Hi-fi for (very) small spaces

For the past few months, I've been getting ready to move. Those of you who've looked for an apartment in New York City know that it may be the single most dismal thing about living here.

- ALEX HALBERSTADT

Imagine spending months online, looking at “digitally staged” photos of dark, cramped, cheaply renovated apartments where you can hardly believe anyone would consent to live, all offered at prices that, elsewhere, can get you a Greek Revival manse with four acres of rolled lawns. To wade through these listings is also to partake of some of the most godawful words in the English language, all designed to make the reader feel poor. My least favorite may be “coveted,” which brings to mind the kind of late-19th-century opera where a Sicilian villager gets knifed in the heart.

If and when you spot a home that might do, there will probably be a single 15-minute showing, and then there's the matter of competing with other hopefuls, sometimes more than a dozen of them, at least one of whom is certain to bid above the asking price. Given this gladiatorial level of competition, you can't afford to think about whether you really want the apartment before applying, but you also can't get too attached to the idea of getting it, because you probably won't. A coworker of mine recently remarked, “I think I'd rather break a bone than move again.”