Our Pre-Boston Boston

Brad and I headed north last week to scout out apartments. It was, honestly, mostly depressing and discouraging for the first two days of our three-day stay. We had a pretty specific budget to work with, so granted, our options were limited from the beginning. The lowest end of things rang in around $1500 a month for a two-bedroom. Big cities think mighty highly of their housing options.

Things we kept in mind while searching:
1. Are heat and hot water included in the stated price?
2. Is parking included?
3. Are there laundry facilities in the building?
4. How close is it to public transit?
5. What floor is it on and how will that affect moving our stuff into/out of the unit? (This was something mostly I was thinking about, but I thought it was fairly legit.)

We saw probably around 10ish different places and actually ended up going with the very first apartment we saw. We've wondered amongst ourselves as to why we even bothered looking at other options after seeing the first place (it was by far the most inexpensive, most convenient, largest-within-our-price-range, and had the nicest landlady). The answer: we would have no idea of how lucky we are if we hadn't seen all of the other places to provide comparison.

With maybe one exception, most places we viewed were not clean (tenants' fault, I know, but it definitely affects how you view the place), most were at the very upper/outer end of our budget, several had no laundry facility in the building (which, I realize, is a way of life for millions in this world...but if we had other options, I saw no reason we shouldn't take them.), and a few were not close to public transportation. It was an exercise in frustration, to say the least.

And, it rained a lot. Boo.

I like to consider myself a fairly decent adventurer, so I was extremely disappointed in myself for not being excited about moving/living in Boston. The truth was, though...I did NOT feel like moving to the dirty squalor of the apartments we looked at.

God is good, though, and the dark clouds passed- literally and figuratively. We signed a lease for a bargain of an apartment. If it were a house, we'd probably call it somewhat of a "fixer-upper." It's very quirky (in a good, fun way), and Brad and I are already planning for adjustments we can make (you know, with a renter's arsenal of small nails, Command strips, and no paint). I even started a Pinterest inspiration board.

To cap off our whirlwind hunting trip, we joined the graduate Theology students at Top of the Hub (a restaurant located at the top of the Prudential building) and got glorious, panoramic views of Boston, as well as met a few new acquaintances and future classmates of Brad's. It was a fun time.

I'm definitely planning to document the design changes that will occur in our new place. Here's hoping Pinterest doesn't fail me!