More Changes

It's crazy to think that we have lived in Chicago for almost a year now. We have known for several months that our lease on our little condo was knocking on our door. We have also known for several months (try 7 months to be exact) that our little family was going to get bigger. WE started looking for a new home in May of this year. Here was the list Mr. Bywater and I compiled....

• Must have in unit laundry (or else Shelbi will die)
  
• Must give us the opportunity to get rid of that dumb storage unit (weekends at the storage unit having boxes fall on your head will make Scott die)
• Must fit in our budget (more on this later)
  
• Good landlords a must (we have them, but they are a bit distant. The furnace not working for several weeks this winter was slightly rough)
• Must stay in the ward (Hey! Now is probably not the time to be switching up when I can forsee our absence for a while- plus , we have some great friends out here)
  

Let me tell you that Scott and I were honestly shocked at all the "crap" (I really couldn't think of a better word) that we looked at. We tried to contact a Realtor...to no avail, I am sure because we weren't buying we weren't worth the time.

I do have to stop for a minute here. When we first started calling on places we found on craigslist we found that my phone calls were being returned more often then Scott's. We thought it was a funny coincidence until I heard him call on a place and leave a message. "you have to threaten to get a Realtor" I said. "oh...ya, that makes sense." said Mr. Bywater.

We then enlisted our friends from the ward. I have been faithfully receiving e-mail after e-mail probably written in the car from a friend who was probably trying to get a kid here and pick another one up in a different place at the same time, and I am sure she did it AND sent me an e-mail. We have been looking at craigslist for the last several nights, packing our weekends and weeknights with houses and condo's to go see.
Finally Saturday I do have to say that I had had enough. It pushed me over the edge to go see a place that was apparently "newly carpeted" and "newly painted." I consider myself a pretty good judge of those things....but concrete floors and a promise to carpet had me considering murder for the wasted time and gas.

We set a date for the middle of June and if we had not found a place by then we were just going to sign another lease and as punishment walk up and down our three flights of stairs for at least three hours. (it was going to be a party)

Then, I stumbled across two new listings in the same condo complex area for condo's that had three bedrooms and 1.5 baths. Seems to be the fad out here to have a three bedroom house and only one bath. I called and set up appointments to go see both places not realizing that they were across the street from each other...talk about awkward!
The first place was okay, but we were meant with total hesitation on our own personal animal kingdom. We moved onto the house across the street and were shocked. It was in FABULOUS condition- and here is the thing- the landlord kept apologizing for its condition.
I would post the craigslist posting so that you can see photo's but we are the proud new tennents of the condo come July 15th, and it was removed from Craigslist before I could snag the photo's.
Upstairs has three bedrooms, one bathroom, main floor has a new kitchen with granite countertops (yes I did drool) and a great living room. AND that is not all, a finished basement! Finished in actual drywall and carpet. A huge laundry room, and tonz of storage. Did I mention the garage?

To say the least we are so thrilled...and no more stair parties for us...