Apartment Hunting

I never had fun looking at apartments with my parents as a child. They dragged me around what must have been dozens of “compact community homes,” each promising to offer a “quality living experience.” Whatever that means. And they always put macadamia nut cookies out on the office desks that looked freshly baked but tasted like New York back alley cardboard. Nasty stuff, that.

Needless to say, I’m not looking forward to dealing with the sales staff of the many apartment complexes Carolita and I have looked at over the weekend. Some of them are gorgeous – luxury pools, overhead garages, designer exteriors, while others look like they have been freshly transplanted from the orc ravaged slums of Middle Earth, which is not nearly as interesting as it sounds.

Not to mention the fees. As if paying a quarter or more of your monthly earnings wasn’t enough, most apartment complexes require a “one time fee” between two to four hundred dollars. Sure, I knew this going in, but when you start to account for all the other things you have to save for before getting married, those fees really do bite at your psyche in a not-so-nice way.

That said, I’m just as eager to complete the process and be with my wife in our very first home. Comforts and indulgences are perks of a hard worked life, for sure, so I don’t expect those. All we need is a roof over our heads and a (preferably) working air-conditioner to get us started – the rest are simply bonus points.

[Still, they could work on their cookie baking skills.]