The Chronicles of Renting

Over the past two weeks I've made numerous phone calls and sent more than a normal amount of emails. Both these things had one recurring theme - renting an apartment.

Now since paying off my student loans I've kinda decided that the whole living at home when I'm 24 thing has gotten a bit old. Don't get me wrong though, I've kinda really loved living at home the past two years and I've grown accustomed to coming home and having people to vent to. However, I've kind of hit that point where I'm really craving my own space and realistically it's more than  time to move on and start the next chapter of things.

This apartment search has been everything but rainbows and butterflies...in fact it's been pretty awful. While my budget would allow me to afford some pretty nice digs, the thrifty side of me won't allow it. I can't justify paying half my salary in rent when in reality I can get a modest apartment and actually save money for more exciting things (i.e. travel, bikes and fun). Honestly my idea of apartment searching was me sifting through some ads, highlighting the ones that caught my eye and then making a appointment to see them. I envisioned myself being able to view numerous places before picking one. The truth is even though I've made the calls and emails and the follow-up (I swear I'm not stalking) calls, I've received 0 calls back and 1 email. The one email was actually the apartment I was most excited to see and when I got the response last week of "I'm actually not sure if I'll be renting it out again at this time" I kind of felt defeated. I mean, why list a apartment if you don't want to rent.

I was actually convinced and still am that I am not getting called back because I sound young. To prove this I enlisted Erik in a demonstration proving this. I called 5 apartments and left messages with each. Erik called those same 5 apartments and left the same/very similar message with all five as well. I received 0 calls back while Erik received 4.

Last night I found myself a tad bit upset with the current prospects but this morning I decided that maybe I need to increase my search from the two small towns I had my eye on. These two towns I originally choose because it was out of the "city" and I could bike from my apartment and not be afraid for my life. I know you know what I am talking about, those parts of town where you always make sure your doors are locked and you kind of avoid eye contact...yeah biking there doesn't sound fun. Since I am more than willing to have a longer commute to get a area I can bike around I started looking at places 30 miles away this morning. As I was writing down contact info to make some lunch time calls I noticed my phone was ringing (it's on silent at work) and I decided to answer the mystery number. Low and behold it was that apartment I mentioned above from the email, sure enough it's move in ready and she wants to know if I am still interested.

I have an appointment tonight at 7.

It's always funny how when you reach the point of frustration that things will eventually reach a breaking point and then eventually things just seem right again.