that it's all all right
So I found us a house. It's pretty near perfect. Well, except that it's not actually ours yet. Let me back up. I saw an ad for this amazing house on craigslist last weekend, I think. It looked amazing, had all the features we're looking for, was perfectly within our price range, everything was great except it was available immediately. So I sighed and whined and moved on. Except then I saw an ad for the same place on kijiji, this time with even more pictures! Seriously, did you look at that ad? I can't even convey how awesome everything about it seemed to me. So I whined to Brad about how frustrating it was that all these amazing places were available immediately when we can't move till May 1, and he said I should email them and see if they'd be willing to hold it. Especially since the ad specifies a 1 year lease minimum, he thought we might have a shot if we told them we're looking for something long term (which we are).
So I emailed and asked if they'd consider holding the place if we were willing to sign a lease, put down a deposit, etc. And, to my excitement, I got back a reply the next day saying "Ideally we would like to rent it out as soon as possible. However, it is more important to have quality, stable, long term tenants. Therefore I would not rule out may 1st." Yay! I called the guy and left a message saying we'd love to come see the house, let's talk about the details, etc. This was on Tuesday, but I didn't hear anything back for the next few days. I sent another email on Friday, just asking if he was still willing to consider May 1, since I hadn't heard back. He emailed back and apologized, saying someone should have contacted me about showing us the house, and if I didn't hear from them soon, he'd be in touch by the end of the day. I got a call about an hour later, and we made an appointment to see the house that night.
Guys. I can't even tell you how much I am in love with this place. I am trying really hard to downplay it and not be excited because it's still up in the air as to whether they'll wait till May 1 for us, but omg, this house. You can tell from the pictures that it's nice, but seriously. The kitchen is fantastic, and has a center island and a nice balcony right off of it. The living room is huge, and has a gas fireplace. We could easily have a couple couches and a coffee table and an armchair and still have plenty of room for a dining area on the other side. There's a guest bathroom with a shower/tub and lots of cabinet space under the sink. There's a separate laundry room with a utility sink and everything. But omg. What you don't see in the pictures in the ad are the EFFING HUGE master bedroom. No lie, you could fit at least two of our current bedroom in this room. It is gigantic. AND it has a walk-in closet. AND that bathroom you see in the ad? That is the master bathroom with a shower stall and a huge soaker tub. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I may have jumped up and down with excitement in the walk-in closet. The guy who showed us the place said he'd talk to the landlord about the May 1 thing and if he was okay with it, he'd give us a call so I could come in to the office to fill out the rental application.
Just to be proactive, I emailed the realtor (the one I'd been exchanging emails with) when we got home, to tell him we were very interested in the place and would be happy to sign a long-term lease if we could wait till May 1 to move in. He emailed back asking some questions about us (what we do, what our income is, whether we have kids or pets, etc.) and telling me where I could get a credit report to send them. He said he would talk to the landlord and let us know. So right now, we are just waiting, but omg I want this place. It's SO big and it's LESS money than we are currently paying in rent. AND. This is the kicker. A whole bunch of people have been telling me lately that car insurance is actually more expensive in Brampton (where I work) than it is in Toronto, which I thought was crazy. So I called TD to ask them about it, because if it really is more expensive in Brampton, that would be a serious consideration for us. I only just switched my insurance to TD because they could give me a much lower rate than what I'd been paying; it would be silly to turn around and move someplace that would cause my rates to shoot back up again. But get this. When I called TD, the guy told me that yes, Brampton is generally more expensive than Toronto but if I told him the postal code of the place we were looking at, he could let us know how the rate would change. And while typically, Brampton would be more expensive, where this particular house is located, my rate would actually be a little lower! IT IS CLEARLY A SIGN.
Sigh. So right now we're waiting to hear back from the realtor once he talks to the landlord. In the meantime, I should keep looking for other places, but I have a hard time imagining we'll find anything better for the price. I feel like I've been spoiled for any other places now that I've seen this one. Ugh. Keep your fingers crossed and/or send some good vibes our way, please. I really want this house, but more than that, I just want to find a place to be done with the uncertainty. I want to know where we're going to be moving so I can start making all the secondary plans that go along with it. I want to not have to worry about this anymore, and I for real want to be done with scouring all the sites looking for a place.
Besides that, money's stressing me out a bit this month. Mainly the fact that we'll likely need to put down a deposit for whatever place we end up choosing, but we have to come up with said deposit out of half a paycheck, since I lose a week's pay because of March break. Nope, totally not stressful at all. :-/ Things are just going to be very tight for the rest of the month, I guess, not much to be done about it. But I do plan on enjoying my March break and will do my best not to stress out about stuff that I really have no control over. To start my break off on a fun note, I got a 50% off coupon for Payless in the mail recently, and used it yesterday to buy these. Cannot wait till it's warm enough for me to wear them! And with that, I'm off. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, lovelies.
So I emailed and asked if they'd consider holding the place if we were willing to sign a lease, put down a deposit, etc. And, to my excitement, I got back a reply the next day saying "Ideally we would like to rent it out as soon as possible. However, it is more important to have quality, stable, long term tenants. Therefore I would not rule out may 1st." Yay! I called the guy and left a message saying we'd love to come see the house, let's talk about the details, etc. This was on Tuesday, but I didn't hear anything back for the next few days. I sent another email on Friday, just asking if he was still willing to consider May 1, since I hadn't heard back. He emailed back and apologized, saying someone should have contacted me about showing us the house, and if I didn't hear from them soon, he'd be in touch by the end of the day. I got a call about an hour later, and we made an appointment to see the house that night.
Guys. I can't even tell you how much I am in love with this place. I am trying really hard to downplay it and not be excited because it's still up in the air as to whether they'll wait till May 1 for us, but omg, this house. You can tell from the pictures that it's nice, but seriously. The kitchen is fantastic, and has a center island and a nice balcony right off of it. The living room is huge, and has a gas fireplace. We could easily have a couple couches and a coffee table and an armchair and still have plenty of room for a dining area on the other side. There's a guest bathroom with a shower/tub and lots of cabinet space under the sink. There's a separate laundry room with a utility sink and everything. But omg. What you don't see in the pictures in the ad are the EFFING HUGE master bedroom. No lie, you could fit at least two of our current bedroom in this room. It is gigantic. AND it has a walk-in closet. AND that bathroom you see in the ad? That is the master bathroom with a shower stall and a huge soaker tub. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I may have jumped up and down with excitement in the walk-in closet. The guy who showed us the place said he'd talk to the landlord about the May 1 thing and if he was okay with it, he'd give us a call so I could come in to the office to fill out the rental application.
Just to be proactive, I emailed the realtor (the one I'd been exchanging emails with) when we got home, to tell him we were very interested in the place and would be happy to sign a long-term lease if we could wait till May 1 to move in. He emailed back asking some questions about us (what we do, what our income is, whether we have kids or pets, etc.) and telling me where I could get a credit report to send them. He said he would talk to the landlord and let us know. So right now, we are just waiting, but omg I want this place. It's SO big and it's LESS money than we are currently paying in rent. AND. This is the kicker. A whole bunch of people have been telling me lately that car insurance is actually more expensive in Brampton (where I work) than it is in Toronto, which I thought was crazy. So I called TD to ask them about it, because if it really is more expensive in Brampton, that would be a serious consideration for us. I only just switched my insurance to TD because they could give me a much lower rate than what I'd been paying; it would be silly to turn around and move someplace that would cause my rates to shoot back up again. But get this. When I called TD, the guy told me that yes, Brampton is generally more expensive than Toronto but if I told him the postal code of the place we were looking at, he could let us know how the rate would change. And while typically, Brampton would be more expensive, where this particular house is located, my rate would actually be a little lower! IT IS CLEARLY A SIGN.
Sigh. So right now we're waiting to hear back from the realtor once he talks to the landlord. In the meantime, I should keep looking for other places, but I have a hard time imagining we'll find anything better for the price. I feel like I've been spoiled for any other places now that I've seen this one. Ugh. Keep your fingers crossed and/or send some good vibes our way, please. I really want this house, but more than that, I just want to find a place to be done with the uncertainty. I want to know where we're going to be moving so I can start making all the secondary plans that go along with it. I want to not have to worry about this anymore, and I for real want to be done with scouring all the sites looking for a place.
Besides that, money's stressing me out a bit this month. Mainly the fact that we'll likely need to put down a deposit for whatever place we end up choosing, but we have to come up with said deposit out of half a paycheck, since I lose a week's pay because of March break. Nope, totally not stressful at all. :-/ Things are just going to be very tight for the rest of the month, I guess, not much to be done about it. But I do plan on enjoying my March break and will do my best not to stress out about stuff that I really have no control over. To start my break off on a fun note, I got a 50% off coupon for Payless in the mail recently, and used it yesterday to buy these. Cannot wait till it's warm enough for me to wear them! And with that, I'm off. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, lovelies.