AmberGretchen
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2005
- Messages
- 7,770
Hi all - my DH and I are struggling with a decision and I was hoping that the clever and helpful people of PS might be willing to give me some feedback. I apologize in advance if this is long, but I really appreciate any feedback you can give.
So, about a year and a half ago, DH and I moved into our current apartment. It is pretty large by the standards of where we live, about 1,000+ square feet, and has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It is not super-new, but everything pretty much works and is reasonably clean. It gets really nice light during the day and in the afternoon/early evening. They have recently started having a Farmer''s Market every week, which is very nice. So much for the positive.
On the downside, it is in an apartment complex right next to a college, and students live in the complex and our building and treat it as a dorm. They make noise at all hours of the day and night, although this has gotten better since we moved in and security has cracked down on the noise, and claim they are taking steps to reduce the noise further. The building and complex have a lot of small things that are annoying - the elevators are slow (I''ve waited for 10 full minutes for one), parking is a pain, management isn''t great about responding to issues, although not horrible either. Some of our neighbors, in addition to making noise, have a tendency to stand right outside the front door and smoke cigarettes (problematic for me b/c of my asthma), leave messes around the building and complex, and general demonstrate a lack of consideration for those around them. The apartment complex is at the far corner of the city where we live, and so public transportation isn''t convenient at all.
We had pretty much resigned ourselves to staying here for another year, which is about how long it should take me to finish up my PhD program (although that can be somewhat unpredictable, so it could be up to 6 months longer than that or a total of 18 months from now). Once I finish my degree everything is totally up in the air, depending on where I get a job, what my DH decides to do next (he''s considering going back to school), etc...We would almost definitely move, but whether to buy a place in the city/area where we are now or to someplace completely different, its not clear.
However, my DH got a phone call today from the managers of our old apartment building where we lived right before here, to tell him that a place identical to our old apartment had opened up (we had previously inquired about this). So now we''re trying to decide if moving back to our old building might be a good decision.
Our old apartment building is basically a brand-new building, and was built beautifully. It had top-grade appliances and finishes and was extremely quiet - we never even knew the neighbors were there. The tenants are primarily young to middle aged professionals, similar to us, very quiet and respectful, and the building stays very clean as a result. Parking was easier there as well. But it has several downsides. The first is that the apartment would be much smaller than where we are now - 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, somewhat smaller living/dining space, which could be a bit crowded with the two of us plus 3 cats, although we are willing to be super-organized and edit our furniture down to fit the space. Because the building is on a busy road, there is significant road noise. When we were living there, this included a loud garbage truck that would come by 2-3 mornings a week at 5:30am
. It is one building away from a major bus/train stop, so public transportation is much easier, and the location is more central to begin with. The management of this building was super-responsive and very professional and pleasant when we lived there and we have no reason to think that would have changed at all. And of course there is the hassle and cost of moving.
So, to summarize, the pros and cons of apartment one and two:
Apartment One
-lots of space
-2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms
-noisy
-disrespectful neighbors
-tough parking
-hard to access public transportation
Apartment Two
-brand-new finishes and appliances
-quiet
-road noise
-garbage truck early in the morning
-limited space
-parking easier
-better access to public transportation
OK, so I know that was ridiculously long, but I''d really appreciate everyone''s thoughts on this issue, because I''m feeling very torn.
So, about a year and a half ago, DH and I moved into our current apartment. It is pretty large by the standards of where we live, about 1,000+ square feet, and has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It is not super-new, but everything pretty much works and is reasonably clean. It gets really nice light during the day and in the afternoon/early evening. They have recently started having a Farmer''s Market every week, which is very nice. So much for the positive.
On the downside, it is in an apartment complex right next to a college, and students live in the complex and our building and treat it as a dorm. They make noise at all hours of the day and night, although this has gotten better since we moved in and security has cracked down on the noise, and claim they are taking steps to reduce the noise further. The building and complex have a lot of small things that are annoying - the elevators are slow (I''ve waited for 10 full minutes for one), parking is a pain, management isn''t great about responding to issues, although not horrible either. Some of our neighbors, in addition to making noise, have a tendency to stand right outside the front door and smoke cigarettes (problematic for me b/c of my asthma), leave messes around the building and complex, and general demonstrate a lack of consideration for those around them. The apartment complex is at the far corner of the city where we live, and so public transportation isn''t convenient at all.
We had pretty much resigned ourselves to staying here for another year, which is about how long it should take me to finish up my PhD program (although that can be somewhat unpredictable, so it could be up to 6 months longer than that or a total of 18 months from now). Once I finish my degree everything is totally up in the air, depending on where I get a job, what my DH decides to do next (he''s considering going back to school), etc...We would almost definitely move, but whether to buy a place in the city/area where we are now or to someplace completely different, its not clear.
However, my DH got a phone call today from the managers of our old apartment building where we lived right before here, to tell him that a place identical to our old apartment had opened up (we had previously inquired about this). So now we''re trying to decide if moving back to our old building might be a good decision.
Our old apartment building is basically a brand-new building, and was built beautifully. It had top-grade appliances and finishes and was extremely quiet - we never even knew the neighbors were there. The tenants are primarily young to middle aged professionals, similar to us, very quiet and respectful, and the building stays very clean as a result. Parking was easier there as well. But it has several downsides. The first is that the apartment would be much smaller than where we are now - 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, somewhat smaller living/dining space, which could be a bit crowded with the two of us plus 3 cats, although we are willing to be super-organized and edit our furniture down to fit the space. Because the building is on a busy road, there is significant road noise. When we were living there, this included a loud garbage truck that would come by 2-3 mornings a week at 5:30am
So, to summarize, the pros and cons of apartment one and two:
Apartment One
-lots of space
-2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms
-noisy
-disrespectful neighbors
-tough parking
-hard to access public transportation
Apartment Two
-brand-new finishes and appliances
-quiet
-road noise
-garbage truck early in the morning
-limited space
-parking easier
-better access to public transportation
OK, so I know that was ridiculously long, but I''d really appreciate everyone''s thoughts on this issue, because I''m feeling very torn.
Not sure what your rent is but could you pay for both appts at least until November so you could still qualify for the class action lawsuit money? Not sure if that would make sense...depends on the cost of rent.
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