New Place?

[captain_slinky]

khristle and I are at odds regarding this new place we looked at last night.

Long story short: We have till November 10th to decide if we're moving or staying. Going month-by-month here is not an option, as the rent on what WAS an $850 apartment would then go up to $1200. Signing a lease would take it down to $940, which would then be raised next time we sign a lease. Considering the amount of larger and/or better places we can get for that type of money, we're officially in a mad scramble to find a new place that will take cats, will allow for our craptastic credit and isn't more than maybe 20 minutes away from her work.

SO! Last night we looked at a Double-wide trailer in Bothell. it's in a Mobile Home Community where all the land is OWNED (as opposed to the usual park where you rent the lot you put your trailer on). It's an older late 60's/early 70's trailer that has been slowly upgraded through the years, but just barely.

It's in EXCELLENT condition.

No pet deposit.

Our excellent rental history impressed the owner and we wouldn't have to go through a credit check.

He's VERY open to a Lease-To-Own situation.

It's 2 MINUTES from Crystal's work.

We'd have a back yard, front yard, side yard and patio. Plus, covered parking.

We can move in by December 1st.

Personally, I love the place. And unfortunately, Crystal hates it :( Lots of little stuff like the fact that it still smells like the old tennants (who moved out a week ago, carpets have not yet been cleaned). The bathrooms are tiny. The Master Bathroom is too open. The built-in Buffet and curio cabinet are too dark. And she can't think of where we would put the cat boxes.

Concerns that we BOTH have include the fact that we would have to pay Water/Sewer/Garbage and that there don't seem to be any parks as close as they were here in our current apartment (one right outside our window and 5 more within walking distance).

Comments

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

There's always pros and cons. I can't think of one place I've lived where there wasn't some type of "con".

And every person I know that lives in a trailer puts the catboxes in the bathroom. Doesn't seem to be anywhere else...

[nani-ka.livejournal.com]

Not just people in Trailers... i'm in a Townhouse, & the 1/2 bath downstairs is the "Cat's Bathroom".

[khristle.livejournal.com]

the bathrooms are really, really little. I don't even think I can fit my scale in there...

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Yeah, plus the fact that the two bathrooms - one is in the Master bedroom, one is right when you walk in the door.

I'm thinking right there by the cat door, maybe even build a special little house outside for them to poop in attatched to the cat door?

[nani-ka.livejournal.com]

water/sewer - is it split throughout the entire complex, or are you individually metered? If its individual, there are things you can do to keep the water bill down, just like keeping the electric bill down. Also, are you already paying a water bill? I know when I lived in one of those "managed complexes" like yours, I got an individual bill every month. In that case, you might actually save money on your water bill, depending on how many apartments in your building are lying about how many people they have in them. Sometimes you can call the water/sewer company for that location & ask them to tell you how much the previous tenants were billed per month for what THEY were using, just to give you an idea what you're getting into.

Garbage - do they have recycling? Usually recycling is free, and garbage is billed per bin. Which, if you do end up going for it, I can help you populate a worm composter so you don't have to pay the garbage company to haul away stuff the worms can eat.. if you don't simply set up a compost heap in the back yard.

In the past when I tried to figure out the money side of a new place i'd look at the rent, water/sewer/garbage, how much it cost me to commute to work, & how much the storage locker was... In your case it sounds like you could throw in any savings from growing your own veggies & eating blackberries... to get the REAL cost of a place. (Oh, and don't forget to throw in emotional distress from having to put up with crazy-making neighbors/management company...)

[khristle.livejournal.com]

We actually have to pay for the recycling bin. Meh.

[dotgirl.livejournal.com]

Really? In Seattle, recycling is just included as part of your "sanitation" pickup, and they don't charge you extra for more bins.

Since we've been composting and really anal about recycling, we don't even half fill our garbage can - in fact, we're about to drop to the next smaller one.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

They don't charge us *extra* for a Recycling Bin, but we would indeed have to pay for some basic sanitation service in order to get one. $13 a month gets us the great-big Recycle Bin and a 20-gallon waste container for all our other trash. The Recycle Bin is for everything combined; yard waste, bottles, plastic, newspaper, food scraps... I went down the list with her and i can't think of what would need to get tossed in the actual garbage can!

[nani-ka.livejournal.com]

That's Pants.

Is it at least cheaper than the equivalent amount of garbage can?

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

For $13 a month we get a 20-gallon Waste Bin and a... i want to say 45-Gallon? A FRIGGIN HUGE Recycle Bin. The Recycle Bin is for everything combined, no seperating required. Plastic, paper, glass, food scraps, yard waste... as I went down the list with her, I couldn't think of anything that WOULDN'T go in to the recycle bin!

[nani-ka.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's not bad at all. Is there a smaller Waste bin they offer? Because seriously, between recycling & on-site composting, your garbage will be practically nonexistent...

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

There is, for $9 a month... maybe we'll go that way?

[nani-ka.livejournal.com]

Might not be a bad idea, especially if the recycling bin is the same huge size as the bigger package. You can always call & upgrade if it turns out to be not enough, but seriously, when I am composting & recycling like a fiend, my garbage is nothing but plastic bags (which, some of that can get recycled at the grocery store). Especially if we can avoid getting fast food that uses styrofoam packaging...

You have had a compost bin/heap before, right?

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Have had one, but it was thge old-skool "RATZ LIVE HERE" open-type compost heap. I need to look in to one of those contained ones like you have, because Crystal is DEATHLY ILL AFRAID of rats/mousies.

Although, in King County it seems that everything goes in to one bin, compostables and non-compostables...

[nani-ka.livejournal.com]

You could always do that, although if you decide to have a veggie garden in the available garden space having your own bin would be very advantageous. Also, composting on site means less stuff in your recycle bin, athough 40 gallons is pretty big if you compact stuff before throwing it in.

I spent around $70 on my worm bin, its really nifty, although you could build one out of scavenged pallet lumber for (almost) free. And the contained worm-bin ones are pretty vermin-free... well, except for the worms that is. But yeah, if you decide to go that route let me know & i'll bring you some wormies. (Molly would probably LOVE feeding the worms...)

[bjorker.livejournal.com]

Noooooo come live across the street from meeeeee. *pouts*

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Any idea how much it is? i haven't been down your way in a while thanks to the stupid road work they're doing down there :(

Plus, remember... we need at least two bedrooms!

[bjorker.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it says " 1+ bds" on the sign, dunno quite what that means. Might be worth a call to find out price, though?

[khristle.livejournal.com]

If you can get me the phone number, I promise to call!

[bjorker.livejournal.com]

Your hubby has it ;)
I will go find...

Here we go: 619.961.8766

I don't know if you saw it, but I wrote a little bit about it here:
http://captain-slinky.livejournal.com/677066.html?thread=2616778#t2616778