Too good to be true?
Jan. 13th, 2011 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vulgarweedSo...I made a handshake deal for an apartment today, I'll be paying the deposit and making it official on Monday.
OK, first off, it's a share. I will have roommates, and I don't know them yet. (I met two of them today for the first time.)
Here's the setup: The owner owns the whole three-story building. His own apartment and shop are on the ground floor. (He's a plumber) That's a separate apartment. He seems like a very nice guy who has a sweet elderly cat and a big friendly dog that barks, which gives extra security.
The one I'm moving into occupies the 2nd and 3rd floors. Still with me? The 2nd floor is a 3BR apartment with three guys living in it. This is where the main living room, den and (HUGE!) kitchen are. The common areas here are shared. The 3rd floor is the rehabbed attic, and it has a bathroom and two bedrooms, and will be shared by me and another woman. (who wasn't home. I'm told she's very nice, 50-something, does tai chi and martial arts, goes to church, and is very chatty. She reads Blake and Rumi, so she can't be all bad. of course I snoop people's books YOU DO IT TOO DON'T JUDGE)
Now for some of the features:
1) The bedroom that will be mine is HUGE. Blew my mind. It's practically its own studio apartment within a larger apartment. It also, being an attic room, has those sharply-slanted ceiling-slash-walls that my inner child has always found cozy and romantic.
2) Both levels have their own balcony/decks (which double as fire escapes) excellent for BBQing, box gardening, and just being outside.
3) Apparently, the entirely reasonable-and-affordable rent ($650) includes all utilities, including cable TV and wireless internet. The only thing I'll have to pay for separately is my phone. (No one I know has landlines anymore.)
4) Holy shit, central air conditioning? Really? That was one of the things I was most worried about having to give up.
OK, and here's the killer, the ultimate deal-sealer in my heart:
You know what's on the living room walls? A CAT PLAYGROUND. They've installed carpet on the walls to skritch on, a huge cloth/sisal climbing pole (floor to ceiling) and little shelves and platforms all the way around up to the ceiling at perfect jumping levels. There's only one cat there already, and he seems like a mellow guy who'd love to have a little friend to play with on it.
I mean....!!!
Convenient to two major bus lines, and a lot of people I know and like live in the general area. It's still in my beloved West Town/Blue Line orbit (Chicago peeps: it's on California near Division, eastern Humboldt Park)
It was never listed anywhere - pure word-of-mouth, friend-of-friend thing.
I mean, is this real? I guess I won't believe it until I'm actually safely asleep in my bed there, but if it really is real, then not being able to afford my current place anymore could be one of the best things that's happened to me in years!
OK, first off, it's a share. I will have roommates, and I don't know them yet. (I met two of them today for the first time.)
Here's the setup: The owner owns the whole three-story building. His own apartment and shop are on the ground floor. (He's a plumber) That's a separate apartment. He seems like a very nice guy who has a sweet elderly cat and a big friendly dog that barks, which gives extra security.
The one I'm moving into occupies the 2nd and 3rd floors. Still with me? The 2nd floor is a 3BR apartment with three guys living in it. This is where the main living room, den and (HUGE!) kitchen are. The common areas here are shared. The 3rd floor is the rehabbed attic, and it has a bathroom and two bedrooms, and will be shared by me and another woman. (who wasn't home. I'm told she's very nice, 50-something, does tai chi and martial arts, goes to church, and is very chatty. She reads Blake and Rumi, so she can't be all bad. of course I snoop people's books YOU DO IT TOO DON'T JUDGE)
Now for some of the features:
1) The bedroom that will be mine is HUGE. Blew my mind. It's practically its own studio apartment within a larger apartment. It also, being an attic room, has those sharply-slanted ceiling-slash-walls that my inner child has always found cozy and romantic.
2) Both levels have their own balcony/decks (which double as fire escapes) excellent for BBQing, box gardening, and just being outside.
3) Apparently, the entirely reasonable-and-affordable rent ($650) includes all utilities, including cable TV and wireless internet. The only thing I'll have to pay for separately is my phone. (No one I know has landlines anymore.)
4) Holy shit, central air conditioning? Really? That was one of the things I was most worried about having to give up.
OK, and here's the killer, the ultimate deal-sealer in my heart:
You know what's on the living room walls? A CAT PLAYGROUND. They've installed carpet on the walls to skritch on, a huge cloth/sisal climbing pole (floor to ceiling) and little shelves and platforms all the way around up to the ceiling at perfect jumping levels. There's only one cat there already, and he seems like a mellow guy who'd love to have a little friend to play with on it.
I mean....!!!
Convenient to two major bus lines, and a lot of people I know and like live in the general area. It's still in my beloved West Town/Blue Line orbit (Chicago peeps: it's on California near Division, eastern Humboldt Park)
It was never listed anywhere - pure word-of-mouth, friend-of-friend thing.
I mean, is this real? I guess I won't believe it until I'm actually safely asleep in my bed there, but if it really is real, then not being able to afford my current place anymore could be one of the best things that's happened to me in years!
