Sunday, February 22, 2015

Movin' on Out!

Whew...what a crazy week, last week was! 

Since Oct/Nov the condo building we are renting in, has been in a constant state of construction/destruction.  The building was built in 1970 and we knew they would be starting work to examine all of the balcony and exterior portions for structural integrity around the Oct/Nov time frame.  

They recently jackhammered our main balcony and on Monday, we were informed that there was damage to the steel rebar that extended into our unit.  So had to remove our entire wall of windows on our first floor and replace it with a wall of plywood, about 4 feet into our living room.  Don't you love the knotty pine look?  :p


The huge windows and window framing are stored inside our unit also, taking away more of our usable space. 

That was the last straw for us.  We have the cats and knew that meant we would have to be locking them up in one of our rooms upstairs, because of all the materials everywhere and with the makeshift wall, etc.

We fired off a long detailed email to our landlord on Monday, explaining what we've had to go through the past several months and how things just got much worse and we asked if it would be at all possible to get out of the lease with a month or two notice, given the situation.

We didn't hear anything on Monday, but Tuesday morning we got a surprising response that said, given the situation, they would let us out of the lease with 30 days notice!  We were floored...shocked and SUPER PSYCHED!  We had an out!!

So we hit the online sites looking for rentals and smaller homes/town houses in our price range.  There really was very little inventory out there in either category and the ones that we liked literally either went under contract or were already rented out, only a day or two after showing up on MLS.

On Wednesday, the wifey found a rental on Craigslist of all places and we ended up getting an appt to see it on Sat at 10:30am.  We knew the owner was showing it to several other people as well.

Luckily, we hit it off with the landlord and his wife and it turned out that both he and I work at the same place and have both been there around 8 years.  I told them that we were very interested and we filled out the application for credit screen/background check and I said that we would be willing to sign the lease later that day if all was good. 

The crazy thing is, after we left, the people that were there before us pulled back in and we knew they must have driven around the neighborhood and decided they wanted to sign the lease also.  :-o

We pulled into a nearby parking lot and I texted him, making sure he knew how serious we were and I told him that I would pay the deposit, first months half rent (since it was March 15th lease start date) and the pet fee immediately, so there was no question.

We sat there for what seemed like an eternity (5-10 minutes) and he responded that he accepted and asked if we could meet in an hour to sign the lease.  BAM! 

That was a very stressful week and morning!  When we met later to sign the lease, he said both the peeps that came back a second time and one other set of folks from earlier in the morning, both wanted to sign the lease as well. 

We are so thankful things worked out in our favor!  We had a feeling all along that this particular one was meant to be, based on how things unfolded, but it certainly was an emotional roller coaster of a week. 

We are very excited.  It is about 15 mins from where we are now, which knocks 15 minutes off the commute for the wifey, which she is excited about.  It should only be about 5-10 mins longer for me, which isn't a big deal since my schedule is pretty flexible.

It is a nice little 3/2 patio home of around 1500sq ft, with a nice open / split bedroom floor plan.  It is nicely updated with a wood burning fireplace and a real nice screened patio with mini in-ground pool.  The bonus is that it is a lot cheaper than we are paying now as well. 

We also have access to the community pool, walking paths and there are lots of restaurants close by, including one of our favorite places that we like to go.

Here are some pics...we can't wait.  Less than 4 weeks until move time!  Time to declutter, purge and start packing!








6 comments :

Jen said...

It sounds like a great place (well minus an ocean view). I know you will love not having to deal with some of the stuff going on at the condo! Cheaper rent is definitely a plus!

Chris said...

Yep, thanks! We will definitely miss the view, but we do tend to take it for granted a bit now also, so maybe this will make us appreciate trips to the beach more as well. It was a fun run, but time for a change and we're glad the construction forced the issue and make it a real easy choice.

Mock family said...

What a whirlwind! Sounds like us and buying a house so fast. Everyone's moving on up (or so we all hope right?) can't wait to tour it via facetime soon

Chris said...

Yeah, you are right Shell. Just like your experience too, good times ahead!

Unknown said...

Congrats! Looks like a great place. Moving can be a pain, but worth it in the end. I'm happy we moved back in Nov. Just took me about 4 months to get organized ;). Happy New Home to you!!

Chris said...

Thanks Crystal. Yep, we had planned to move in July anyway, so this was just the universe's way of accelerating those plans slightly! Totally cool with that now that we have a new place secured. :o)

 
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