Jun 27 2007
Success!
At last we have found success in our apartment hunt! We looked at about a half-dozen apartments last weekend and, in the end, the decision came down to two. The first was the apartment we liked from our Memorial Day visit and the second was one we’d seen on Craig’s List for a while, but only finally got around to calling last week. The deciding factor really became value for our dollar.
Option A (the Memorial Day pick) was a 2.5 bedroom third floor apartment at Ocean and Walton. The neighborhood was pretty quiet, Back Cove was within walking distance, and the sunlight in the place was stellar. The thought of having a separate office was quite appealing too. Much of the apartment was newly renovated, but the kitchen left something to be desired. There was simply almost no prep space. As I like to cook (and am told I’m pretty good at it), that was a major minus in my book. Balancing that out was the fact that the landlord is a great guy and we’d have loved to live in a building he owns. This place was going for about $1000 a month, plus utilities–just a bit above our original desired cap of $1000, utilities included.
Option B (the winner) was a 2 bedroom second floor apartment on Forest Ave. This one is only a half-mile from Option A, so it’s still within walking distance of Back Cove. Baxter Woods Park is just down the street too, so our dog will get to enjoy the outdoors quite often. The bedrooms are a little bigger, but there are only two of them, so I’ll have to set up my “office” in the guest room. The kitchen has ample counter and storage space, and the feel of the place is just a bit more modern and cheery. Coin-op laundry in the basement is a minus, but the other apartment had hookups, so we would have had to buy a washer and dryer or used a laundromat. In the end, though, the overall value of the apartment was too much to turn down. Forest Ave. is much busier than Walton St., so this place was listed for $925 a month, heat and hot water included.
It’s tough to make your decision solely on the basis of money, and we did not use that as the only deciding factor, but a chief concern in my mind was not financially crippling ourself by taking on an apartment that really was not within our budget. In the winter, the difference between these two places will work out to probably $300 a month or more. That’s just too much money to ignore. We’re happy with the place we chose, regardless of the cost, but the fact that we’ll continue to be able to put money toward an eventual down payment makes us even happier. We finally (almost) have an address! Now it’s time to get the lease signed and start planning the actual move…