How Many Times Have You Moved?
Martin-Christopher Harper, a 32-year-old hairstylist, has moved more than 40 times during the 9 years he’s spent in New York City. According to the New York Times: When he lists the neighborhoods he has lived in — in chronological order — he sounds like a bartender reciting a long list of microbrews: “Brooklyn, Chelsea Hotel…
Martin-Christopher Harper, a 32-year-old hairstylist, has moved more than 40 times during the 9 years he’s spent in New York City. According to the New York Times:
When he lists the neighborhoods he has lived in — in chronological order — he sounds like a bartender reciting a long list of microbrews: “Brooklyn, Chelsea Hotel for a moment, Bronx, Carroll Gardens, Crown Heights, Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Greenpoint, Chelsea, Crown Heights, Carroll Gardens, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, Williamsburg, East Williamsburg…”
The article discusses the psychological problems of the constant mover, noting that Harper has been “tackling the issue in therapy.” Sure, 40 moves in 9 years is extreme, but we know plenty of mentally-stable Brooklynites who’ve lived in a lot of apartments in search of the perfect place. Does anybody come close to this guy’s moving history?
The Psychology of Moving [NY Times]
Photo from prettyjjbean.
As the manager of http://www.divinemoving.com I must say that we see some people move more often than others but Mr. Harper is on the top 5% of movers.. on a different note we wish more people would move as Mr. Harper!
Moved 18 times (19 ‘homes’) in my 33 years… wowzers. After high school, the Max has been 3 years in one apartment. That felt very stable (and nice). But most have been around a year with various 2-4 month “transition” things.
Never counted before. Impressive. 16 years after high school = 16 different places to call home!
Two years in my current place. Not bad, eh?
yeah he probably was a sucky roommate lol. or just really high maintenance.
*rob*
Mr. Harper’s story is as unlikely as it is excessive. He probably counts house-sitting to pad the number of times he moved for affect in the story. And it’s not the sort of detail the writer probably checked real carefully because it’s attention grabbing. A story’s not worth telling unless it gets better every time, methinks.
Moving is expensive. If you luck into a no-fee lease, you still have to pay first, last and security. Even if you sublet, it’s not uncommon for the person from whom you’re subleasing to want a month security just-in-case. Plus, if you use a mover, as Mr. Harper apparently does, add that expense to your moving costs, too. It’s my experience that footloose kids don’t hire movers. They rent a van and bribe their friends to help with the heavy lifting.
More people’s twenties last into their mid-thirties now. 32 for Mr. Harper is probably akin to 23 for anyone over 38. So his fabulism, especially in context, is understandable. But still, the pieces don’t make a picture when you put them together.
It just dawned on me the guy in the article moved, on average, once every few months (2.7 is what the calculator told me 😉 ).
That is ridiculous.
I just counted it up: 18 moves throughout my life, 15 of which were before the age of 30 (four involuntary moves due to my parents’ decisions, the rest my own post high school moves for schooling or love). The last three moves have been within Park Slope — two rentals, and then into the current home I own, where I expect to remain for many years to come. I suspect that most folks who have moved a lot will find a similar pattern: the transience occurs when we are young and finding our way.
rural farming town – 1200+/- population
Dallas – college 5 moves
Dallas
Irving
Dallas
Paris
Maryland
Minneapolis
Chelsea, NYC
Greenwich Village
Clinton Hill
I’ve lived in 4 different buildings on the same street. 3 different apartments in 1 of the buildings. In another building I lived in 1 apartment on 2 different occasions, decades apart.
21 of my 34 years were spent on the same block in 7 different places…
Sort of the opposite of the article, a bunch of moves but I never really went anywhere…
It’s amazing how many people in NYC prefer this transient type of lifestyle. When i was trying to find a random craigslist transplant to rent the room in my apt – it was amazing how many people just wanted to live there for 2 months and not sign any sort of lease.