Thursday, October 15, 2009

Decisions, decisions

It's clear to me I have to get out of this apartment. I've had this vague feeling being unwell that keeps getting worse and I'm sure it's because of the moldy dampness here. Turning on the heat makes it worse unfortunately. Suspecting the heat ducts are a mold factory. I'm thinking if I keep it on all day, it may burn off, if it doesn't aphixiate me first, but the house just bleeds heat and it will cost a bloody fortune to keep it warm all winter no matter what I do to tighten it up. The floors are like ice, even with the heat running.

I started house hunting again. I actually looked at a place yesterday morning. It wasn't perfect. The hall outside the apartment smelled a little musty, but that's been true of almost every cheap place I've looked at and this one at least didn't smell like cigarette smoke too. The stairs are steep and narrow, but there's only one set. Inside the apartment was fine. The heat was cranked up and it worked great and the place didn't smell bad at all. I was too hot after 15 minutes in there looking around. But the down side is the living room and bedroom have ugly paneling. Not cheezy, but just ugly. And there are ugly blue rugs in both rooms. He tells me one is new and they aren't disgusting or dirty, but they are very ugly. Probably wouldn't be so noticable once I got furniture in there and I could invest in a area rug or two I suppose. Also, there's no porch with it and it looks like there's no cross ventilation. Not clear if the windows can even be opened.

On the plus side, the location is great. It's a safe neighborhood. There's a really old cemetary nearby. Love those. Easy walk to downtown. A longish, but not impossible walk to my Dad's place. The space itself is good. It flows well and it's big for a one bedroom. Lots of storage, a great walk in closet that could practically be another room. It even has a window. Kitchen a little short on counter space, but big enough for a table and I could put my yellow vanity table where the washer dryer hookups are for more counter space. There's a fireplace in the bedroom that's well sealed with a big piece of slate I think. No creosote smell at all and it's been raining which is when that seems to be a problem. A previous tenant arted up the mantel. It's cute. Bathroom is nicer than any cheap place I've looked at. Better than the one I have certainly. Just redid the flooring and it's pretty big although it doesn't have a vanity, I love the old pedestal sink and there is storage in there.

The landlord or manager or whatever he is, is very nice. He appears to be more than accomodating on fixing things. Offered to upgrade the outlets since there's no three prong ones in there right now. And they obviously care about the place. Has a hardwired smoke detector. This place I'm in now doesn't have one at all. I'm told the neighbors are all quiet and keep to themselves.

Biggest plus is it's cheap. Only $400 a month and he tells me they won't ever raise the rent because they want long term tenants more than making a few extra bucks. Second floor so it will be cheap to heat and it's on the north side of the house, so it probably won't get too hot in the summer. It has central air in any event. And ceiling fans in both rooms. Maybe the kitchen too. I forget already.

Have to sign a year lease but after that it's tenancy at will and he'll give me a break on the security deposit. And they pay for the water and sewer. Having looked at a couple of dozen places since I've been here, I'm finding you pretty much get what you pay for. At the price, it's probably unlikely I could do much better. I'm probably not going to find my dream apartment in a house that looks like the graphic in a good neighborhood for that kind of money.

Of course the biggest question is, if I take this place, I'll have to eat two months of rent I've already paid here. I was thinking I'd end up eating one because I want to find something by Dec 1st so I can make an easy transition and move most of my stuff myself, albeit slowly in small loads. So I'm basically obsessing about losing $450 bucks. Which is not insignificant to me at this point but it will probably cost me almost that much to keep this place warm. But if I hold out for another month and don't find anything better, I'll be sorry I didn't take this one. On the other hand, if the perfect place came up two weeks after I sign a lease I'll want to kill myself. I hate these major life choices.

I couldn't sleep last night trying to decide what to do. Help me out here friends. Am I being penny wise and pound foolish?

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