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Excerpts from:
THE HUNT "Just 18, and Singing for Her Starbucks"
Joyce Cohen
12/26/04
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MELANIE FONTANA couldn't wait to turn 18. As soon as she did, she would hunt for her first apartment in New York.
Ms. Fontana, who aspires to her own record deal, was itching to move. For five years, she had been a demo singer - recording songs for writers to pitch to record companies. She took dance and acting classes, too. All of this had her commuting to Manhattan from Newington, Conn.
Energetic as she was, she was exhausted by the trip. Three, four or five days a week, she would endure a 45-minute drive to New Haven and nearly two hours on Metro-North (or the more expensive Amtrak Acela Express when her schedule demanded it). Because her mother didn't want her on the subway, she took cabs everywhere.
"It was driving me crazy and making my family broke," Ms. Fontana said. On the train home, "I would be passed out with my head on the glass, dead asleep."
She turned 18 on Oct. 3. "She may or may not go to college, so we see this as an investment in her future," said her mother, Janis Fontana. "Instead of paying tuition, we are paying rent." Actually, the Fontanas were spending so much on commuting costs, they figured that by renting they would break even, if not save a bundle.
They had no idea where to start. "My mother wanted me in a nice, safe neighborhood where there's a Starbucks on every corner," she said.
Riding in one day on the train from New Haven, Ms. Fontana overheard two conductors discussing "real estate in New York and how much cheaper it was to own land in Florida."
"I said, 'I am looking for an apartment,' and they said, 'Ha ha, good luck.'"
The conductors were flipping through a copy of Metro, the free morning newspaper. Ms. Fontana picked it up, looking for real-estate listings, and found "deal of the week," a regular feature showing a place available through Rent-Direct.com, which provides apartment listings for a fee of $149.
She called, saying she was now focusing on a two- or three-bedroom rental for less than $2,700 a month.
Within days, she and her mother visited the first place on their list, on East 60th Street near Bridgemarket. A Starbucks was a half block away on the corner. (Ms. Fontana's a toffee nut latte drinker.)
"Right off the bat, I looked at the awning and said, there is no way we are ever going to be able to afford this - this is too nice," Mrs. Fontana said.
To their surprise, it was furnished. "When Melanie started apartment-hunting, we had just gotten an Ikea catalog, and she was circling bureaus and lamps," Mrs. Fontana said. "This apartment was Ikea-furnished. It had the same things that she was considering buying."
With two bedrooms and a living room, each with a sleeping loft, the apartment was suitable for three. Mrs. Fontana signed the lease, for $2,200 a month.
"I love it, I love it, I love it," Ms. Fontana gushed.
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