Weight Off My Mind

We've successfully disappointed some poor souls somewhere by beating them to a house, just as we'd been disappointed a couple of times previously in our one week here. Maybe I'll sleep a little better at night knowing that we have a place to live come March!

Late last week we came across a few two bedroom places (we'd been looking at three bedrooms previously, mainly because all the two bedrooms I'd seen were apartments/condos/townhouses) that we thought might work. Now, remember, we have to have room in the house for a drum set. So, while these locations had only two bedrooms, most of them also had a basement with room for a set. The unfortunate thing about them is that they aren't necessarily any less expensive than the three bedroom places (of course some of them have just as much, if not more, square footage than the three bedroom places). Not only were we seeing several two bedroom places, but they were also in areas that have great schools and are close to work. That's actually been a somewhat difficult combination to come by around here.

We looked at a couple one day and thought both of them would work, but had one we were really interested in seeing scheduled for the next day. I was a little nervous, because what if the third one wasn't as great as it looked/sounded and we ended up losing both of the first two because we hadn't acted right away? (Seriously, stuff moves ridiculously fast here.) Luckily, the third one looked great. The only worry was that, although we were the first to be shown it, it sounded like the owners were going to accept several applications and then make a decision later this week. Thankfully, at some point this afternoon the owner told me that we were first in line, and if we could get the application and first month's rent to him the place would be ours. So we went over to their place after Ryan got home, handed them our application and rent, and signed a lease. I guess they'll check up on us still, but I'm glad they decided they could trust us to have good credit or whatever so that I can be done worrying about the housing situation!

Some awesome perks: the home has been fairly recently remodeled. The kitchen isn't huge (but is comparable with most of what we looked at), but it's got newer appliances, granite countertops, and even a small pantry area. The bathrooms have also been redone - a definite plus considering some of the bathrooms we looked at. The basement is finished as well and there are recently refinished hardwood floors in most of the main floor. The back yard is completely fenced in, has a great patio, an apple tree, and a good amount of lawn for Gareth to play on. Oh, and I definitely don't want to forget that Ryan will be able to bike to work in about a half hour. So awesome.