Update: The apartment rented out before I can get my application in. Oh well. Just means the next one will be even more perfect. Right?
An upper unit studio on a sunny, tree-lined street. Kitchen (with refrigerator!), bathroom, good-sized closets, designated underground parking and a secured access building. $895 rent + $995 deposit.
The only things it doesn’t have are 1. hardwood floors (which, I know, is by no means a need, only a want! Carpet’s cozier, but I’ve always thought hardwood floors are more… grown-up?), and 2. shorter leases (the management website said 1-year leases only).
But it can’t hurt to ask, so I’ll call them tomorrow to try to negotiate a 9 month lease.
If I can’t, I might have to continue with my search… but I do hope we can work something out. The good thing is that I think I’ve narrowed down the general area (within 3-4 blocks) where I’m searching. So even if this studio isn’t meant for me, I’m reasonably confident that something else will open up.
It was pretty fun to visit apartments on the weekends. But I can only imagine how much more detail-obsessed and nervous I would be if I were looking for a place to BUY.
Why the obsession with less than a year lease? I think you should go with the year lease, and if something happens, you break the lease and move back with your parents. You have the $$, so no sense giving up a place you would like because of a longer lease. A year isn’t forever.
Is there something you’re not telling us? Are you moving? Looking for a job someplace else? 🙂
Maybe you are right. 1-year just sounds long to me, especially because I’m applying to go to back to school next year (so, no idea where I’ll be, except, probably NOT here!).
But I just saw an apartment that’s pretty much perfect, so I’ll try not to let my fear of commitment let that one slip away. 🙂
Ok..so if you do start school, you won’t start until late August, early September, so if you get your apartment by June, you’ll be ready to move out next June and move to your new city. Then..once you’re in school, you can move back to a dumpy, cheap place (ha ha). It’s nice to live someplace that you LOVE for at least one year. You know…the whole loved and lost cliche. Good luck, hon.
My mom managed to negotiate a month to month lease on her place, it was still available several weeks after she looked at it first so they were finally ready to deal. Can you hold out or is your move date firm? Good luck, I always found apt hunting a mixture of fun and dread, fun dreaming of a new place but stressful.
Good luck! My boyfriend and I are about to start hunting next month…the hunt can be fun right up until it’s do-or-die time and then it gets really stressful.
1 year leases really aren’t bad. I can’t remember if you’re planning to buy a house or relocate or something else, but a year go’s by SUPERFAST. And worst case scenario, you can always sub-lease. Yes, it’s a painful process, but if the place is as nice as you say, it won’t stay on the sublet market for long.
Best wishes with the search!
That sounds like a great deal!! Affordable WITH good size closets…not easy to come by. 🙂
Congrats! Sounds like a good find. In my previous apt I got my lease down to 9 months from a year by agreeing to move in sooner– I paid 2 extra weeks of rent at the beginning but also wasn’t rushed to move.
And the 9 month lease was so clutch when I learned (from a former neighbor, no less) that the landlords were going to start doing construction on the building. It was incredibly easy to get out of there! I do miss the view, but moving in with the BF was well worth it.
Sooooo exciting! keep us informed! I too wanted many of the things on your list, but sacrificed the hardwood floors.
this is off subject, but you mentioned school and it got the best of me….I’m going back to school too, for MBA. wondering if you are going to take a leave of absence from your job? I’m not, i’m taking the online route. Just curious;-)