Moving During Coronavirus: Tips from Someone Who Had to Do It

You think your last move was stressful? Wait til you hear what happened to this guy.

In a perfect storm of inconvenience, journalist and writer John Kunza found himself moving during coronavirus.

Not only was he forced to find a new apartment in a hurry, but he had to do it in the midst of a nationwide pandemic. And in his especially hard-hit Brooklyn neighborhood, it was only a matter of time before he contracted the virus himself.

Newly rested and recovered, John recounted the circumstances of moving during coronavirus, his own battles with the virus and what ended up being the most stressful part of the whole experience.

Moving while sheltering in place

Rent.com: First off, how is the new place? Are you unpacked?

John Kunza: Just finished unpacking (well, there's one more box left but I'm using it as a coffee table at the moment). The apartment is nowhere near decorated the way I would like. It's hard to get the things I want to be shipped at the moment. All in all, I'm enjoying the new spot, minus the few little quirks that come living in a third-story walkup in Brooklyn.

Rent.com: How did you find yourself moving during coronavirus in New York? Were you already planning on that date? Or did you have to move while coronavirus was ramping up?

JK: My roommate decided to move out before the crisis hit and the landlord wouldn't extend the lease for me due to wanting to renovate. So, I had to move no matter what by the first of April. I was already moving at a tough time in New York. Brokers kept telling me that their inventory in early spring is low, so it was even crazier than the New York rental market usually is coupled with the coronavirus lockdown. I love my neighborhood (Crown Heights), so I was not going to move into a new neighborhood, which made it even trickier. Fortunately, I found my apartment a few days before everyone was put in lockdown.

Photo courtesy of John Kunza

Time crunch

Rent.com: Moving is always stressful under the best circumstances. What was harder than expected?

You might also like

Searching for Dog-Friendly Apartments

Can You Negotiate Rent? 5 Tips for a Lower Payment

33 Things to Look For During an Apartment Inspection

JK: I knew I was up against the clock — not only with my lease being up soon but also with stay-at-home orders coming soon. I knew I had to act fast and didn't have time to be as picky as I normally would be. So, I came up with a checklist of must-haves (budget range, had to be a legit one-bedroom, the neighborhood and safe).

I saw my new place on a Thursday morning. I texted the broker immediately, and I put in an application that day. I found out over the weekend I was approved and that Monday I discovered I had direct exposure to someone with coronavirus symptoms. I became sick soon after. I had to work with the broker and landlord to do all the paperwork and money exchange digitally instead of in person, which a lot of brokers prefer.

Rent.com: How did your former and current landlords feel about the timing of your move?

JK: My old landlord after being pushed said he would be willing to let me stay another month since I became sick and that there was a stay-at-home order in place. My new landlord was very flexible in finding a way to make it work.

Rent.com: If you had to do one thing over again (other than moving during coronavirus), what would it be and why?

JK: I let one great apartment go before everything got crazy because it didn't meet all of my "extra" desires. Because I hesitated I was late in line with my application.

Coming down with coronavirus

Rent.com: Now, you had the coronavirus. How are you feeling these days?

JK: Much, much better thank G-d. I was legit sick for three weeks, every week was a new thing, ending in a lovely kidney infection.

Rent.com: At what point during all of this do you think you caught it?

JK: I knew I had direct contact with someone with coronavirus symptoms. The party was on a Tuesday, I saw my new place on Thursday and a week later I was sick in bed.

After learning this, I put myself into self-quarantine and my fever spiked a couple of days later. But who knows when I actually got it or if I was exposed earlier. My guess is either myself, or the person I was in contact with, contracted the virus the week before at a Purim party. At this point, the advice was to keep going on with your life, just don't shake hands. New York was still advising everyone to stay away from hospitals unless you had breathing problems.

Photo courtesy of John Kunza

Looking back and ahead

Rent.com: Obviously, getting sick made everything infinitely harder. What was the worst part — physically packing your stuff? Coordinating with movers and building supers? Your new or old roommates?

JK: After having direct contact with someone sick I knew I was on borrowed time, so I started packing earlier than I would have. Finding movers actually was not hard at all; I used the same ones my roommate did when she moved out. Movers are essential workers here in New York so finding help to move was actually the easiest thing. The most stressful part was not knowing if new rules would be in place which would make movers non-essential. I probably moved more than I should have while sick trying to pack everything up.

Rent.com: Tell me about where you are now.

JK: This was by far the most stressful move I've ever made — and I moved overseas for a little bit. And the irony of ironies is that I literally moved a couple of blocks away from my old place. They say the shortest moves are the most stressful ones, and this lived up to that.

I'm OK with not having the place set up perfectly at the moment. I'm willing to wait to find the perfect piece of furniture or art to fill the place with — it's not like I'm going to be entertaining anytime soon. It did take me a couple of weeks to figure out the best layout in the living room for my Zoom meetings.

Back to reality after moving during coronavirus

With the craziness finally behind him and a surefire winner of a “moving in New York" horror story, John can finally relax and decompress after his hectic and difficult last couple weeks. He's enjoying his new space (and spending a LOT of time there) and looks forward to exploring his new neighborhood — just as soon as he's allowed to go outside.

But at least he found that perfect camera angle for his Zoom meetings.