The hunt

It's no secret that real estate in Florida is dirt cheap.  And I am more than excited to take advantage of that fact...  but because it's so cheap, I want to make sure we don't buy in a place that has completely gone to seed because all the owners have fled.  To that end, we've decided to rent for a while before we buy.  Thus began our apartment shopping trip last week...

The internet is a fabulous place, especially for doing research.  I checked city-data.org for facts and figures about the surrounding 15 mile radius of Matt's new work, I looked at Trulia for available houses, I marveled at HotPads awesome search-by-map capabilities, I poured through forums of the area.  In short, I thought I had it nailed, and that even though we had 5 days to find a place, surely we would be done in 2.  Not so much.  We flew in last Wednesday and immediately set to work.  That day we toured 4 places and ran away from 1 or 2 more.  The next day we toured another 10 probably.  By the end, my brain was mush but I was sure that a good night's sleep would magically solve the "Which one??" question.  Of course, I was also incredibly depressed.  For 48 hours straight we had driven through the most commercial, run-down, sad looking areas in our soon-to-be home.  Don't get me wrong, there were definite pockets of Nice.  But that's it.  Just pockets.  One block, beautiful, the next... dump.  And sprinkled throughout are trailer parks, estate sales, and empty storefronts.  Not a happy picture.  That evening I commanded Matt to take me to a fabulous dinner on the beach, and that reestablished my faith in pretty Florida.  We just had been looking in the wrong places.

The next morning we got up and (sorry Harry Potter exhibit) decided to tour a few more places.  We went to an apartment-realtor-type-place called Apartment Hunters, and the woman there rocked.  She found us a few more places to look at, and (go figure) the last place we saw was IT.  The drawback is that it's 20 miles from Matt's work.  The positives?  It's HUGE - 4 beds, 2 baths, and a loft office space!  It's only $1300/mo.  It has a washer and dryer hookup. Giant walk-in closets. 3 pools.  2 playgrounds.  A gorgeous fitness center.  A sand volleyball court.  Beautifully manicured and private sidewalks. 15 mins from beach.  Walking distance to grocery store.  4 minutes from the hospital.  I could keep going, but I won't.  Above all, the extra distance allowed us to get out of the slums and into gorgeous residential areas.

Saturday we celebrated by hanging out with my family up at Amy's place.  Elaine and Mom were there, which was a super added bonus.  And Gary, Matt, and I went to see The Expendables, which was totally predictable and worth every penny :)

So that's our update.  I was supposed to have my first ever Jury Duty tomorrow, but it looks like I may not be needed.  Bummer.  I wanted to see the legal system in action!