The title says it all! In the three weeks since our daughter has graduated, she has found a job and an apartment within ten minutes of the new job. Oh, and a roommate. Sweet. The job was tricky in that she was hired as an "early hire" for Fairfax County in March. But then, once back in the area, she had to send resumes to schools she was interested in teaching at, hoping for interviews and that a position would be available. So from the previous post, she lands the job for six grade, goes to the Patriotic Music Festival at Virginia Beach, and off we go apartment shopping. Fortunately, we had appointments. With it being the first week of June and close to the end of the school year, families were house hunting. We were seen ahead of those without appointments. We had four--one on the hour starting at one pm.
The first one was too soft (reciting Goldilocks here). No, not really. The first apartment was lovely, and the price was right. Get ready for this. $1643 for a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment (the kitchen and living room come with it). But the master bedroom with the ceiling fan in it (both bedrooms equal size for the most part) had a small bathroom within the room. The other bedroom did not have a ceiling fan as well as this bathroom, although spacious with so much storage and a linen closet was outside of the bedroom (across a short hall). The apartment for the price was a contender, but...off we go to the next building.
While the first apartment complex was small with the usual pool, fitness room, clubhouse set up, the second complex was HUGE. And it was an easy walk to the Towne Center (love this place!) to restaurants, shops, theater, etc. This was a contender. Nothing wrong with this place. Both bedrooms the same size, she could have a unit away from the parking lot (on wooded side), but the $1740 rental was $100 more than the other complex. Guess I would rather drive the five minutes to the shopping areas to save the $100.
The third building--NO. UGH. Moving on. One thing we took note of was the nickeling and diming (extra fee here, extra cost there).
Ray and I loved the final apartment we toured. Maybe it was selfishly because there was so much storage! There were two storage closets on the balcony (thinking about all of Carly's stuff in our basement). This one had a fireplace. Carly could take that or leave it. She thought it was dark. She didn't like the break up of the living room and dining room. She wasn't overjoyed by it. But the price was lower like the first unit.
We were told to call right away for one of the units (at every building), since there were a lot of people shopping for apartments. We went to a nearby restaurant for dinner to mull over what we had seen, and the waitress overheard our conversation. She raved about her apartment nearby, which prompted my daughter to head out the next day on her own to tour three more complexes. One was another NO. Outdated. Popcorn ceiling, ugly this, old that. Another was a contender (the one the waitress raved about), but she didn't love it. Finally, the first complex she had toured that morning, was it. What was holding her back was the move in dates. An earlier move in date for a third floor unit with fireplace. A much later date for a first floor pool view unit. At dinner that night, we told her to grab the later date apartment. Selfishly again, I was thinking we have a good eight weeks with her here, she won't have to pay a full months rent on her own (her roommate moves in a few days after her now), and she will have time to clean up the basement of all of her stuff. What a huge accomplishment!
All things lining up to get her settled in her new place. She will have three weeks until school starts to get ready. She loves the complex and the unit. We are, as usual, so proud of her. She filled out the application on her own, found the apartment pretty much on her own, loves the area she will be living in (thank you to me for this lol), so here's hoping the rest of the summer moves along just as nicely for her. Laid back, relaxed now and content--at peace.
Here's hoping our house hunting in Panama goes as smoothly ;)
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