Thursday, March 22, 2007

Trying To Move Out

It's less than four months until The Peach and I tie the knot and cohabit the same space. Since my place is barely big enough for me and her space is run by an irresponsible landlord who hasn't finished installing the hardwood floors she began TWO YEARS AGO, we need a new place. We really like the neighborhood I'm currently in, and didn't want to move too far away; it's a central location, moderately trendy for two quickly aging young people, and it's close to my work and many of our friends. Last Thursday we started looking around for a new apartment in earnest, driving around and writing down phone numbers of places with vacancies.

Sunday afternoon, I was doing the dishes, when NinjaStolz sent me an I.M. He knew we were looking for apartments, and was walking around the neighborhood when he saw a vacancy sign. He spoke to some people who were coming out of the apartments, and they told him the apartments were very nice, and that the landlord was a decent guy; he wrote down the phone number and gave it to me. I looked at the number: it was one we had already written down. It's also in the same complex our friend Karen used to live in, and I'd visited once (or twice?) and rather liked the apartments. I was going to start calling places on Monday, but since NinjaStolz was so thoughtful to send me the number, and I wasn't really doing much anyways, I dried off my hands, called, and left a message.

At 8:00 that evening, I was watching Babylon 5 with some of the boys (my feelings after 2 episodes? It was interesting enough, I suppose; I could watch more episodes in the future but wouldn't seek them out), when my phone rang. It was the landlord. He told me about the apartment: two bedrooms, ground floor (read: basement), what the rent was, etc. I name-dropped Karen, and mentioned we'd want to live in the area for at least a year, because of the proximity to my job. He thought for a brief moment, and then said:

"So, do you want to pick up the keys tomorrow evening?"

I was floored. I don't want to sound ridiculous, but I kind of panicked. The Peach is still locked into her lease until the end of May, and I didn't want to run out on my current landlord. I asked if I could get back to him later; he put some pressure on me to commit right there, but I held firm and told him I'd need to talk it over.

The next few hours were a flurry of phone calls: calling The Peach to see if it was something we wanted to do; calling my landlady to inform her I'd be moving out; calling Axler to see if he still wanted to move into the place on short notice (he was, thank goodness!); calling the landlord back to try and set up a time to look over the apartment Monday morning before we had to go to work. That night, I was so nervous, I barely got any sleep. Somehow I did, though I don't know how I managed it.

We looked over the apartment the next morning, and liked it so much, we signed the lease before we left. It was so easy. Everything just fell into place. We're going to be a little tight for April, paying 2 rents, but with the market as terrible as it is right now (rising rental prices and falling vacancy rates), we couldn't let the place slip away from us, not knowing what might be in store for us in April. Plus, we really do like the place; it's HUGE and bright and even though it doesn't have a patio, it DOES have a dishwasher and a microwave. A good enough tradeoff for us.

So, I'm moving out of my place on the afternoon/evening of Friday March 30th. Anyone able to help out?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure I'm free that evening so I might as well make it the one, two punch of mentioning the place and helping you move in. Plans at work are tentative for that day though so I'll have to get back to you to confirm.

Xeryfyn said...

Wow! That is so awesome! I cant wait to come and visit!

Mrs. Loquacious said...

Good for you, Doc! It's so hard to find a good place for a decent rate nowadays that you almost *have* to pounce on your first big opportunity. And I'm glad you did, and even more glad that you now will have access t a dishwasher! That machine helps preserve my marriage! ;)

Foofa said...

Having a dishwasher is the greastest I don't think I could ever go back to not having one.