Apartment Hunting

Tuesday morning we woke up a bit tired after the alarm incident but excited about looking at apartments. In that area of NY most apartments are rented through realtors. It has its pros and cons, but I was grateful to have someone do the legwork, since I wasn’t going to be in the area very long.


Most of the places we looked at were houses that had been split into several residences with their own entrances. The first one we visited looked perfect from the pictures I had seen. It was a little stone house with a pinwheel out front. The first strike against it was the long staircase leading up the back of the house that I would have to use everyday. It didn’t seem ideal in the winter. When we got inside the realtor even seemed surprised how small it was. It consisted of a living room I couldn’t even put a couch in, because the sides of the room were slanted from the roof. We joked about putting a beanbag chair right in the middle. The bedroom was slightly bigger, with only one side slanted. The kitchen was part of the living room, with a sink on one wall and a fridge and dishwasher on the other. I was glad to hear the realtor was unimpressed, because I was starting to think all the places we looked at were going to be this tiny!

We looked at a few more places that didn’t stand out to me and then went on to one that I had wanted to see from the pictures for one reason – it had a brick patio. It turned out this apartment was built into the back of a store that faced the street. So to get to it you had to get out of your car and open a gate, then drive behind through an alley between other businesses. My mother was immediately not a fan of this one. None of these towns we were looking in had high crime rates, but this one was not the best area. I liked it because it was the cheapest of any we had looked at, and inside it was pretty big. But I agreed that coming home in the dark and having to go through that alley would be a little scary.


We drove back to this house by ourselves the next night and asked a lady who managed a store in the area if it was safe. She said it wasn’t the best area, and she had an apartment that she was trying to rent without using a realtor. We drove by and looked at the outside and it looked nice, but by this time I had my heart set on last house we had visited the day before.


This house is the one I’m currently waiting to sign the papers for. It’s about 20 minutes from work and I have the bottom level plus the basement.



I love the big living room and bedroom, which have hardwood floors. The kitchen is big enough for a small table, which I was really excited about since most of the kitchens I saw were really little. I also have a walk-in pantry. Downstairs there’s a pretty good sized den area, a nice sized laundry room, and a little room in between where I’ll probably do some quilting. I haven’t gotten the lease agreement yet, but it should be here any day. Lord willing I’ll be in the house around Dec. 28.