Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Quick Trip to Cali

Last week Andy and I took a quick trip to Oakland, CA to look for apartments. We are moving from VA to CA in two weeks and would like to have an apartment already rented so when we move all of our stuff we have a place to unpack it upon arrival. This whole cross-country move involves quite the logistics. Little did we know just how competitive the rental market in the Bay Area is. I spent a day making phone calls (of which no one answered their phones!) out of the hotel while Andy was at work. After a full day of calling and emailing I had one (ONE!!) apartment set up to view. It was frustrating to say the least. The next day was better and eventually I had a few open houses lined up.


On Saturday Andy and I set out to view open houses and see the appointments I had set up. People were ravenous I tell you! It felt like we might have to fight for it if we wanted an apartment. After realizing this, we arrived at one of our top choices and made sure we were early. Luckily we were first to view it and after a quick look at the place we promptly put down a check of $300 to secure our position as first applicant. This was done before we even filled out the application. We were anxious to say the least. After that, Andy grabbed his laptop from the car and we sat on the front steps of the building for the next 1.5 hours filling out the extensive application. This was a smart move on our part, because as other people viewed the apartment they saw us sitting there filling out the application. Take that competition!


The building manager of that apartment is sure that our application will be accepted by the rental company, but for now we wait. Hopefully we will hear something soon, because we put all our bets on this one apartment. (Oops.) If for some odd reason they decide not to go with us we will literally be living out of our rental truck. I will NOT be a happy camper if it comes to that.

Here are a few other pictures from our trip. Unfortunately I didn't get any apartment or open house pictures. I was too busy fighting the crowd.

This is the view from the street of the apartment we hope to be getting. That is Lake Merritt only two blocks away. And behind the picture is downtown Oakland. A perfect location if you ask me.


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