Every New Yorker Is Hoda Kotb On Her First NYC Apartment Search

It's estimated that more than 1.6 million people live in Manhattan, yet there are only about 850,000 apartments. That little formula creates anxiety, dread, doom, gloom and broker's fees for the intrepid NYC apartment hunter, especially first-time seekers.

Hoda Kotb knows.

When Kotb first moved to the city from New Orleans, she had an all-too-common experience: learning that a place with a kitchen, bedroom and outdoor space isn't all it's advertised to be.

"The lady was like, there's the apartment I want to show you. Over here is the bedroom, now look right over here, turn, here's the living room! I was standing in one room and I couldn't believe that that's what they were renting."

That outdoor space? "Oh yeah, they go, 'And we've got beautiful outdoor space.' They opened up these doors, and there was like a window box area," she laughed. "'They go, see you can grow things!'"

NYC rental lesson number one: You can rarely trust the listings.

Still, she said, "people snapped that apartment up in five seconds... I was like, I do not get it. I do not New York prices or New York outdoor space."