The housing saga continues

The pawns have become the players as Holly Baxter figures out how to work the murky, complicated world of flat-hunting, ever closer to that dream ‘passable’ apartment in Brooklyn

Despite the best efforts of New York realtors, there is progress (Getty)

Our New York housing saga continues, but I’m pleased to report that after multiple trials and tribulations, the pawns have become the players.

A couple of weeks ago, we bumped into the people in the flat below us who were trying squeeze a king-sized mattress down the very narrow set of stairs in our 1920s brownstone building. “It’s a nightmare, really,” said the woman, whose cats (Rice and Beans) I had once looked after while they were on holiday. “We were hoping to be here for years.”

“Us too!” I said, though it wasn’t strictly true that we were planning to renew the lease on an apartment where you can only watch TV if certain lights are on and you’re sitting over the right floorboard.