{"id":10854,"date":"2011-01-12T01:55:03","date_gmt":"2011-01-12T06:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/10854\/pick-apartment\/"},"modified":"2011-01-12T01:55:03","modified_gmt":"2011-01-12T06:55:03","slug":"pick-apartment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/10854\/pick-apartment\/","title":{"rendered":"Help Me Pick An Apartment!"},"content":{"rendered":"

(I’d originally titled this blog ‘Apartment Hunting with Joko’, but referring to oneself in the third person…\u00a0 Joko is trying to avoid that)<\/p>\n

\"\"I<\/span>\u2019ve made a lot of bad housing decisions in my day.\u00a0 I\u2019ve moved into several places over the years that I soon discovered that I didn\u2019t particularly like.\u00a0 Sometimes, they were downright awful.\u00a0 Usually, I\u2019ve made these poor decisions out of\u00a0 insecurity.\u00a0 I\u2019ve jumped at places and taken them just to be done with the searching process.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard not knowing where one is going to be living a month from now.\u00a0 There\u2019s a level of discontent in that uncertainty that\u2019s profound like no other.\u00a0 It\u2019s like pre-homelessness.\u00a0 It gets back to need to fulfill the most basic human desire: to be secure and sheltered. <\/span><\/span>
\n
\nIn case you missed my last blog<\/a>, I am being evicted due to the landlords\u2019 desire to remodel all the units in this series of duplexes I\u2019m at and then either convert them to condos or rent them out again at much higher rents.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Without being too quick to label, moving to Snohomish, so far away from\"\"<\/span> everything else that\u2019s going on in my life, was itself a mistake, so in some ways, I\u2019m happy this has happened.\u00a0 It\u2019s forcing me to do something I don\u2019t want to do (who wants to go through the hassle of moving?), but will make my life a lot easier once it\u2019s accomplished.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, just avoid picking a sucky place.\u00a0 Maybe you can help me with that.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I went and looked at three apartments over the last two days.\u00a0 Brought the camera along in case I wanted to look again at the units as I made a decision.\u00a0 Each place has it\u2019s pros and cons, which I am writing out to help me in the decision making process.\u00a0 Care to take a look with me at the three places and offer your opinion and advice?\u00a0 It would be welcomed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/object>
\n
\nApartment #1<\/span><\/strong>
\nStudio, 500 sq ft, $650\/mo + $50 for water\/sewer\/trash +$30\/mo for \u201ccat rent\u201c, $400 sec deposit
\nPros<\/strong>:\u00a0 Quiet neighborhood, yet close to transit, shopping.\u00a0 Very quiet inside. Small, quaint complex.\u00a0 Single floor, no one above or below.\u00a0 Landlords seem cool, run as a mom & pop kind of operation
\nCons:<\/strong> Small!\u00a0 Really small.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how I\u2019d fit all my stuff in there, much less have a free wall to hang my green screen<\/span> .<\/span><\/p>\n

Apartment #2<\/span><\/strong>
\n1 BDR, 700 sq feet, $635\/mo + $30 for cats + unknown for water\/trash, $1200 deposit<\/span><\/span>
\nPros<\/strong>: Spacious! Plenty of room for my stuff & hobbies.\u00a0 They said they\u2019d throw in a portable D\/W for free.
\nCons<\/strong>:\u00a0 Gigantic apartment megaplex.\u00a0 Lots of move in costs. No yard for kitties. May not like my credit history.\u00a0 Bottom floor; people living above. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Apartment #3<\/span><\/strong>
\nStudio, 550 sq ft, $600\/mo (includes all utilities, cable & internet), $600 deposit.\u00a0 Bottom floor of a private residence.
\nPros<\/strong>:\u00a0 Utilities included makes a big difference in cost.\u00a0 Not a lot of space, but interesting floor plan would fit my stuff.\u00a0 View out window is of a local lake. Unique. If I had to \u201cgo away\u201d for a while, could probably convince owners to feed my cats while I was gone.
\nCons<\/strong>: No real kitchen. Utility sink, fridge, microwave and toaster oven.\u00a0 No range. 4 kids upstairs.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So\u2026 I know kind of which way I am leaning, but what do you think? \u00a0 What do you value in a place to live?\u00a0 Serenity?\u00a0 Space? Affordability?\u00a0 Something that fits <\/em>you? <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(I’d originally titled this blog ‘Apartment Hunting with Joko’, but referring to oneself in the third person…\u00a0 Joko is trying to avoid that) I\u2019ve made a lot of bad housing decisions in my day.\u00a0 I\u2019ve moved into several places over the years that I soon discovered that I didn\u2019t particularly like.\u00a0 Sometimes, they were downright […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,2],"tags":[81,69,1288,1289],"class_list":["post-10854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-other","tag-joko","tag-life-2","tag-moving","tag-white-snake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}