Why do we New Yorkers subject ourselves to living situations where our bed barely fits, where we must walk up five flights to our apartments, where our views could be spectacular or facing the brick wall of an adjacent building? Where we are forced to find roommates — or two, three or four — to share an already ridiculously small apartment so we can somehow afford it? Where having an in-unit washer and dryer means we’ve made it?

Why?

Because this is New York, that’s why — the best city in the world.

These challenging living situations is the focus of a city-wide advertising campaign StreetEasy is launching today called “Live As You Please.”

Here is one example of the illustrations, but scroll to the end of post to see more:

The campaign tackles some of New York City’s real estate challenges through both humorous, headline-driven ads and detail-rich illustrations that aim to show buyers and renters how StreetEasy can simplify a home search with intuitive search tools and amenity filters and perhaps make you smile in the process.

“Every New Yorker can relate to the insanity of the city’s real estate environment and how challenging it can be to find a home,” said Susan Daimler, StreetEasy General Manager. “In this diverse city, buyers and renters have very different needs and want to live as they please. The campaign shows that StreetEasy brings much needed rationality and empathy to the process.”

We’re taking our message to the street — literally. Look for clever headlines on the illustrations, which will appear where we travel along streets and sidewalks, in subway stations, on subway cars and in taxis. But the pièce de résistance will be a to-scale hand-painted mural that will take over the entire side of a building in SoHo on the corner of Lafayette and Prince Streets. Look for it!

In the meantime, check out some of the illustrations below. If you see one of our ads and want to comment, tweet us @streeteasy or hash tag #liveasyouplease. Let us know which ones you like the best — we’d love to hear from you.

“Live As You Please” was created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners New York.

(Note: To see the fabulous details within these illustrations, click on the image to make it larger)