Movin' on ... Down???
Alison and I are moving. We put money down on a new apartment last night. And while we'd love to move up, to quote the old idiom, it serves us better to move down, in more ways than one.
After a long series of problems with our current landlords (who mainly see owning a building as an investment and not a responsibility, and who never attend to anything quickly and will do anything to rip us off), we decided that maybe we could not only get away from them, but also find somewhere a bit less a month.
So, for the last week, we've been looking pretty dilligently on craigslist for something in the area. Both of us wanted to save money as a top priority, and I was next concerned with space while Alison most wanted a convenient location. After looking at some places about $500 cheaper than our current rent, we decided that saving that much money would both require a small and inconvenient apartment.
On Sunday we looked at at a nice little apartment on the edge of Paulus Hook that was newly renovated and had a deck. We were about to write a check for it when I asked why the previous tenant left, and the lady told us that they had a cat. We have a cat. She apologized and told us we couldn't have any pets and that the rule wasn't negotiable. We were broken-hearted and left the apartment certain that the universe had it in for us.
Then, a block away, we noticed a young couple loading a couch into the back of a pickup truck. An older lady walked past them and wished them luck in their new apartment. Half-jokingly I told Alison to ask if their apartment was rented already, and she did. They said no, and offered to show us around. Their apartment was amazing.
It's a garden level 1 bedroom with a newly renovated kitchen and bathroom. There's tons of counter and cabinet space, and exposed brick in both the kitchen and bedroom. Separating the living room from the bedroom is a huge brick archway that looks like something out of a train station or a castle. There's no door between the rooms, but it's got a lot of character and we can easily make it work. As if that weren't enough, there's a washer and dryer in the building, just steps from our door that's free, so we never have to get quarters and lug clothes to the laundromat. We have exclusive access to the back yard, which is paved and decently sized. And, we also have exclusive use of a lockable concrete shed at the back of the yard which is easily the size of our current bedroom.
They gave me the number for the building manager, who I called immediately and left a message. Yesterday, I got in touch with him, and we spoke about the unit. Because the former tenants broke their lease, he was looking for immediate occupancy, but hadn't yet put it on the market. Because we would be going through him, he would waive any broker's fees and we could have first dibs on it before he put it on the market. We took another look at it last night and put money down. We had to take a June 15th move-in date since he needed to fill it soon, but that gives us two weeks of overlap from our current place to make the move less stressful. And it's half the price of what we would have paid for a broker's fee.
We're excited, and plan to throw some kind of housewarming party once we get transfered over there. It's a few blocks closer to the PATH than we are now, so it's even easier to get to. I'll post pictures once we get keys.
Wheeeee! This is fun!
After a long series of problems with our current landlords (who mainly see owning a building as an investment and not a responsibility, and who never attend to anything quickly and will do anything to rip us off), we decided that maybe we could not only get away from them, but also find somewhere a bit less a month.
So, for the last week, we've been looking pretty dilligently on craigslist for something in the area. Both of us wanted to save money as a top priority, and I was next concerned with space while Alison most wanted a convenient location. After looking at some places about $500 cheaper than our current rent, we decided that saving that much money would both require a small and inconvenient apartment.
On Sunday we looked at at a nice little apartment on the edge of Paulus Hook that was newly renovated and had a deck. We were about to write a check for it when I asked why the previous tenant left, and the lady told us that they had a cat. We have a cat. She apologized and told us we couldn't have any pets and that the rule wasn't negotiable. We were broken-hearted and left the apartment certain that the universe had it in for us.
Then, a block away, we noticed a young couple loading a couch into the back of a pickup truck. An older lady walked past them and wished them luck in their new apartment. Half-jokingly I told Alison to ask if their apartment was rented already, and she did. They said no, and offered to show us around. Their apartment was amazing.
It's a garden level 1 bedroom with a newly renovated kitchen and bathroom. There's tons of counter and cabinet space, and exposed brick in both the kitchen and bedroom. Separating the living room from the bedroom is a huge brick archway that looks like something out of a train station or a castle. There's no door between the rooms, but it's got a lot of character and we can easily make it work. As if that weren't enough, there's a washer and dryer in the building, just steps from our door that's free, so we never have to get quarters and lug clothes to the laundromat. We have exclusive access to the back yard, which is paved and decently sized. And, we also have exclusive use of a lockable concrete shed at the back of the yard which is easily the size of our current bedroom.
They gave me the number for the building manager, who I called immediately and left a message. Yesterday, I got in touch with him, and we spoke about the unit. Because the former tenants broke their lease, he was looking for immediate occupancy, but hadn't yet put it on the market. Because we would be going through him, he would waive any broker's fees and we could have first dibs on it before he put it on the market. We took another look at it last night and put money down. We had to take a June 15th move-in date since he needed to fill it soon, but that gives us two weeks of overlap from our current place to make the move less stressful. And it's half the price of what we would have paid for a broker's fee.
We're excited, and plan to throw some kind of housewarming party once we get transfered over there. It's a few blocks closer to the PATH than we are now, so it's even easier to get to. I'll post pictures once we get keys.
Wheeeee! This is fun!