Disaster Averted – Whew!

Thank you all for your well-wishes and support! This past Thursday, exactly one week after we got our notice to move, we found a new place to live. It’s quite amazing how everything fell into place…

About 4 to 4-1/2 years ago we had signed up for the Below Market Rate program in our county (the max income level is really high here). We never heard anything but Thursday morning at about 11:00am we received a call from a swanky condominium complex. They had a 2 bedroom, 2 bath available and asked if we were interested. Not only that but, even though tenants typically give 30 days notice, this particular tenant would be moving out the next day and the unit would be available the following week. What about our dog? “That won’t be a problem,” they said. I could not believe my ears as this is a really nice place that would normally be way out of our budget and what perfect timing!

My husband HAPPENED to be nearby at a doctor’s appointment that morning so the minute he got home I hurriedly explained everything. Another couple of families were being called and the first one with the most complete paperwork would get it. We ran to get our pay stubs, quickly printed out all our bank statements, and sped (well not too fast) to the leasing office. The first thing was to look at the apartment and see if we liked it.

Wow. Just wow. We were floored at how beautiful and perfect it was for us. While some Yelp reviewers mention that the place is outdated and not ‘luxury’ enough, it may all be subjective. We’ve only lived in places built in the 60s, 30s, or earlier which meant things were old, falling apart, and had no insulation whatsoever. This new place is ten years old, has varied climate control, tons of storage, an extra bathroom, is in a great neighborhood, AND it’s across the street from Target and around the corner from Costco! Oh, and the year-round heated pool, 16-seat private movie theater, and fitness room are kind of nice too…

Sold. We walked back and started the process of filling out our application. My husband drove back home (only 7 minutes away) to grab our checkbook and tax papers while I filled all the necessary information on the leasing form. Within an hour everything was approved, confirmed, and ready to go. We couldn’t wait to move in our new place and just forget all the nastiness involved in moving from our old one.

Now, usually it takes about ten days to coordinate the cleaners, painters, and carpet steaming companies to make the apartment ready. Well, it somehow worked out that they were all able to come in on the weekend and we could move in Sunday. SUNDAY! That was in two days! Even the leasing agent could not believe how smoothly and quickly the process went.

So after dealing with the abrupt shock of being asked to move within a month, things have turned out better than we could have imagined. While we will miss the garage space and backyard, moving into our new ‘home’ is something we all look forward to and are excited about.

Thank you again for all your support this past week!