In her usual methodical fashion, Hollaback Girl spent some time last evening scouring the open house listings from The New York Times website to plot out a schedule today. She worked it out so we would start at the Northern highest point of this glorious borough and work our way South, with a brief digression to look at a couple of listings in Washington Heights.

Apartment hunting in Manhattan can be a horrific experience. If you know that $300,000 will buy you a spacious, large home in upstate New York or a mansion in Kansas, prepare yourself to understand that the same amount of money will buy you a 300 square foot studio in Midtown. And it might need renovation. This notion was in my mind today before we set out to see the open houses Hollaback Girl had earmarked. I believe I offered the usual warning signals because sometimes these places can be downright uninhabitable. You really just don't know what you will get and I clearly remember the shock of seeing a 900 square foot box on West 72nd Street that was listing for $1.2M. It feels incredulous. One must be mentally prepared.

Fortified by a breakfast of eggs and swine at the local diner, we hit the streets. The first listing was in Washington Heights. The building was nice enough, but the apartments were in desperate need of repair. And while the price was right for these places, we agreed she'd have to sink a sizable amount of money in them to make them livable. She crossed those off the list. We walked up a few blocks to see another apartment. The first bad sign: it was on the 4th floor and well, there was no elevator. There is no amount of spin to sell me on the concept of "fourth floor walk up." This place had a nice floor plan and ample light, but the walls were painted a vivid orange; not a lilting Tuscan orange--a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese orange. Lord Have Mercy.

We took the subway uptown to look at listings in Inwood/Hudson Heights and here, I was pleasantly surprised. There were beautiful buildings lining the Hudson River and Fort Tryon. They were immaculate and outfitted with incredible Art Deco detail. They had tidy, well-kept gardens and faced tree lined streets and parks. The apartments were clean, spacious and in many cases, beautifully renovated. Each place we went to was almost an improvement on the last. I was staggered. I kept thinking, 'why didn't I buy up here?' Having gone through the horror of apartment shopping on the Upper West Side a year and a half earlier, I now regretted that I had not made the effort to explore this beautiful Northern community.

Hollaback Girl was quite taken with a spacious and pretty apartment that the current owners had made good use of the space. We were greeted by a silky black pet rabbit, penned off in the living room as the apartment was being shown, and he was easy natured and added to the overall charm of the place. With her eyes now open to the possibilities of where she could live without sacrificing quality of life, Hollaback Girl was emboldened. It was exciting. Who knew? This IS a nice place to live!

We had been walking since 10:30 in the morning and well, shit, we were exhausted. There is a reason this area is called the Heights--there are hills and lots of them and we traversed many of them today. We returned back to my apartment by 4:15, weary and sore. To help us decompress--a glass of French rose wine and some good cheese, even some football on TV. Chinese takeout will be ordered soon. It's all good.

Hollaback Girl has some time to find a place. But the last two days observation indicates there are a lot of opportunities ripe for the choosing.