We got our apartment!!!

We met Mark today and signed the lease. Woohoo! Now, I can finally talk about it. ;-) I'm not usually a superstitious man, but we wanted this apartment so much that I wasn't taking any chances.

The apartment is a large 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment occupying the 2nd and third floors of this house. On the main floor is a large bedroom with lots of storage, a second bedroom, which we may use as an office, a full bath with that most glorious of inventions - the bathtub, a large kitchen with all new appliances, and a large front room. Upstairs is a bonus room that runs the length of the house. There is also a washer and dryer in the basement and a deck off our kitchen.

Here is the kitchen and front room:


We managed to negotiate a lower rent. He was previously getting $1850/month. But after we talked a while and we built some rapport, I was able to talk him down to $1500/month. Score! That's a fantastic price for such a big apartment. This is the first place we looked at and initially we walked away discouraged. He wanted first and last month's rent and a security deposit up front. Even with the lower rent, that was just too much for us to afford. Then, Michael had the brilliant idea of moving in on the 15th (effectively cutting our first month's rent in half) and spreading the security deposit over 4 months. Mark said yes, so here we are.

Here is the larger bedroom:


As you can see, the apartment is NOT furnished. We'll be sleeping on the floor for a while...! But Mark thinks he has a couple beds and couches from his other rental properties that we can use. And there are some large garage sales coming up!!

We now have plenty of room for you to visit, so please consider it.