OPTIMISTIC about getting settled in his new home and starting work, Zeyd Rahman began his apartment hunt the moment he arrived in New York last month.

His company, which was transferring him from London, put him up temporarily at a Howard Johnson hotel on East Houston Street. As soon as he got to his room, he went online and searched Craigslist.org for a studio or one-bedroom rental.

He had heard that everyone in New York used that Web site to seek housing. “The minute you get on,” he said, “it feels that it is the right place because there is so much stuff,” neatly sortable by neighborhood and price.

“I thought I could just do this on my own,” he said.

But his e-mail messages and calls went unreturned. The best listings seemed to be outdated or unavailable. “I must have looked at 100 things online” before managing to land an appointment to see a place, Mr. Rahman said. “There’s a lot to filter.”

Mr. Rahman, 29, who grew up in West London, graduated from the University of London and went to work in marketing. He lived with roommates in an attached row house in Islington, in North London, where his share of the rent was approximately $1,200 a month.

The place was too small for the four roommates plus assorted visitors and girlfriends. Everyone wanted to watch his own television shows. “The fridge was too small, but there was no place to put another one,” Mr. Rahman said. He was thinking about buying a house of his own.

But that idea evaporated after a visit to New York last summer. It was so appealing that he asked for and received a transfer here from his employer, the global marketing agency Iris Nation.

His company gave him a relocation package and two weeks to get settled.

Mr. Rahman figured it was wise to live within walking distance of his office, which is on Broadway near Bleecker Street, in a neighborhood with “enough going on around it so life will be interesting but not too crazy,” he said. He expected to spend, at a minimum, $2,000 a month.

His first appointment was for a place on East Ninth Street. The building looked nice from the outside. The agent, who met him out front, said she also had other nearby places to show him.

“Almost by way of small talk, she said, ‘Where are you from?’ and I said, ‘I’ve just come over from London yesterday,’ ” Mr. Rahman said. She asked whether he had a credit history in the United States or a bank account or a Social Security number, all of which he would need to rent an apartment. No, no and no.

But his employer would provide initial financing and act as guarantor, he told her. “She completely lost interest and just left,” Mr. Rahman said, leaving him standing on the pavement.

He was surprised to be given no chance to negotiate but assumed it wasn’t worthwhile for the agent to bother with a tenant who didn’t have the requisite paperwork.

“I know estate agents in the U.K.,” he said, “and they have a reputation of pushing things on you.” He started to realize things might be different here.

A colleague told him that $2,300 was a cutoff point. Below that, he would find only cramped apartments in bad neighborhoods. It seemed to be true. He saw a few tiny places on the Lower East Side, where the streets felt raucous. “Seamy is the wrong word,” Mr. Rahman said, “but you can imagine coming back every night and having to pick your way through punk bars and tattoo shops.”

He was glad to encounter the Christodora House on Tompkins Square Park, which he considered the heart of the East Village. A woman was renting out her one-bedroom condominium in the elevator doorman building.

“I had never been in a lift that nice,” Mr. Rahman said. Though the $2,400 apartment was small, “it was an amazing building and had a nice feeling about it — bright and clean.” It was by far the best he had seen, in a prime location, too.

No Smoking” was the first thing he noticed on the application form. It never occurred to him that he wouldn’t be able to smoke in his home. All of his London roommates smoked. (Only last summer did England ban smoking in enclosed public places.)

Could he hang his head out the window to smoke or go outside every time? Nope.

Then, he found a listing for a one-bedroom on East 10th Street for $2,400. It felt like a New York apartment and seemed spacious, “even though it probably isn’t that big,” he said. It cost more than he wished to spend, but he decided that, at least for his first year in New York, he was willing to pay more for a nice place in the right neighborhood. This, too, overlooked Tompkins Square Park.

He filled out the application as best he could and explained his situation. The rental agency, Tower Brokerage, seemed amenable.

He returned to the apartment for a second look “to make sure I wasn’t overdoing it in my head or giving it attributes it didn’t have,” he said. “I don’t trust myself in these kinds of situations. I get excited by first impressions without checking the details. I didn’t do the things you’re meant to do, like test the taps or check the shower.” He couldn’t quite remember whether the kitchen had a sink. (It did.)

The brokerage scrutinized his application. It ran a credit check — on his boss. The management company required a security deposit of six months, or $14,400, which his company advanced.

Mr. Rahman moved from the Howard Johnson and had a mattress delivered to his new home. He awaits the delivery of more furniture. On the block, he was glad to discover the storied Life Cafe, which is “almost becoming an extension of my house,” he said. Only once did he have a night of real noise, apparently from a bar a few doors down. “I hope it is a freak thing,” he said.

His colleagues have already visited him at home. “They said it has got so much character and is really nice,” he said, even if it’s not a tremendous bargain. But, hey, London is expensive, too. “I’d be hard pressed to find something as nice as my flat in a comparable area,” he said.