when to move into the city? (Ava: apartments, lease, find a job)

[Noobie76]

I'm in need of some advice. Here's the situation. My girlfriend is moving up from another city to live with me. She is just starting to look for a job so we're not sure where it will be, but I currently work at NYU Medical Center in Midtown.

We are looking for a 1 bedroom up on the Upper East side (but not limited to that area) with a budget around $2300 a month. From what I've seen on craigslist and citi-habitats, it seems doable. Some of these places actually seem pretty nice too (with doorman, elevator, some even with washer/dryer).

Seeing how spring/summer is approaching, I feel like the "good" apartments would be taken before my lease in August expires. This was sorta the impression I got when I was searching for apts last year in August. But seeing how I'm not from here, I don't know if that's really the case.

But in order to break out of my current lease, I have to pay 1 month lease which is $1730. ) I'm currently living in Avalon Riverview North in LIC in a 495sq foot studio.) and my lease doesn't expire til August. This means if my girlfriend did find a job within the next month, we'll be seeing each other every day in my studio (which wouldn't be ideal either)

I guess what I'm wondering is if I should go ahead and start looking and if I find one, go ahead and break out of the lease?

Or should I wait?

Financially speaking, the cheapest route is to wait til August to avoid paying the penalty in breaking the lease, but I'm afraid by then, all the "good deals" will be gone. What do you guys think?