Moving
Enough is enough with the house, and Stega wants to move in with her boyfriend (and they’ve already found a place), so for the third year in a row I am moving. In the past week I’ve looked at 9 apartments. Three of them I found worthy of submitting an app.
1) The first day, when I found out that Stega and Agent Smith found a place, I just went to an open house. In retrospect it was pretty good, but at the time I didn’t have enough context. The positives:
- location – 19th and Arkansas or so, as I recall.
- Generally nice – hardwood floor, clean.
- Easy parking (see location above)
- In building laundy
- Gas stove
The only real negatives was that it was near my spending limit and a bit smaller than I would prefer.
2) I saw a small flat in Potrero last week. It wasn’t bad per se, but it was too much like the place I lived in in San Mateo. It had easy parking and a pretty good location, but nothing else going for it.
3) On Thursday I saw a flat in upper Noe Valley, the bottom floor of an Edwardian. It was an eccentric place in a way – it has a SECRET ROOM. It also has an rather fantastic vintage gas stove, which probably dates from around when the flat was added to the house, in the 1930s. It is near the upper end of my range, and probably a not exactly where I was looking originally, but close. It is right by 280, so driving to work would be easy. There is street parking that is reasonably easy to get in the neighborhood (but it’s not in a sticker zone, albeit adjacent to one, which might mean some early morning car moving on occasion). And it doesn’t have laundry, although it has hookups for stackables. I liked it when I saw it, and I dropped off an application the next day (Friday), and the more I think about it, the more I want it. There is an open house tomorrow though, so I won’t know anything until after then at least.
4) A regularish apartment in a boxy building at 28th and Church. It was not a bad place, at all, but not what I want at all.
So that was from last Sunday until yesterday. Then Today I saw five more places.
5) A 1 bedroom apartment in a 60s type building at 20th and Kansas. Great location with easy parking, and a pretty reasonable apartment, save for the carpeted bedroom, which is not ideal, but liveable. No laundry, but parking and pretty good space. Also, a gas stove/oven which is a big plus to me. Oh, and there is a roof deck with neat views:
Expensive but not right at my limit. I faxed an application and credit report in to them tonight.
6) A flat in a four flat Victorian. Pretty spacy, wood floors, gas stove (which they said would be upgraded – although I’d be OK with what they had), no parking, and a neighborhood that could be difficult at times, but if you go far enough you can find parking, and just move your car later? Also, non coin op laundry in the building, and a good price, lower than the other two I liked. Really nice location (18th and Church). I faxed in an app tonight.
7) A flat in a two flat Victorian. No grounded outlets, no counter space in the kitchen. Not for neil.
8) An “upgraded” apartment in Mission Dolores. It was nice, but small, and the most expensive place I looked at. Garage parking is a plus, but, no.
9) An inlaw apartment in Bernal that I looked at just because. The price is low, but it doesn’t really have a kitchen, a tiny fridge with a tiny shelf of a freezer, and no oven. It was pretty spacious though, at least as big as the expensive one above, and with a better layout.
I have a few more places set to look at, and so I expet to find one more worth applying to. I am most hopeful for number three, if that is not clear!