Well long story short, I'm apartment hunting. Very sad to be being forced out from my apartment and even more so from the big organic backyard i forged from a barren junk heap. And after 8 years I'm both spoiled by my relatively spacious place and completely priced out of the area now.

I'm on the hunt for a sizeable 1 (or more) bedroom apartment with a backyard space. I could even handle a terrace or deck if it was cat-safe. I'm trying to stay at or under $1300, depending on the space and whether utilities are included. having experienced evil corporate slumlords I am gung-ho about having a friendly and mutually beneficial relationship with a responsible homeowner. I am open to any area as long as the value is good and a reasonable commute to work (soho) via subway is possible.

Please keep me in mind if you hear of or know of anything and feel free to email directly.

Thanks everyone and happy fall!
Chris A

Anyway, some suggestions for you. Post signs in areas you might want to live. I assume that like me, you'd take ANY type of outdoor space, even if it's not an "official" patio or what have you, so long as you can make it your own? Indicate this in your sign. Put up an ad on Craigslist. Sure, you'll get lots of spam from brokers offering apartments that don't meet your criteria, but you also might get lucky and find that someone has just what you need. Also, when it comes to terraces or porches, you can make them cat-friendly if you use your imagination. Perhaps put up plexi-glass walls around the perimeter of the terrace/porch. Or maybe some type of netting or chicken wire "walls". I for example have a yard surrounded by 8' high walls, but they were not high enough to prevent one of my cats from scaling them. Realizing that I could not allow this to continue without putting my cat's health in jeopardy, I came up with an idea that, together with my wonderful handyman friend, we implemented. He affixed L-brackets on the top of my cinderblock walls. The brackets were not at a perfect 90-degree angle... maybe 120 degrees or so. He then attached thin sheets of plexiglass to the brackets, so the end result was that at the top of the cement walls were sheets of plexiglass that angled in towards the center of the yard, so that when my cat looked UP or thought about jumping up the wall, he saw an obstruction sorts. It worked like a charm, and my cat hasn't been able to escape the yard since! (A picture is attached to give you an idea.)

Another suggestion for you is to walk around nabes where you might want to live. Look for buildings that have enclosed alleyways, or some other type of outdoor space that nobody else seems to be utilizing, and that you might be able to configure for your cats. See if you can find a tenant or super to chat up. Ask the super if there would be any way you could get access to the outdoor space. Pitch it by saying that you'd be "happy to landscape area"... that you'd be "happy" to pay for all the plants yourself... that you'd be willing for others to use the space as well, etc. These are all ideas I've considered myself when thinking about my "sales pitch".

Good luck!