Finding A New Home!

     If you've read any of my blog posts about my current living situation, you would know its far from the ideal living conditions I had in mind for this year. From roach-infested rooms to obnoxiously loud and filthy roommates, I've had just about enough of living here. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with this rat hole for the next year, and I can't be bothered to request a move into another unit in the complex since I'd be too busy with classes. So, in order to fix the situation of the present to have a better future, I needed to take a look at the past to see what led me here.

    The unfortunate reality of why Wade and I got stuck in this less-than-stellar living arrangement is that it was a matter of bad luck. We're no strangers to unfortunate odds, since we had been living at what was considered the worst dorm on campus for a year, but we had been able to make that work for us. However, our plans for living in an apartment-style dorm this year was crushed when we were left homeless by the college housing lottery. In a desperate rush to ensure we had a place to live next year, Wade and I had embarked on a last-minute, frenzied search for any available nearby apartment units with vacancy, as the mob of similarly screwed students would soon begin to fill up all of these slots. With little concern for quality, we ended up signing to live at an apartment unit with terrible reviews (which we ignored) since it was practically on campus and was pretty cheap.

    Turns out that when it comes to housing, you get what you pay for. I'm not going to rehash the description of our move in experience (you can check this blog if you haven't read it already), but within a week of living here, we had agreed to start the search for next year's housing as early as humanly possible.

    Luckily, we were fueled by something stronger than desperation this time: determination. Well, actually there was still a good amount of desperation,  but I'm going to focus on our steely determination to have an improvement in our living situation for once. Through some organization and research on both of our parts, we had found a wide array of open apartments for next year, though over time, we whittled down our options to a select few.

Picture of Wade at our future home!

    After the research phase, came the touring stage, which Wade handled as I was getting overwhelmed with coursework and editing work. Thanks to a few calls and appointments that Wade made, we were set to visit a few potential homes! Funnily enough, the first place we visited was the one we liked most (and eventually signed for), but we still visited and toured a few more locations, some guided by employees, and others guided by residents we were friends with. Interestingly, the townhouses that I was initially very keen on ended up being my least favorite places to visit, because of high pricing, ugly layouts, and generally unprofessional guides. That's why it's important to see things for yourself before making decisions!

    After touring a few locations and negotiating with a potential third roommate that didn't end up working out for us, we finally locked in our decision and signed with the first unit we had toured, which had grown on me more and more with each day and each tour of another unit. I can't wait to move in next year, but I won't let this apartment stay uninhabitable for long either!