Tuesday 31 July 2012

love and apartments

Apartment hunting, people. It's an ugly business right now. The city is full of homeless, and it looks like I will be joining them shortly. I line up to look at apartments, I fill in forms, smile hopefully ... but no one smiles back. No one says my name. No one wants me for a tenant. Reminds me a lot of my high school romantic career.



Actually, there's a pretty good parallel there. I am the eager suitor, wandering up to various unattached girls. I find myself revising my standards, trying different opening lines, chatting easily, winningly, desperately, wondering which one of them will say, Sure, I'd love to go to a show and how I will feel about that.


Right now there are three candidates in view, three very different apartments with my bid. If they were girls (is this anthropomorphism or objectification?), they would be: the smokin' hot one, the cheap and easy one, and the nice one. And there are good things to be said about each of them. (Guess which one the pic is supposed to represent.)




I'll let you know how the romance goes, but before I get to the individual characterisations, did you know that the average downtown apartment is renting far above the asking price? Open houses generate multiple bids, and the competition can get fierce. One realtor was telling me about a place in Little Italy listed for 1600/month that went for 2200. That's a pretty good hike.


Because you see the same people over and over again at various open houses, you find yourself bonding with them. You are fellow travellers on a tough pilgrimage. There's an incredibly cute younger (everyone is younger than I) couple from the States I've seen a half dozen times. We seem to like the same things about places, and I said a couple of times, If I don't get it I hope you do. So far, we are all still looking.


More soon. I'm on my way to take a look at a 2 bedroom with den in a nice neighborhood close to amenities laundry ensuite girl. Maybe she'll be the one!