Today sucked…
So to bring everyone else up to speed from where we left off last – current apartment complex wants to jack up my rates due to recent “rennovations,” despite the fact that they can’t be bothered to fix any regular community ammenities that haven’t worked for God knows how long. After weighing in gas prices, square footage, and the increased amounts here, it’s going to be more beneficial for me in the long run to move closer to New Tampa, where my employer* will be relocating to this fall / next spring.
(* Note that despite the woes to follow, the one good thing about this all is that last week I did find out that the cuts in my department are over and that I don’t have to go searching for a new job now … good thing, to say the least! Now if we can just get some writing cashflow coming back in again…)
Cut to today – New Tampa is the place to be because, well, it’s where the company will be in a few months, but unfortunately it’s also where everybody else is moving to as well, which translates to god awful prices for quite small apartments. Mind you, this is the same area that was frightening us earlier this spring with $300,000 price tags on their houses and townhomes, but sadly I somehow thought that I’d never have to deal with the concept of apartment dwelling after I left this place. A few financial incidents later and boy, was I wrong!
First things first, though, what I’ve noticed more often than not is simply that apartment complexes love to pin you down by requiring 60-days notice to leave, but I’ve yet to encounter one that’s ready and willing to accomodate such scenarios when preparing to sign you into a new lease! Obviously this wasn’t a problem when I moved here because, well, I needed an apartment NOW, but when I tell my new prospects that I’m looking to move sometime in November, what do I hear?! “We have no idea what we’re going to have available in November – try back sometime around the end of October. That’s nice, but sorry – I’d like to know where I’m going to if I’m going to sign paperwork stating that I’ll be moving out by such and such a date…
And I wish that timing was the least of my concerns – really, I do – but I guess even though I’ve been having problems lately with the ammenities around this place, apparently I’m kind of spoiled compared to what else is really out there as far as alternatives are concerned. Here I have a nice view of the pond and once you get away from the parking lot, it’s kind of a nice, scenic get-away; it seems like every single place that I looked at today was nothing but parking lots and buildings – barely any foliage whatsoever…and a couple of quite hideous “ponds” that more resembled drainage ditches to me – and the best that they could do for “conservation views” added another $20 – $40 / month onto the lease to have the priviledge of staring at trees five feet from your patio instead of overlooking the parking lot! Am I really that blind … are all apartment complexes like that around here?!
In all of my driving around New Tampa this afternoon, I’ve decided that I no longer want a $200,000 house just like everybody else’s in Meadow Pointe or Hunter’s Green or whatever. If I’m going to commit to living somewhere other than in the heart of the city, I want some space – give me a nice acre of land or so a few miles out of town and I’ll build my $200,000 house out there…probably for a lot less because these days everyone wants to live where the action is, but not me. I can still have my pool, and I don’t even mind cutting my own grass every couple of weeks, but a three-foot strip of grass out back for “the yard” just isn’t going to do. I figure there’s a good chance that my first kid is going to be born under this roof and he or she’s going to know what an actual yard looks like, even if it means that we have to drive a few extra miles into town for this and that. Mind you, I certainly just didn’t commit to leaving “out in the country” by any means, but it might be nice to not have neighbors within three feet of each side of your house… 😛
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like I can jump right into my plan this year, so it looks like in the meantime I’m going to have to sign myself into a new one-year lease with one of these other places and just deal with it until I’m in a better position next year. I did happen to find a complex that although is considerably more expensive, is only two miles from my new office, so the rent increase can shuffle with my gas budget as far as I’m concerned.
When it all comes down to it, moving is truly one of the last things that I want to be thinking about right now – I just don’t like the idea of getting ready to pack up ship without Leslie, but hopefully if I’ve still got a little luck on my side, things will all work out and she’ll be helping me through it all by the time that comes anyways. In the meantime, though, like everyone else has been incessantly pounding into my skull all summer long, I can’t just put my life on hold through all of this…
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But just for the record – I’m not … the way I see it, I’m just focusing my efforts elsewhere in the meantime in hopes that things will come around before I get the other aspects of my life back in order. I don’t see anything wrong with that – similar examples of undying faith are present in some of the greatest tales of mankind, with Walt Disney’s story being my personal favorite, and anybody who believes otherwise ought to have learned by now that if you can’t say anything nice, I certainly don’t want to hear it!
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Whew…
Another go with the apartment search starts next Saturday and sadly, I really need to make a decision so that I can get the ball rolling with this impending crap. 😛 I do still have the classifieds to look through tomorrow, so cross your fingers in hopes that I’ll find an affordable townhouse or something to save the day! Hey, a guy can dream…