Apartment Hunting

We've been hunting for a new apartment since early January. The smoke that wafts into our apartment from downstairs is just too much. If Bekah MAY have asthma, and I already do, it's just not a good place for us. Plus, we pay $1200 a month and it's just not worth it; the neighborhood is getting scarier by the month. So, it's time to leave.

Thank heavens the area is saturated with "for rent" signs. Everyone's leaving LA (well, the sane ones are!) and it leaves a lot of properties behind for us. So we can be picky. I've waded through HUNDREDS of ads (yes, honestly) and narrowed it down to less than 50 that I've called and asked a lot of questions. We've been to visit almost a dozen in the last month and we've finally found one that is almost perfect!

It's $1150 a month, has 2 bedroom, 2 baths, central air (only about 50% of the apartments here have that!), first floor (no danger of downstairs smokers), enough space to accommodate our living room and office layout, balcony, pool, new carpet/paint/blinds/counter tops/stove/dishwasher, lots of storage, two gated parking spaces, and a quieter, calmer neighborhood. It's 1/2 a mile from a HUGE park and closer to some of our best friends.

A few downsides, but none of them "deal-breakers:" farther from the Thwaits (dear friends and Bekah's babysitter), not technically in the ward boundaries (but pretty close, so maybe they'll keep us), the parking spaces are tandem (one in front of the other, lame!), and the security deposit plus 1st-months rent will be $2300. But honestly, these are so minor, we're quite excited!

So, we put in an application and we'll be saying prayers until Tuesday when we find out if they want us. We have good credit and everything should check out. I really hope this is the right one for us.

(PS--Yes, we've given up on BUYING a place for now. It doesn't seem like the right time for us, so that'll be a dream delayed. I'm sure we'll get there... eventually!)