Is that your final answer?!?!?

Boy, we sure hope so!!! Okay, so here's the deal: We decided that if we were going to go down to a 2-bedroom apartment, we had better figure out what is out there so we can get the best apt. for our money, and be happy. We really liked the Train Station apts. I mentioned in my previous post, but as I said, they are very small, didn't have a 2nd bathroom and had no washer/dryer in the unit. Plus they are old. They wouldn't be bad if it was just the two of us, but with the two boys and us -- YIKES! So today, we woke up, pulled a bunch of ads from the internet, and went apartment-hunting. We went out to breakfast at Golden Waffle and plotted our route.

We came across some really nice places called Cobble Creek apts. over on Eaton Road, and they were nice. They were about $100 more than Train Station, but they had an extra bathroom and had a washer/dryer in each apt. They even have a downstairs available, and they have a pool, spa, fitness room, and a nice clubhouse. The only real drawback is that the only available downstairs was right near the entrance, and people would be driving by all the time. We did look at and considered some other apt. complexes, but they weren't nearly as nice.

We called Mission Ranch to see if they had any 2 bedrooms available, because that would be another option, although it is the most expensive option. Their 2 bedroom is $900 as opposed to $760 at Train Station and $870 at Cobble Creek. I mean, you really get what you pay for. Mission Ranch didn't answer their phone, but I left a message. We took the applications from the Cobble Creek place, and went to the Euro Cafe to have a cold drink, fill out the application, and try to figure out which of these apartments we wanted. We weighed all the pros and cons, and each one certainly had its pluses and minuses. Probably Train Station was the weakest one, because of the one bathroom and no washer/dryer in the units. However, it has beautiful vegetation and is right next to the bike path, which is a big plus. Also, we'd save a BUNCH of money there, but I REALLY didn't like the idea of only 1 bath and no washer/dryer. I'd really hate that.

We finally decided that we were leaning toward Cobble Creek, but we wanted to go by Mission Ranch first to find out if they had any 2 bedrooms available. If not, it would take them out of the equation and make the decision easier. We drove over there, and they have SUCH nice management out there. They recognize us by sight now (not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing!!!). They must think we're big pains in the behind!! Oh well. At any rate, we were really glad we stopped by, because they had three (count 'em -- three!!) downstairs two bedrooms available. Plus as soon as we went inside one of them, we remembered why we liked those apts. so much. They are SO nice, and have so much natural light. I love the bay window in the living room, the oak cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom, and the pantry is great! Plus there is a microwave shelf, which opens up counter space. The refrigerator is big, too, and has an ice maker in it. These are things that the other Cobble Creek place didn't have. The other apts. we looked at had a SMALL refrigerator, and no ice maker. Plus, it is 1007 sq.ft. as opposed to 940 and 900 in the other ones. They are just really nice. Plus the 2 bedroom that we chose at Mission Ranch is tucked back in the corner, which means it has a semi-nice lawn view (you can see over the top of the fence and see the cars going by on East Ave., which isn't TOO great). But it is tucked back in a space where there will be no through traffic. The only cars coming down there would be for people who live in one of the apartments back there, and there are maybe 8 apts. back there. Very nice! There was another one near the one we chose, and it had more lawn view, but it did face the parking lot,and it was obvious that the bedrooms were on the western side, which means they would absolutely BAKE in the summertime. No thanks!

So, what we finally decided was to take the 2-bedroom, 2 bath apt. at Mission Ranch. Our move-in date is June 1st and we hope to get the main part of our moving done on June 2nd. We are taking the following week off work (June 4th) in order to finish moving the smaller stuff and to get everything settled in our new place. We didn't want to move so quickly, but we figured we might as well get in there, and that means getting out of here early in June, so the owner of our old place will be happy, and we won't have to pay much rent for this house for June. We figured that we'd be totally out of this house by June 15th, which gives us plenty of time to clean it all up so we can get our maximum deposit back. Yea!!! I'm really excited now that something firm has been set up. And I am SO happy that, even though we're not getting a 3-bedroom, that we are at least getting the nice apts. and we have TWO bathrooms. The main thing we're giving up with the Mission Ranch apt. is a walk-in closet. I don't know WHAT Bill's going to do with his clothes!! Ha!!

I'll be emailing everyone our new address. Phone number will remain the same. Yahoo!!! Finally, a decision!