After writing one more massive check as part of the moving process, Kelly and I now know where we will be living for the foreseeable future. We did some searching for apartments last weekend. We didn't see anything that we were particularly excited by. The combined challenge of space, dog, cost and location made it clear that it would be a tough challenge.
Then, on Tuesday, I saw a house for rent on Craigslist. It was in our price range and only 1.5 miles from work. It has a garage, which I think will be very nice and a big improvement over an apartment. It also has a nice dog-friendly back yard with a peach tree and a cherry tree. Go out and pick your own breakfast! The competition for the place was fierce, but thanks to a good credit rating and writing a cover letter to the application that helped us be more than names on a piece of paper, we won.
My prediction for moving to California was absolutely true... half the living space and twice the monthly payment. It is also a little earlier than would have been ideal. But I think the quality of life will be much better than it would have been in an apartment. The odds of a place like it opening up in the next month... and winning that competition... were too slim to pass on this chance.
Don't send us any housewarming gifts just yet. We will probably take most of July to move in and set it up like we want. After that we will be open for visitors. Check your email for snail mail address updates.
