks for people who want to do it or have to do it in June, or July, or August, or September, another really big moving month? 212-433-WNYC. We'll take your Moving Day calls right after this.

[MUSIC]

Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your Moving Day calls, tips and tricks for others who want to try to find an affordable and decent place, your stories of having moved yesterday. We were going to do this call in yesterday, but it got canceled for unrelated reasons. I'm actually glad we're doing it today because if you were in the middle of moving yesterday, you couldn't have called in. Now we can say, did you move yesterday, and did you move to get away from something or more to get to something? Colette in Madison, New Jersey, you're on WNYC. Hi, Colette.

Colette: Hi. How are you? Thank you for taking my call. It's real quick. I helped my son, Cole, and his girlfriend, Sophie, move in together yesterday. Sophie's mother and grandmother were there. Cole moved from Brooklyn to another place in Brooklyn. Sophie moved from Chelsea area to Brooklyn with Cole. I just have to say, you just need a lot of support, and I'm just sharing some love for Cole and Sophie that it all went smoothly. We all helped and we laughed, and it was a beautiful day. Thank you, Brian, for taking my call.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. That's certainly a big deal when your kid moves in with a partner, right?

Colette: It is. It is. I'm full of tears in a positive way.

Brian Lehrer: Colette, thank you very much. Isaac in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Isaac.

Isaac: Hi, Brian. First-time caller, long-time listener. I love your show.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you.

Isaac: I'm moving across the country from Brooklyn to Tahoe to get out of the city and have some access to the great outdoors. It's quite the process. We live in a four-story walk up and we've got double rent situation, so we're paying now rent for a place in Tahoe. I'm here for this month, and we're scheduling movers to come some point this month and it's-- yes.

Brian Lehrer: What are the rents like in Tahoe for the same amount of space compared to Brooklyn?

Isaac: Well, the same amount of space, that's a good question. The place we're moving into is a bit more expensive, but it is a much bigger place. We'll have a garage and then backyard. It's going to be worth it. We'll also have laundry machine and dishwasher, and amenities that we don't have here.

Brian Lehrer: Lifestyle change.

Isaac: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Isaac, thank you. Good luck with it. Regan in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Regan.

Regan: Hi. Long time listener, semi-frequent caller. Brooklyn, but driving through Smoky Mountain National Park.

Brian Lehrer: Oh.

Regan: I just wanted to share a tip. If you google, how to find a rent-stabilized apartment and then Curbed, you can find a Curbed article that they did many years ago that still has active links to both StreetEasy and Craigslist that will immediately pull up all the rent-stabilized apartments for rent in the city. There is tons and there's really nice ones. I just sent some links to friends, I know it's still active, and there is tons of rent-stabilized apartments if you just do a little bit of digging. This Curbed article makes it really easy. That's it. Love you, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Wait. Now that you have thousands of people saying, "Wait, how do I get to that exact article because this sounds too good to be true," what's the title of the article so people can search it, if you know?

Regan: Every time I find it, all I do is type, "How to find a rent-stabilized apartment Curbed." C-U-R-B-E-D. You know that real estate vlog that's part of NY Mag.

Brian Lehrer: The real estate's site, yes.

Regan: It always comes up pretty quickly. Then you have to go down to the bottom third of the article, and within the paragraph, it has some hyperlink.

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Regan: You can find them on StreetEasy-

Brian Lehrer: There you go.

Regan: -and you can find them on Craigslist, yes.

Brian Lehrer: Regan, thank you very much, and my producer just tried it and, yes, it pops right up. There is our caller of the week. Maybe Regan just helped how many listeners find rent-stabilized apartments for the coming months? James in Southampton, you're on WNYC. Hi, James. You have a trick too, right?

James: Hi, Brian. I do. A lot of recently built buildings have a certain percentage of their apartments reserved for low- and moderate-income people. You can find these apartments on NYC-- it's New York City housing site, NYC Housing Connect. You enter into a lottery, and if you're top of the list, you might get one of these apartments.

Brian Lehrer: James, thank you very much. In fact, I think our next caller River in Manhattan just won a housing lottery. Hi, River. Do I have that right?

River: Hi, Brian. Yes. I won one last year and then moved in to Brooklyn. This year I won another one and I moved back to Manhattan. I'm so happy.

Brian Lehrer: What was the lottery, and who can enter, if you know?

River: Housing Connect.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, it's the same thing, Housing Connect, that the last caller said. Well, congratulations times two. Erin in Manhattan has a daughter moving today, I think. Erin, you're on WNYC. Hello?

Erin: Yes. Hi, Brian. Can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: I can hear just fine.

Erin: My daughter is moving from Mount Vernon, Westchester today, and she's coming back to Upper West Side. I wanted to give a shout-out to

our local small-time mover Bill with urbanflatrate.com.

Brian Lehrer: Nice. There are good movers, and there are bad movers.

Erin: I highly recommend him.

Brian Lehrer: Is he paying you to say this?

Erin: No. He's extremely-- I've been using him for eight years. I'm a slight semi-hoarder, and he's always telling me not to move anything and he's fabulous. I found him on Craigslist years ago. I highly recommend him, and he's super reasonable. I'm a painter, so I have a very small budget, and he's just great. Wish me luck all summer with a 20-year-old.

Brian Lehrer: Is that just home for the summer between years at school?

Erin: Yes. She has housing for her senior year back at school.

Brian Lehrer: It's funny, I have a 20-year-old calling in on the other line saying, "Wish me luck with my parents all summer." I'm kidding.

Erin: That's hilarious.

Brian Lehrer: It could go both ways. Ehab in Fairfax, Virginia. You're on WNYC. Hi, Ehab.

Ehab: Hey, Brian. My first-time long time, so always wanted to say that.

Brian Lehrer: I'm glad you do.

Ehab: We moved recently from the New York area to Virginia here. Pretty close to the DC area. One tip I have is, if you're moving from a larger place to a smaller place, and you're anticipating getting storage for a lot of your things, I say don't. Either do a little bit of research first to see if you actually can afford the storage. Because when we came here, we were surprised about how expensive it was to actually use storage here, and having to do it again, I would have probably left most of that stuff back home and not taken it or sold it.

Brian Lehrer: That's it. I'm going to leave it there for time. Ehab, thank you for being a first-time caller. Please call us again. That's a good tip about before you decide to just stash something, some stuff between moves. Check out the price of storage. Louise in Brooklyn, you're going to get our last 30 seconds. I see you have a situation happening today. Can you do it real quick?

Louise: Oh, yes. Okay, I'll make it really quick. Basically, it's actually not for me, it's for my sister. She wants to break her current lease two months early. She just found out she has to give 30 days' notice because she found a really good spot that she's going to hopefully move into with her boyfriend. I guess just asking about the fairness of breaking a lease and having to bring that up with a roommate, what is a fair amount of time to give notice? It's for the roommate.

Brian Lehrer: It's just two months early? Is that what you said?

Louise: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: I think a lot of people would say she's got to pay those last two months because it's not enough time to replace, but maybe we'll do advice on tomorrow's show and see what listeners think about that. Thanks to all of you for your Moving Day calls. Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Stay tuned for All Of It.

Copyright © 2024 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.