This has been our home for the past 11 months. It is a lovely 2 bedroom apartment with all the modern cons that come with a newer apartment. I would love to say that it has been heaven living in this complex but I cannot.
Don't get me wrong, the location is awesome! Living in the heart of Capital Hill, we can just about walk everywhere. A few blocks from Broadway; close enough to enjoy all that Broadway has to offer but far enough to remove ourselves from the madness, which is Capital Hill.
But a month after moving in, we went back to Australia for a 3 week vacation only to find out that the apartment complex was broken into. No problemo.....no one broke into our apartment, so apart from the inconvience of getting hold of new keys to enter the apartment when we get home, no great loss........well maybe one great loss, my car. My brother-in-law who recently relocated to Seattle was going to use my car while we were away, only to find out that the car was no longer in the garage when he arrived to get it! That sort of put a damper on our vacation? Of course, I only had 3rd party insurance as it was a 1994 Nissan and we just figured that it was not worth insuring for the full amount as it is costly.......and why would anyone steal my car in the first place. It was just a Nissan Sentra 94?? Nothing flash, but it went really well and I had just bought a new $300 cd player, so it was perfect!
To cut a long, and boring story short. We just barely coped sharing a car for a week, so at the end of the week we went out and bought a new car. We picked up the Mazda 3 a few days later and it has been wonderful. Would you believe I received a call about 6 wks later only to find out that the police have located my car? Really! In White Center, which really doesn't surprise me....to my surprise the car is perfect apart from the signal light being smashed, which is how they located the car. It appears that who ever was driving it lost control and hit someones parking car, the guy came out in the morning to drive to work only to find my car parked on his lawn. And yes I did receive a few calls from the unlucky man who tried to get me to pay for damages. After speaking to the police I was informed that I was not at fault as the car was reported stolen.
After the car incident we thought life would go on as per usual. Only to wake one more to dripping in our hallway. Due to shoddy workmanship there was a leak, which began in the hallway, only to lead to a leak in the spare room, which lead to a mold problem.......a month went by, as we lived with full scaffolding in our dining room, and a wall being replaced. But then everything was wonderful again.
The building is covered by Dryvit and it has since been found that Dryvit doesn't really work in a wet climate like Seattle. Well, we knew when we moved in that there would be construction commencing sometime this year, and that we could stay as long as we liked and enjoy the benefits of reduced rent. We thought that we would stay for as long as possible and then move on.
But last Saturday we were informed by our neighbor that everyone has to move out in October so the work can begin. They were initially going to wrap the building in plastic for 8-12 months, but have since decided that everyone will move out and the work will be finished in 3 months. I admit that if I was a condo owner here I would prefer tha latter decision.
But now we must find another place. Admittedly, I love looking at property, but I hate being under pressure to find a place. It was likely that the work would begin early October so I want to be ready. I finally contacted one of the board members and found out that work will take place at the end of October, most likely. Most likely!? I cannot live my life by 'most likely'. I want to know the exact day, date and even time! On Monday night we viewed our first apartment in Capital Hill. I was quite excited as I thought that this may be 'the One'. We had friends that had lived in the complex and they loved it. I should have known just by the fact that I had left 2 messages for the property manager and never received a call back. Really, that should have been a sign, but I like to make excuses for people, sometimes. Maybe he never got my messages? Maybe he is having problems with his cell phone, maybe he had a flat battery and the message was deleted? Or maybe he was just too busy? or too slack? Maybe he knew I would call back so why bother? After the third attempt I managed to get through to him, hey, no apology? He has to have known I was the same person, with the australian accent and all?
Well we rushed down on the Monday night to view the place. Yuck! the apartment was really small. There was no parking available, even though the ad mentions that the place had parking for $75 per month. I never asked where the 2nd bathroom was as I didn't really want to know? The interior paint was quite radical, don't get me wrong I love the hippie era (well I love the music that came from that era) but I don't want to live in it now. The walls were painted bright green, yellow and red. It had a balcony which was nice, though it was a shared balcony, and it looked like the neighbors plants had pretty much taken over. I don't even know who the neighbors are? They could be serial killers? Or junkies desperate for another hit? They could just climb through the window and gain access into our apartment. Then there was the kitchen window! Wow, I really wanted a kitchen window so I could grow some herbs. But not a kitchen window that leads to a dark outside stairwell, that leads down a laneway right into the heart of Capital Hill. I really don't want any late night unexpected visitors. Yes, you may have guessed by now that I am aware of my surroundings. I watch Forensic Files, Cold Case Files, CSI, I even watch the news. And there is no way I'm living in that apartment! No way that I am giving easy access to some of the freaks that live in this world.
Not to be dismayed, I keep looking......apartment number 2 is in Eastlake. We think that we can get more for our money if we move further away from Capital Hill. We plan to view the apartment on Wednesday at 5pm. Of course I don't really leave work as early as I should and have to drive like a maniac to get from Leschi to Eastlake in 10 minutes, during peak hour traffic. Made it, and without a speeding ticket! My husband just works around the corner so he met me there. A sligthly older building, well maybe 30 years older than the one we are in. Hey, you can't judge a book by it's cover, or can you? Welcome to the 70's again. No colored walls but the interior is indicative of the 70's woodwork. Yuck. It is a 2 bedroom, ground level (which concerns me a little), but the area is really nice. The place comes with one parking space and there is street parking. The view from the balcony was fantastic. Views of Lake Union and Gasworks Park. Wow, if only I could live on the balcony this place would be perfect! The lounge area is nice and a quite large, but the rest of the place will be a little cramped. And for $1400 I think it was a little much for what you are getting.
So the search continues....
On Wednesday evening, day 4, I manage to find a nice sounding place in Ravenna. No pets! Hey, I can't let that deter me. I mean ferrets aren't like dogs or cats? So Thursday morning comes and I managed to wait until 8.30am to call. This is very hard for me as I think that I suffer, a little, from OCD? When I get an idea in my head I run with it like a bull charging a matador. Unfortunately, the matador usually wins, but not this time. And I start work at 7am and think that if I have to wide awake at that time, so should everyone else?!
Well I make the call and talk to the owners sister-in-law who states that the ferrets may be ok! She will call the owners and get back to me. Half an hour later she calls me back. Ferrets will be fine! Yippee. At 7pm we arrive at our new home! Well, not really, but it looks nice from the outside. It has 2 bedrooms upstairs, kitchen, bathroom, dining, lounge and study on the main floor. Laundry, bathroom, kitchen and extra room in the basement. The place is absolutely fabulous! It also has a carport and neat little garden; that someone else maintains. The rent is $1400 which is well worth it! It has to be ours!! We fill out an application form and keep our fingers crossed. We also find out that someone else looked at the place and took an application form with them? If this is the right place it will be ours.
Things are looking up! It is 8.30am and I have just received a call from Debbie. The place is basically ours! The owners still need to do a credit check next tuesday but that won't be a problem.
It has taken me all of 6 days to find a new home! Who said I wasn't up for the challenge?
Lets start packing!!
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