The Search, Days 2 & 3

Saturday morning I went out again with the realtor to look at condos. This time around we were looking at 1 bedrooms and 2 bedrooms in a slightly higher price bracket. Generally speaking, Saturday was a bust. I didn’t see anything I really liked. Not that it wasn’t productive, just negatively productive. It eliminated quite a few things from consideration.

One thing eliminated that day were lofts. I’ve always liked the concept of a loft. The big, high-ceilinged open space. The exposed brick and support beams that often go with it. Just always loved it. But when we were in one and I really was considering the possibility buying and living in one the appeal faded. The one thing that bothered me that never had before is the open bedroom. It was blocked off with a 9 foot wall in a room with 14’ ceilings. I didn’t like the idea. Part of it was probably timing. The night before I was at The Girl’s place and she left the bedroom door open. I just wanted to get up and shut it all night.

The second place we went into is worth noting. And let me say that Christie has described it as one of her worst showings ever. We were about 10 minutes early. I hadn’t realized where the building was by the address and once we walked up I didn’t like the location. We waited a few minutes and then hit the buzzer. Waited another few and buzzed again. This time we were let in.

Walking up to the third floor I took hold of the hand rail and it came off in my hands. Not good. The resident of the unit let us in. We’d learn that he owned the place. Right away he apologized for the mess. OK, I can look past that. I’m not the cleanest guy in the world. In front of us there was an island kitchen with pots and pans all over it that he goes to start cleaning. I step into the bathroom where he had turned on the light and…

OMFG!

There was a floater! There was turd in the toilet. The whole layout of the place was undesirable but we got the hell out of dodge in a hurry.

There were 3 or 4 places we wanted to see Saturday that we weren’t able to get in to. So we scheduled to go out again yesterday and add a few more places to look at. Again we were looking 1 BR and higher priced 2BR. It was a much more successful day.

The first three units (in 2 buildings) were 1 BRs in Lincoln Park. The first two were nice although the BR were a little on the small side. Both had decks and were perfectly located between my two favorite watering holes. The next unit was on the south edge of the DePaul campus. An old building. The unit itself is best described as a blank canvas. Everything needed cosmetic changes. Paint, new closet doors, new cabinet doors. Resurfacing the wood floor. It was ultimately customizable. The biggest concern would have been the windows that looked very, very drafty on a 100+ year old building. Sounds like custom work to me.

The first two BR we saw was just coming out of a gut rehab. It was really nice but the master BR was just too small. My king bed and dresser weren’t going to fit. It’s worth mentioning because of the second bedroom. The realtor sheet lists it as 7x16. I told Christie that isn’t a bedroom, it is a dead end hallway.

I did see the perfect place yesterday. 2BR, 2BA. Big. Beautiful layout. Great deck. And a lovely view of the red line out the BR windows. UHG!! Move the building 3 blocks and I’d be all over it.

I’ve seen about 30 units in person now and looked at over 100 listings on line. In the end I think I'm dropping the 1BR off my list. My top 4 are all from the first day. Although looking today one of those may be under contract or something because it’s dropped off my list.