I'm back!!!
Sorry about the recent lack of blogging. I've gotten virtually no packing done since you last heard from me. I have managed to wrap Christmas presents and throw out some junk (trial size bottles of shampoo, expired vitamins, hair highlighting kits, etc.).
The big news? When we finally do get everything packed up, we have a place to put it. That's right, I found an apartment. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy.
I arrive in Ft. Myers Wednesday late in the morning. I drive to the first apartment complex I was considering (the one closest to the airport). I can't find it. I drive in circles for about half an hour. I finally call them, and find out the complex has been converted to condos. Damn.
There are about six decent apartment complexes between the airport and the hotel. I stop at all of them. Every one is booked solid. Some have openings coming up in mid-January, some have apartments available in mid-February. Some have no openings coming up in all. Double damn.]
I arrive at the hotel. They let me check in early, which was nice, but other than that, the hotel (Ft. Myers LaQuinta) was a bit of a dump. My shower was missing tiles off of the wall, and the refrigerator was held together with duct tape. This is not a condemnation of all LaQuinta inns... I've had some very nice experiences at some of their hotels. The Ft. Myers LaQuinta is not one of them. But I digress.
I grab the area apartment guide and the phone book, and start calling every apartment complex that is within my price range. Even the scary looking ones. And there's NOTHING available. Anywhere.
When I made the plane reservations the week prior, I honestly thought that the three days I'd planned would be way too much time, and I'd be stuck there twiddling my thumbs. Not so.
The Chamber of Commerce had provided me with a list of rental realtors. I started calling them. The majority only had three-bedroom vacation rentals available, typically in the range of $1,800 a month to $1,500 a week.
Did I mention that it's "High Season" in Ft. Myers right now? Families are heading South for the winter. If you had a small apartment available for rent, wouldn't you rather rent it out for $800 a week rather than $800 a month? You better believe it. So finding an apartment this time of year is NOT easy.
We were really hoping to pay less than $700 a month. I know, that's pretty optimistic, but consider the fact that Cory still doesn't have a job. Consider the fact that I'm not getting a pay increase. Consider the fact that we only pay $615 a month right now for a two-bedroom, 1200+ square foot townhouse. We decided that a one-bedroom apartment would be fine, as long as we could find one for less than $700.
I kept trying to call realtors until closing time at 5pm. I finally found a one-bedroom house in Lehigh Acres (the next town inland) for $750. And the realtor wasn't sure if the landlord would allow a cat.
After a few hours on the phone crying to everyone I know, I finally decided to just start driving. I wrote down the phone number on every "For Rent" sign I saw. I had a crappy late dinner at Steak-n-Shake, and went to bed.
The next morning, I worked the phones for about two hours. I finally found a realtor with a pair of small one-bedroom apartments (both less than 700 square feet). Both were out of our price range... but not by a lot. ($750 and $725. And at this point, under $700 was starting to look like a pipe dream.) I went to see the first one that morning. It was tiny. Think of a shoebox. A shoebox with hardwood floors. It already had a washer & dryer, which meant we'd need to pay for a storage facility to stow ours. But it was directly across the street from my new job, which made it a lot more appealing. I put it on the "maybe" list, and made an appointment to see the other apartment (on the other end of town) the next morning.
I visited the TV station, talked with my new boss, and he and his assistant spent about an hour brainstorming for me, thinking of apartments where former employees had lived, people they knew who were realtors, doing google searches, etc. They came up with a few more leads for me to follow, and I was off once again.
Another complex was going condo. Another one had remodeled and the prices went up by about $250 a month. I headed to the realtors they recommended, and they had nothing even remotely close to my price range. Then I called one the numbers I'd copied down the night before. Jackpot!!! A one-bedroom apartment for $650!
I was only about half a mile away, so I drove there immediately. Cute house, cute neighborhood. I walked in, and almost got knocked over by the stench of cat piss. I wasn't sure if it was coming from the apartment, one of the neigbors apartments, or from the landlord, who was wearing an adult diaper (yes, I could tell. I'm not going to go into details, but needless to say, it was a little disturbing). He was very sweet, though, and I didn't want to offend him by telling him that the apartment reeked. I looked around, and it stunk even more when I got inside the apartment. I literally gagged several times. I couldn't get away fast enough.
...Stay tuned for Part II.
Sorry about the recent lack of blogging. I've gotten virtually no packing done since you last heard from me. I have managed to wrap Christmas presents and throw out some junk (trial size bottles of shampoo, expired vitamins, hair highlighting kits, etc.).
The big news? When we finally do get everything packed up, we have a place to put it. That's right, I found an apartment. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy.
I arrive in Ft. Myers Wednesday late in the morning. I drive to the first apartment complex I was considering (the one closest to the airport). I can't find it. I drive in circles for about half an hour. I finally call them, and find out the complex has been converted to condos. Damn.
There are about six decent apartment complexes between the airport and the hotel. I stop at all of them. Every one is booked solid. Some have openings coming up in mid-January, some have apartments available in mid-February. Some have no openings coming up in all. Double damn.]
I arrive at the hotel. They let me check in early, which was nice, but other than that, the hotel (Ft. Myers LaQuinta) was a bit of a dump. My shower was missing tiles off of the wall, and the refrigerator was held together with duct tape. This is not a condemnation of all LaQuinta inns... I've had some very nice experiences at some of their hotels. The Ft. Myers LaQuinta is not one of them. But I digress.
I grab the area apartment guide and the phone book, and start calling every apartment complex that is within my price range. Even the scary looking ones. And there's NOTHING available. Anywhere.
When I made the plane reservations the week prior, I honestly thought that the three days I'd planned would be way too much time, and I'd be stuck there twiddling my thumbs. Not so.
The Chamber of Commerce had provided me with a list of rental realtors. I started calling them. The majority only had three-bedroom vacation rentals available, typically in the range of $1,800 a month to $1,500 a week.
Did I mention that it's "High Season" in Ft. Myers right now? Families are heading South for the winter. If you had a small apartment available for rent, wouldn't you rather rent it out for $800 a week rather than $800 a month? You better believe it. So finding an apartment this time of year is NOT easy.
We were really hoping to pay less than $700 a month. I know, that's pretty optimistic, but consider the fact that Cory still doesn't have a job. Consider the fact that I'm not getting a pay increase. Consider the fact that we only pay $615 a month right now for a two-bedroom, 1200+ square foot townhouse. We decided that a one-bedroom apartment would be fine, as long as we could find one for less than $700.
I kept trying to call realtors until closing time at 5pm. I finally found a one-bedroom house in Lehigh Acres (the next town inland) for $750. And the realtor wasn't sure if the landlord would allow a cat.
After a few hours on the phone crying to everyone I know, I finally decided to just start driving. I wrote down the phone number on every "For Rent" sign I saw. I had a crappy late dinner at Steak-n-Shake, and went to bed.
The next morning, I worked the phones for about two hours. I finally found a realtor with a pair of small one-bedroom apartments (both less than 700 square feet). Both were out of our price range... but not by a lot. ($750 and $725. And at this point, under $700 was starting to look like a pipe dream.) I went to see the first one that morning. It was tiny. Think of a shoebox. A shoebox with hardwood floors. It already had a washer & dryer, which meant we'd need to pay for a storage facility to stow ours. But it was directly across the street from my new job, which made it a lot more appealing. I put it on the "maybe" list, and made an appointment to see the other apartment (on the other end of town) the next morning.
I visited the TV station, talked with my new boss, and he and his assistant spent about an hour brainstorming for me, thinking of apartments where former employees had lived, people they knew who were realtors, doing google searches, etc. They came up with a few more leads for me to follow, and I was off once again.
Another complex was going condo. Another one had remodeled and the prices went up by about $250 a month. I headed to the realtors they recommended, and they had nothing even remotely close to my price range. Then I called one the numbers I'd copied down the night before. Jackpot!!! A one-bedroom apartment for $650!
I was only about half a mile away, so I drove there immediately. Cute house, cute neighborhood. I walked in, and almost got knocked over by the stench of cat piss. I wasn't sure if it was coming from the apartment, one of the neigbors apartments, or from the landlord, who was wearing an adult diaper (yes, I could tell. I'm not going to go into details, but needless to say, it was a little disturbing). He was very sweet, though, and I didn't want to offend him by telling him that the apartment reeked. I looked around, and it stunk even more when I got inside the apartment. I literally gagged several times. I couldn't get away fast enough.
...Stay tuned for Part II.
Labels: Being the Sportslady, the daily grind
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