We decided to go the apartment route versus staying with my dad.  Not that I don’t love my dad.  I do.  Lots.  It’s just going to be easier for everyone involved if we rent for a few months while we get the Underdog suitable for living.  I really appreciate all the comments left on the interim housing post a few days back.  Each one gave us something to consider.  In the end, the long commutes and time wasted driving {precious time that could be spent renovating or eating dinner together as a family} were huge deal breakers for the living-with-Dad option.  We like the idea of living near our new neighborhood so Layne can transition as easily as possible to his new school, we can get acclimated to the area, and we can oversee the Underdog renovation.  After we swiftly yet thoughtfully decided to take on apartment living, it’s been my job for the last 3 days to hunt down an apartment.  Easier said than done.

You see, we’re in need of a short-term lease.  A 3-month lease {versus your typical 12-month lease}.  And apparently 3-month leases are hard to come by – at least in the area we’re looking to move to.  Maybe it’s because of the subpar real estate market right now?  Maybe it’s because of the excellent school district?  I don’t know.  But I called about three dozen apartment complexes and rental properties and found only 3 that offered a 3-month lease option.  I know.  That’s a lot of 3’s.  Anyhow, one property said that while they did offer 3-month leases, they didn’t have anything that would become available until the end of August.  That would have left us homeless for 2 weeks since we close on our current home mid-August.  No good.

The second property was in an ideal location – close to the kids’ schools, close to the Underdog and close to the main roads that Handy Hubby and I traverse to commute to work.  I set up an appointment to view an open unit.  Great!  HOWEVER…the place was a complete dump.  And an expensive dump at that.  To my ignorant surprise, I discovered that short-term leases {i.e. anything less than 12 months} come with LOTS of fees on top of the monthly rent.  To the tune of $150-$200 per month. Ouch.  Still, even if this unit had been dirt cheap, I’m not sure it would have been worth it.  I fully expected not to find a pristine, luxury apartment with top of the line finishes.  I lived in apartments during my college years and this one didn’t even compare…in a bad way.  It smelled like stale cigarette smoke and I knew that smell wasn’t coming out anytime soon.  There was no green space for the kids to left off steam.  And the ‘stocked fishing pond’ looked more like a big mud puddle/mosquito magnet/cesspool.  I could not envision myself and my family living healthily or even safely there. But since it was one of my only two options, it stayed on the list.  Barely.

The third complex offering 3-month leases was located just outside our new city’s limits but still close enough to everything that we needed it to be close to.  In between working and packing and dropping stuff off at Goodwill, I made an appointment to see a 2-bedroom unit that had just opened up.  The boys and I drove up to see the place just this morning.  I was pleasantly surprised!  The unit was small and outdated but clean.  Lots of natural light and vaulted ceilings helped to make it feel bigger than it really was.  I thought, “This could really work!”  The boys took to it right away and started wrestling in the living room.  Me = embarrassed.  I talked with the manager about our situation {selling current home, renovating another home} and she said that the unit we were looking at was available now with no deposit required {some special they were running} and that if we could get our realtor to write her a letter saying that we were buying/had bought a home she would waive all those extra short-term lease fees.  I was sold.  A quick application and a few phone calls later, I secured our interim housing.

The unit is so much nicer than the previous one I had seen.  For one, there are 2 full baths versus 1 bath in the first place.  And it doesn’t stink.  The entire complex utilizes geo-thermal heating and cooling.  I had no idea apartments complexes even did that!  There is green space, a pool, playground and tennis courts for the kids to be kids since the apartment itself is teeny.  942 sq.ft. Yep, you read that right. 942.  It’s on the third floor which sucks for moving/unloading groceries and the residents below, but it gets us vaulted ceilings and the option to open our windows at night without me being paranoid that a kidnapper will strike.  Motherly paranoia.  Gotta love it.  Also, HH travels for work so I’ll feel more comfortable higher up away from robbers.  Listen to me!  The best part about finding this place?…it’s way cheaper than the first grungy one I toured. I guess because it’s outside city limits.  We’re saving nearly $1,000 over the 3-month lease span by going with this complex versus the other one.  It definitely pays to take time and uncover all your options.  Wanna know something crazy?  Our rent for the apartment is more than our mortgage payment on the Underdog by several hundred dollars. Ridiculous. That’s how cheap our Underdog is.  Also, our rent + Underdog mortgage payment is still less than our current home’s monthly mortgage payment.  Double ridiculous.

So before this gets too wordy {or am I too late?}, here’s the floor plan of our apartment.  All 942 sq.ft. of it.

It’s nothing special but it will do.  I’m a little nervous about the boys sharing a bedroom.  While I made over Layne’s bedroom into a shared bedroom for both boys, them sharing sleeping quarters hasn’t gone over smoothly.  They get rowdy and slap happy when they go to bed together.  We’ve reverted to putting Everett back in the nursery most nights.  Oh well.  We’ll make it work somehow. Are you wondering if I’ll tweak the apartment?  I thought so.  I definitely want to make it feel cozy and peaceful since it will be our safe haven away from the renovation dust.  So, yes there will be some tweaking but nothing over the top or expensive as we don’t plan on being there long-term.  I’ll be using furniture we already have and any new decor added will be budget-friendly or stuff that’s really meant for our new house.  I’ll still be working on plans for the Underdog after all!

That means in about one week {when our rental lease officially begins}, we’ll have 3 different living spaces on our plate: our current home that we’re packing and shining up for closing, our Underdog that is under renovation as I write, and our tiny apartment that will become our temporary home until the Underdog is livable.  Good grief!  So, please excuse me if I’m not able to post as frequently as I normally do or if I don’t return your email right away over the next week or two.  I’ll probably be busy packing, hauling, lifting, labeling, selling, donating or moving something. House*Tweaking has become my release, so I don’t think I’ll be able to step away for that long.  I just can’t guarantee those 4-5 weekly posts for the sake of sanity right now.  I hope you understand!

images:  1) Rayna’s Spot  2)  Earn the Money  3) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

At the moment Handy Hubby is tied up with framing the exterior walls and laundry closet at the Underdog so the electrical upgrades can begin.  I’m tied up with trying to find us a place to live {we haven’t 100% decided on my dad’s house or an apartment yet} and psyching myself to pack up a family of four.  The kids?  Well, they’re tied up too.  Just in a different way.

The last time we had them out to check on the Underdog, we heard Layne say, “Everett come here.  Come stand right here and don’t move.”  We knew it was going to be good.  Layne doesn’t always like to include his bothersome little brother, so him being insincerely nice {we could hear the coaxing in his voice – it was not unlike that of a dog owner pleading with his mischievous loose dog to come close enough to hook him up to a leash} to Everett was a drop dead sign that something interesting was about to happen.

Poor Everett.  He had no idea what he was getting into.

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking