A close second in the “Ugh, I have to do that again” sweepstakes behind actually moving is apartment hunting. Even with the advent of Craigslist and Rent.com and Apartment.com and all the rest—with their photos and expanded descriptions as compared to the cryptic Enigma-like 3-line codes that used to be found in newspaper classifieds—it’s still a pain.
I understand that apartment hunting varies from place to place. In the older and more urban sections of the Boston area, like Salem, you find more converted houses that have become condos and apartments as well as houses built from the start as multi-family. Yes, there are modern (and not-so-modern) apartment complexes too, but they’re only part of the mix.
Have I mentioned how much I hate house-hunting and moving?
Melanie and I have shied away from the complexes, partly because when you’re in them, you’re surrounded on four sides by neighbors and because your front door is often so far from your parking spot and carting a child or children plus their accouterments as well as groceries becomes a major undertaking. Yes, many of them offer tempting amenities like swimming pools (in New England? Two months usability; three at best), fitness centers, business centers, free high-speed internet (bandwidth shared by the whole complex though). But still we’d both prefer a converted house.
Of course, while we’ve both apartment-hunted before, we had a new twist this time. Not only marriage, but a child. Apparently in Massachusetts, a landlord can’t rent to a family with children under 6 if the property has not been de-leaded, which I can understand, but there are a whole lot of “leaded” apartments in the Salem area. That cuts our choices down somewhat.
Is it too much to ask?
