Mission accomplished
Jul. 16th, 2007 04:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirBlair Hall Apts., on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Operation Find-Reasonably-Priced-Apartment-Within-Walking-Distance-of-Campus successful! I can't even begin to describe how insane the housing market in Berkeley is. Our first viewing appointment on Saturday got canceled because the apartment was already taken, and when we walked to the next open house, there were about ten people already there, waiting for the landlord to arrive. I'd estimate about twenty-five applications for that apartment alone. I forget how many we managed to view on Saturday, but we ended up walking pretty much all over West and South Berkeley by the end of the day. I think we handed in at least one other application: the other apartments were either (1) already taken, (2) had run out of application forms to hand out to interested parties, (3) too expensive or (4) in such questionable neighborhoods that we were reluctant to apply. That being said, we were already worried by the time we came back to the hostel we were staying at about not being able to get any apartment at all. Judging by the number of applications submitted for the places we viewed, the competition was pretty stiff, even if you took into account our good credit reports and the edge we had for being graduate students receiving a regular stipend. We kept checking Craigslist and dug up a few more open houses to go to on Sunday, loosening our original criteria for price and location, as desperation increased by the minute. I went to sleep with swollen feet and the most awful shin splints, the likes of which I haven't had since junior year.
On Sunday, we went to an open house with three two-bedroom vacancies and slightly smaller applicant crowd than Saturday, which made us feel slightly better about our chances. We also ended up traipsing all over West and South Berkeley, including places that were more than forty-five minutes away by walking distance from campus. The shin splints were killing me, but what could you do? We took our breaks in between viewings by sitting at cafés with free Wi-Fi and obsessively checking for new Craigslist listings. We noticed that one of the places we applied to the day before left a message on Kate's phone (Kate being the roommate-to-be) and called back, only to hear that the owner had already offered it to someone else. Time lapse between voice mail and our call back was approximately forty minutes. Isn't that insane? I mean, why even bother to leave a message if you're only going to offer it to someone else? Anyway, that's how fast the housing market moves, apparently. @_@
So after eating dinner at a fast-food burrito place, we ended up sitting glumly in this café where we had eaten breakfast on both days, staring at our cell phones and wondering if we could send in applications for apartment listings without viewing the place. (Because at this point, we were pretty much faced with the gloomy conclusion that we were about to go back to the East coast without a lease in our hands.) It was around six, and both of us were going to leave in about a few hours for the airport. Then the landlord with the three vacancies from that morning called us and told us that she had filled all the vacancies, but she liked our application enough that she was willing to offer us one of the two-bedroom apartments she had available in another building. Would we still be around on Monday to view the apartments? Well, of course not, but by some miracle, we were actually only about five or six blocks away on the same street, and we asked if we could view it right then and there. We pretty much ran to get there, viewed the apartment, and signed the lease on the spot. Talk about last-minute drama!
Mind, at this point, we were probably desperate enough to take anything--I mean, at this point, we even regretted turning down an impossibly tiny apartment we saw that didn't even have a sink in the bathroom and no closets in either bedroom--but the apartment we got not only turned out to be located about ten minutes away from campus and one block off Shattuck Ave. (a busy commercial street), but also had a new electric stove, newly painted walls, a dining area plus spacious living room, a balcony and hardwood floors. I know it's a little overblown to call it a miracle, but it seriously felt like one at the time. Of course it isn't absolutely perfect: the rent is at the very upper limit of what I was initially willing to consider, plus we have to pay for water (usually the landlord covers water and garbage). But considering how we were even looking at places that required you to take the bus to get to campus comfortably, it might as well be perfect.
I'm still thanking my stars that the landlord called us in time before we left. Imagine going back after a weekend of apartment-hunting without even a lease and the potential prospect of getting rejected from all the applications you've managed to hand in! I was wondering before whether I was stressing out too much about this housing search, and I've come to the conclusion that in fact, I didn't stress enough. Heard horror stories from landlord-to-be about the insane number of applications to process and applicants leaving viewings in tears because they were afraid they'd never be able to get an apartment. Not to mention all the depressed, dazed faces I saw for myself while on the hunt. I thought we would beat the summer rush by searching in mid-July, but in fact, we're pretty much at the beginning of the wave. (Which means that it's only going to get worse from here on until classes start in late August.)
Anyway, I have a place to live! And it's even a nice apartment and fairly close to campus! This is nothing short of amazing. I'm exhausted, my shins and feet still ache, and my face is sunburned from the bright California sun, but who cares? I won't be a homeless grad student come this fall.
I'm not going to say anything regarding the Hikaru no Go fandom discussion that apparently took place over the weekend because it seems that everything that needs to be said has been said. (Why do these things always occur when I'm away from LJ?) Instead, I'm going to say that the Japanese live-action HanaKimi drama has eaten my brain, even though I can't decide whether I like the changes to the plot or not. Also, I meant to finish An Exorcism, for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
card_mistress's birthday today, but alas, I'm not sure if I can manage it. Will put on to-do list for this week though.
Yours &c.
Operation Find-Reasonably-Priced-Apartment-Within-Walking-Distance-of-Campus successful! I can't even begin to describe how insane the housing market in Berkeley is. Our first viewing appointment on Saturday got canceled because the apartment was already taken, and when we walked to the next open house, there were about ten people already there, waiting for the landlord to arrive. I'd estimate about twenty-five applications for that apartment alone. I forget how many we managed to view on Saturday, but we ended up walking pretty much all over West and South Berkeley by the end of the day. I think we handed in at least one other application: the other apartments were either (1) already taken, (2) had run out of application forms to hand out to interested parties, (3) too expensive or (4) in such questionable neighborhoods that we were reluctant to apply. That being said, we were already worried by the time we came back to the hostel we were staying at about not being able to get any apartment at all. Judging by the number of applications submitted for the places we viewed, the competition was pretty stiff, even if you took into account our good credit reports and the edge we had for being graduate students receiving a regular stipend. We kept checking Craigslist and dug up a few more open houses to go to on Sunday, loosening our original criteria for price and location, as desperation increased by the minute. I went to sleep with swollen feet and the most awful shin splints, the likes of which I haven't had since junior year.
On Sunday, we went to an open house with three two-bedroom vacancies and slightly smaller applicant crowd than Saturday, which made us feel slightly better about our chances. We also ended up traipsing all over West and South Berkeley, including places that were more than forty-five minutes away by walking distance from campus. The shin splints were killing me, but what could you do? We took our breaks in between viewings by sitting at cafés with free Wi-Fi and obsessively checking for new Craigslist listings. We noticed that one of the places we applied to the day before left a message on Kate's phone (Kate being the roommate-to-be) and called back, only to hear that the owner had already offered it to someone else. Time lapse between voice mail and our call back was approximately forty minutes. Isn't that insane? I mean, why even bother to leave a message if you're only going to offer it to someone else? Anyway, that's how fast the housing market moves, apparently. @_@
So after eating dinner at a fast-food burrito place, we ended up sitting glumly in this café where we had eaten breakfast on both days, staring at our cell phones and wondering if we could send in applications for apartment listings without viewing the place. (Because at this point, we were pretty much faced with the gloomy conclusion that we were about to go back to the East coast without a lease in our hands.) It was around six, and both of us were going to leave in about a few hours for the airport. Then the landlord with the three vacancies from that morning called us and told us that she had filled all the vacancies, but she liked our application enough that she was willing to offer us one of the two-bedroom apartments she had available in another building. Would we still be around on Monday to view the apartments? Well, of course not, but by some miracle, we were actually only about five or six blocks away on the same street, and we asked if we could view it right then and there. We pretty much ran to get there, viewed the apartment, and signed the lease on the spot. Talk about last-minute drama!
Mind, at this point, we were probably desperate enough to take anything--I mean, at this point, we even regretted turning down an impossibly tiny apartment we saw that didn't even have a sink in the bathroom and no closets in either bedroom--but the apartment we got not only turned out to be located about ten minutes away from campus and one block off Shattuck Ave. (a busy commercial street), but also had a new electric stove, newly painted walls, a dining area plus spacious living room, a balcony and hardwood floors. I know it's a little overblown to call it a miracle, but it seriously felt like one at the time. Of course it isn't absolutely perfect: the rent is at the very upper limit of what I was initially willing to consider, plus we have to pay for water (usually the landlord covers water and garbage). But considering how we were even looking at places that required you to take the bus to get to campus comfortably, it might as well be perfect.
I'm still thanking my stars that the landlord called us in time before we left. Imagine going back after a weekend of apartment-hunting without even a lease and the potential prospect of getting rejected from all the applications you've managed to hand in! I was wondering before whether I was stressing out too much about this housing search, and I've come to the conclusion that in fact, I didn't stress enough. Heard horror stories from landlord-to-be about the insane number of applications to process and applicants leaving viewings in tears because they were afraid they'd never be able to get an apartment. Not to mention all the depressed, dazed faces I saw for myself while on the hunt. I thought we would beat the summer rush by searching in mid-July, but in fact, we're pretty much at the beginning of the wave. (Which means that it's only going to get worse from here on until classes start in late August.)
Anyway, I have a place to live! And it's even a nice apartment and fairly close to campus! This is nothing short of amazing. I'm exhausted, my shins and feet still ache, and my face is sunburned from the bright California sun, but who cares? I won't be a homeless grad student come this fall.
I'm not going to say anything regarding the Hikaru no Go fandom discussion that apparently took place over the weekend because it seems that everything that needs to be said has been said. (Why do these things always occur when I'm away from LJ?) Instead, I'm going to say that the Japanese live-action HanaKimi drama has eaten my brain, even though I can't decide whether I like the changes to the plot or not. Also, I meant to finish An Exorcism, for
card_mistress's birthday today, but alas, I'm not sure if I can manage it. Will put on to-do list for this week though.Yours &c.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 10:07 pm (UTC)Also; I for one am really grateful that you and
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 10:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 10:44 pm (UTC)But, hey, will YOU be in Berkeley anywhere between 8/2-8/13? 'Cause I will be, and I haven't seen you in ages.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 10:50 pm (UTC)(And augh, good luck to your boyfriend. You should probably warn him that the housing market is only getting more competitive what with all the students--both undergrad and grad--coming in August. Everything that people say about needing to have tenant resumes and credit reports prepared isn't overboard; it's pretty much necessary if you want landlords to respond to your application.)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 11:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 12:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 01:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 01:33 am (UTC)Agreed about HanaKimi, it's an adorable drama but the changes really bug me, even though I've only read bits from the manga.
Ooh, Tari, you should watch Yamada Taro Monogatari! It's captured my heart more than HanaKimi has.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 12:30 pm (UTC)Is Yamada Taro Monogatari another recent drama? What's it about?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 01:10 pm (UTC)His family is adorable & it's a lot of fun to watch. Like HanaKimi, it's also based on a manga of the same title.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 01:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 02:10 am (UTC)::happy dance::
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 12:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 03:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 03:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 03:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 04:16 pm (UTC)Ooh, and thanks for the water-saving tip. Will keep in mind.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 03:58 am (UTC)The wank will blow over in no time. If nothing else, Harry Potter 7 will distract everybody. Please don't feel bad about the negativity that resulted from
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 12:33 pm (UTC)Oh right, Harry Potter 7 is coming out this week, isn't it? ::prepares self for the deluge of reaction posts:: XD
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 04:09 am (UTC)And yes, the housing market there moves that quickly. Crazy, ain't it? Everyone keeps asking if I've found a place in SF yet and I'm like, "Are you crazy? I'll start looking a week or two before I go out, because it won't be any better to start now."
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 12:35 pm (UTC)Everyone kept telling me that the housing market in the Bay area moves insanely fast, but I never really realized just how true it was until this past weekend. @_@
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 08:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 12:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 12:48 pm (UTC)She's actually in San Francisco (I think she's at Google HQ). But I'm sure it's equally hard to get a room somewhere!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 09:21 am (UTC)I meant to call you but I figured you were probably busy running around looking for a place . . . ^^;;;
You, um, actually came in the middle of the housing rush . . . Because all the non-first years already had to do all their looking from March on . . . (So, I couldn't get a lot of places because they started too late and we had to move in June 1.) I thought it wouldn't be as bad in July - guess I was wrong. o_O;
P.S. Good job! I'm so happy you got something! Your apartment sounds better than mine and the brother and I spent Spring Break through May looking . . . -__-;
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 12:44 pm (UTC)From March? _-_ Well, judging by the rush right now, I'm not surprised. People recommended that we start looking in June, but I wasn't prepared to move out in July, so I disregarded the advice. >_>
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 06:21 pm (UTC)I should be here. I might leave for a week at the end of August to visit the 'rents, but other than that, yeah. Yeah, I'll show you around. <3
It's okay. The main thing is that you got something!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 03:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-17 04:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-27 01:41 am (UTC)As for Hikago wank? It was sooooo stupid. I hate that blind_go gets backlash because of it. Yes, some people might put their focus on it, but there are plenty of people writing for it who might not otherwise write anything for the fandom at all, so.... I think in the long run, we're okay.
Also, Hana Kimi! I need to watch what's out of it. The last dorama I watched was Nobuta wo Produce, though I've started watching Coffee Prince as well. Hana Kimi is scaring me *because* I don't like changes unless they seem perfectly justified. (I couldn't enjoy the 5th Harry Potter movie for this very reason.)
Glad to see everything going relatively well for you. ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-27 10:21 pm (UTC)And oh, Hana Kimi is eating my brain, but I still can't decide whether I like it or not. I pretty much unequivocally adored the J-drama version of Hana Yori Dango, but then again, they made fewer drastic plot changes. >_>;; I seem to keep watching Hana Kimi in hopes that they might have kept one of my favorite moments from the manga in some altered form.
I started watching Yamada Taro Monogatari on
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-30 02:36 am (UTC)Hana Kimi and Hana Yori Dango are both love, but I love the manga so much... It's hard for me to take the changes.
I will definitely try out YTM. And, I do recommend Coffee Prince. Yoon Eunhye isn't my favorite actress by any means, but the character she plays in this is better suited for her than anything she's ever been cast in before. Plus, the male lead is hot, and the story is wonderful, so all is definitely well. To put it this way, as I was watching the fourth episode in the library the other day, I had two different girls come up and ask what I was watching because they thought it looked interesting from a distance. ^_^
And, now back to moving the last of my stuff over. >_