Booyakasha!!!
Yay me! After a marathon apartment hunt on Sunday in DC I have gotten extremely lucky.
Talk about grueling. I woke up at 6 in the morning to get down to my cousin Jef's house in Adams Morgan around 10:00. Jeff and his partner Gary, drove me to the first open house to find out it was just a studio that would barely even hold 1/4 of my stuff. Gary is more familiar with DC so he drove us around for about an hour going by some of the places we were going to later that day and finding more phone numbers.
So then the marathon started. I think I visited over 8 places in one day from Capitol Hill to Mt Pleasant to Takoma Park outside the city. I'd have to say that half were shit and half were promising. The last apt we visited had a lot of cat hair all over. I now realize that all the little bug bites I got all over my ankles must have originated from FLEAS in the apt. Gross. So I really only had like 3 good choices out of 8 or so visits. By 6:00 I found out my top choice was rented to someone else. Oh my god the competition was ridiculous. Like 6 applicants fighting for the same place. So I was down to 2 choices. One was PERFECT and the other had poor prospects for transportation. Both weren't making their decisions until at least the next day. So there goes my goal of coming back with lease in hand. My cousin says I was being very optimistic about that. Especially with my budget or lack thereof. Oh I should mention how freakin grateful I am for my cousin's help. I would not have been able to do this without him. While I was filling out applications he would be chatting up the landlord trying to convince them I'd be the best tenant they ever had. His hospitality is also second to none. I tried to pay for our dinner at a nice mexican/spanish restaurant and he wouldn't let me. He said I had to save my money for the place. Thanks again Jeff!
So on top of the schmoozing I did on Sunday... I went ahead and emailed my credit report on monday morning to the top choices landlord. He's a really nice guy named Viraj. My credit score has gone up about 100 points since I last checked it... SWEET. So in the email I mentioned that I know he was doing renovations and I just wanted to let him know i have experience in woodworking, carpentry, and landscaping. Also if he wanted me to maintain the landscaping of the place I would be more than happy too. Voila! it worked. He called me back a few hours later telling me the place was mine!
So ok... the new place. It's on 14th street SE. Capitol Hill neighborhood. I'm practically on Pennsylvania Ave. It's an end unit of a row home first floor. So I have windows on 3 sides. I even have a front and back yard with a tall hedge for privacy. The Potamic Ave. Metrorail is literally 50 ft from the front door. The neighborhood is a little rough around the edges. However I used to live in the Germantown area of Philly. A guy got mugged at knifepoint 10 ft from my door. I was the Minority in my entire apt complex. My new neighborhood is like a country club compared to Germantown. Also right across Pennsylvania ave they are putting in a new shopping center with a Harris Teeter supermarket, starbucks (ugh) and some other sidwalk cafe type places. Also nearby some high end condos are going up so the neighborhood (much like every neighborhood in DC) is being quickly gentrified. My commute will be around 25 minutes includeing the walk across the street lol. It's a lot like my apt now but a little smaller. The bedroom is actually bigger. Its about 10x10 and its going to have big french doors seperating it from the main living area. Right now there is a wall seperating the living room from the kitchen. The landlord is tearing that down and putting in a kitchen island with a gas cooktop to seperate the space. Oh so the kitchen is going to be redone, new appliances, countertops and cabinets. Tiny bathroom with a shower stall but I don't take baths anyway. Washer and Dryer. ALL utilities included. YAY. So I'm very excited. However Viraj says the wall being torn down will not be done by the time I'm moving so I might have to work something out to handle that but thats nothing. I got a place and I'm happy with it.
Peace
Talk about grueling. I woke up at 6 in the morning to get down to my cousin Jef's house in Adams Morgan around 10:00. Jeff and his partner Gary, drove me to the first open house to find out it was just a studio that would barely even hold 1/4 of my stuff. Gary is more familiar with DC so he drove us around for about an hour going by some of the places we were going to later that day and finding more phone numbers.
So then the marathon started. I think I visited over 8 places in one day from Capitol Hill to Mt Pleasant to Takoma Park outside the city. I'd have to say that half were shit and half were promising. The last apt we visited had a lot of cat hair all over. I now realize that all the little bug bites I got all over my ankles must have originated from FLEAS in the apt. Gross. So I really only had like 3 good choices out of 8 or so visits. By 6:00 I found out my top choice was rented to someone else. Oh my god the competition was ridiculous. Like 6 applicants fighting for the same place. So I was down to 2 choices. One was PERFECT and the other had poor prospects for transportation. Both weren't making their decisions until at least the next day. So there goes my goal of coming back with lease in hand. My cousin says I was being very optimistic about that. Especially with my budget or lack thereof. Oh I should mention how freakin grateful I am for my cousin's help. I would not have been able to do this without him. While I was filling out applications he would be chatting up the landlord trying to convince them I'd be the best tenant they ever had. His hospitality is also second to none. I tried to pay for our dinner at a nice mexican/spanish restaurant and he wouldn't let me. He said I had to save my money for the place. Thanks again Jeff!
So on top of the schmoozing I did on Sunday... I went ahead and emailed my credit report on monday morning to the top choices landlord. He's a really nice guy named Viraj. My credit score has gone up about 100 points since I last checked it... SWEET. So in the email I mentioned that I know he was doing renovations and I just wanted to let him know i have experience in woodworking, carpentry, and landscaping. Also if he wanted me to maintain the landscaping of the place I would be more than happy too. Voila! it worked. He called me back a few hours later telling me the place was mine!
So ok... the new place. It's on 14th street SE. Capitol Hill neighborhood. I'm practically on Pennsylvania Ave. It's an end unit of a row home first floor. So I have windows on 3 sides. I even have a front and back yard with a tall hedge for privacy. The Potamic Ave. Metrorail is literally 50 ft from the front door. The neighborhood is a little rough around the edges. However I used to live in the Germantown area of Philly. A guy got mugged at knifepoint 10 ft from my door. I was the Minority in my entire apt complex. My new neighborhood is like a country club compared to Germantown. Also right across Pennsylvania ave they are putting in a new shopping center with a Harris Teeter supermarket, starbucks (ugh) and some other sidwalk cafe type places. Also nearby some high end condos are going up so the neighborhood (much like every neighborhood in DC) is being quickly gentrified. My commute will be around 25 minutes includeing the walk across the street lol. It's a lot like my apt now but a little smaller. The bedroom is actually bigger. Its about 10x10 and its going to have big french doors seperating it from the main living area. Right now there is a wall seperating the living room from the kitchen. The landlord is tearing that down and putting in a kitchen island with a gas cooktop to seperate the space. Oh so the kitchen is going to be redone, new appliances, countertops and cabinets. Tiny bathroom with a shower stall but I don't take baths anyway. Washer and Dryer. ALL utilities included. YAY. So I'm very excited. However Viraj says the wall being torn down will not be done by the time I'm moving so I might have to work something out to handle that but thats nothing. I got a place and I'm happy with it.
Peace
posted by Kent at 6:52 AM
6 Comments:
congrats!!!!!
when do you move in?
Saturday! I have an immense amount of shit to pack and coordinate before then. It's completely insane. I REALLY wanted to have a little get together before I left but I won't have time. Which makes me sad. On my budget its going to be a LONG time before I will be back in Lansdale.
are you outta work now then?
Yeah, have you given your current boss the finger yet?
No I'm still here. Ugggggghhhh did I emphasize the ugh enough? Tomorow is the last day. Finger? I'd rather bitch slap the fucker and scream in his ear about reality and try to figure out exactly what planet that retard lives on. Do you have any idea how hard its going to be to not burn this bridge? I don't even know why I care... as George Costanza said... Flame on!
I just remembered why I can't flame on. When I get settled in DC I am finally going to sign up for the IDP and if I plan on using any of my hours from the last few years I have to make sure my previous employers are willing to sign off on them to be counted.
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