Apartment Watch #3: It'll be Over Soon. Promise.

When last we left this story's heroes and heroine, one before-mentioned hero had become an unexpected foe, renegading on his previous promise to room with us. At the time, the details were sketchy to me because Thomas had texted Alex with the disastrous news instead of me. I was, however, to say the least, very confused. I mean, if anyone was going to back out it was going to be me. Sure, I knew that eventually I would move out of my parents' house, but not so soon. I had, on three quarters of a whim, joined in on Alex and Thomas's hunt for a dwelling place. So shouldn't I be the flaky one? Well, it was a good thing for Alex that I didn't drop out too, or he would have been (some nicer synonym for the word) screwed. Yes, I am magnanimous.

Anyway, for a few days after Thomas's news, Alex held out hope that we could find a third person for the townhouse. He had been training with about thirty other twenty somethings for the past two weeks, and many were looking for housing, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Right? I think we all know the answer to that question. Long story short, after some initial hope, we knew that the townhouse was not meant to be. To be honest, I wasn't too sad, as the very short lease had been getting less and less attractive in my mind. I felt for Alex though. I offered him a place in my parents' home while we continued to look for a two person place. (It was always meant to be temporary! Despite what some people thought. I had not, in my own words, "gained the Churchmanor another tenant"). Eventually Alex took me up on my offer and stayed in our humble abode for a week before temporarily living with a friend of (his) family.

Before leaving our house, Alex went with me to see a townhouse in Del Ray Alexandria. We had chosen to view it mostly because the rent was cheap. You know what they say--'you get what you pay for'. It was not the worse place we could end up. The main road nearby was nice, and we were close to metro and my dear friends Elyse, Jessica, and Agememnon in THE ASPEN *foreshadowing* *foreshadowing* *foreshadowing*. The inside was also not terrible, but not great either. Every detail was just off enough to give us a bad vibe. The real nail in the coffin, however, was the basement. Or should I say, tall peoples' torture chamber. The ceilings were covered with a ventilation system that warned off any people over the height of 5 foot 9. Consequently, I was quite relieved when after a bought of silence between the two of us, Alex declared, 'no, I don't think so'. We were in agreement and left.

Throughout our apartment search as a twosome, I had been dropping hints and elbow nudging Alex about a wonderful apartment building that I had visited many times in the last year or so. A bright and cheery place, with big rooms, clean walls, and hardly a bug in sight. Not to mention the two lovely girls living on the eighth floor. On a Saturday afternoon Alex agreed to check it out. However, we called at approximately 3:55pm and the office closed at 4pm. Alex and I agreed that he would go and see it at the end of his short training/work day on Monday. I had work at far-off Reston and thought I couldn't make it. However, it turned out on Monday that our roles were reversed and I was the one who could see our potential room at the Aspen. Which was, to say the least, ironic since I was the one who had seen the apartment complex many times before. I think Alex was pretty ready to find a place though because he told me to do everything I could to get the ball rolling for renting an apartment in The Aspen.

I was given a lovely tour by a lovely office worker, who showed me an apartment with clean white walls, a huge living room, and newly updated appliances. My potential room also struck a cord with me because of its ample room and closet space (Alex had said I could have the bigger master bedroom, for a small price). Let's just say that after the tour I really wanted to close the deal as fast as possible. That same night I had Alex fill out his application and give me some verification of his employment. The next day, I rushed after work to turn in our papers. The person I met with arranged a hypothetical move in day for us (assuming the application process went smoothly), and I was filled with hope...and a slight sense of dread. To get the apartment we needed our credit and criminal check to go well--which shouldn't be a problem--and the two of us needed to meet the income requirement. 32 times the monthly rent. Ruh roh. I'm a temp, I don't make a lot of money. Enough to pay my rent, but probably not enough for the requirement. There was some hope they would take my investment account at good ol' Chuck into account, but not much.

Consequently, the wait for the next week or so was not fun. Not fun at all...

Coming up next... Aren't you glad? It's the Finale!

Apartment Watch #2: Decisions, Decisions, What?

So, I have been very busy lately. The last few days have been full of packing, painting, assembling… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Shortly after I contacted Alex, expressing my interest, Alex and Thomas toured a three-bedroom townhouse near old town Alexandria. I had other engagements, but they took pictures and sent them to me. Both seemed pleased with the general condition of the house. Alex was especially pleased because the house had a six-month lease, and his job is only guaranteed till June. I was not so pleased. Moving is, for lack of a better word, a bitch. I wouldn’t want to do it again six months later. Still I kept an open mind and the three of us kept the town house on our list. After all, a short lease might provide a good testing ground to see if the three of us were good roommates.

Option number two was a more traditional apartment complex, titled Cityside Huntington Metro Apartments. I don’t know how we found this one, but after learning we were going to visit I did some internet research. During this research I learned a horrible truth. Apartment rating sites are pretty much absolutely useless. Sure, you know the apartments that get one star are horrible and those with four are bound to be pretty decent. However, most fall in a middle range that tells you nothing. You’d think looking at specific comments would help a little bit. But no. For every one person who says the complex is ‘located in the seventh ring of hell’, complete with locusts and demon apartment managers, there is the kind soul who says the management is from heaven and no bugs ever doth enter here—“I don’t know what those negative reviewers are talking about”. Yes most rating websites have the same general problem. You can always find at least one reviewer who is always negative and must let their one bad experience ruin potential happiness for others. But apartment reviewers are the worst. The sad truth is that the two or three stars that most apartments inevitably get can warn you just enough to avoid a place that might have been perfect. People’s experiences can’t be so completely and utterly different in the same complex, so why doesn’t everyone just tell the truth? Leave the drama to yourself, help a sister out.

Anyway—one rant later—on one unnaturally windy Saturday, Thomas, Alex and I visited Cityside. An immediately obvious flaw was location. The complex was a 15 minute walk from the metro, but it wouldn’t be a pleasant one. Instead of a nice neighborhood, like the townhouse was located in, our potential backyard at Cityside would be a highway. Long story short, the surrounding area did not give off a great vibe. The vibe inside our potential apartment was not great either, but that was because it was still under construction. The whole complex was in the middle of a remodeling. All of our floors, walls, and cabinets were stripped and I think I counted about five toilets sitting in what would be our living-room. Let’s say looking at the apartment required quite a bit of imagination. The plus side would be that when we moved in the place would be newly finished. Basically, new everything. But like everything the plus would come with a negative—construction going on around us at all time.

Seeing how Alex was going to be kicked out of his free hotel room very soon, we didn’t really have much time to look at other places. Consequently, we decided to head to a small independent coffee shop nearby (*cough* Starbucks *cough* *cough*) to list the pros and cons of the townhouse and the apartment, and hopefully make a decision. In the end, it really came down to a few simple statements.

Everybody: “The townhouse is located in a better neighborhood, but it has a short lease”. “The apartment would be totally new and was considerably cheaper”.

Abby and Thomas: “We like the townhouse better in general, but the short lease really sucks”.

Alex: “Yes, but a short lease works for me”.

In the end, I was pretty okay with either, and so was Alex. Thomas, however, needed more time to decide. He would let Alex know as soon as possible what his decision was.

Two days later I got a text from Alex. Thomas had gotten cold feet, and was backing out of the whole thing. Alex and I were on our own, fluttering in the cold empty wind. What were we to do? Buh duh duhhhhhhn!

To be continued…