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rivkaWe haven't heard back yet from the owner of the house next door. While we're waiting, we visited two more places. Both of them were quite nice - we can easily see ourselves living in each one. So now there's a strong competition for our second-place choice, which is an awfully nice position to be in.
Place #4: On the southern (nicer) end of Bolton Hill. The apartment takes up half the first floor of a historic mansion. Pros: Gorgeous! Super-high ceilings, fireplaces with elaborately carved surrounds and beautifully tiled hearths, gorgeous moldings, enormous bay windows, and huuuuuge mirrors with elaborate gilt frames. Strangely enough, doesn't come off as tacky - probably because of the white-on-white paint scheme and the natural hardwood floors. Tons of windows, very sunny. Little balcony-type covered porch (it's on a hill, so by the time you get to the back of the house you're up a level from the ground) which looks shady and pleasant. Long hallway of a kitchen with plenty of storage and basic but reasonably up-to-date appliances. Tons of tiny little cupboards and closets and built-in shelves stowed away everywhere - a surprising amount of storage, altogether. Huuuuge location plus: this house is just half a block from Alex's nursery school, so it would completely eliminate the first half of my commute. Also, unlike the other locations we've looked at in Bolton Hill, it's close enough to our neighborhood that we could still walk to the grocery store and shops near our current house. Not too expensive: $1200/month, less than we're paying now. Cons: Only two bedrooms, and they're quite small. (I am envisioning them as part of the mansion's servants' section - offices, or something.) Heat is communal for the whole house - there's one thermostat and one shared heating bill. Could conceivably be chilly during winter daytimes if someone is home, because they run the thermostat on the assumption that everyone is going out to work in an office. High ceilings = OMG high heating bills. Washer/dryer down in a slightly scary basement. Verdict: I think this would be a lovely place to live. The lack of bedroom space might be an issue, but I think the public areas of the house are spacious enough that we could be comfortable.
Place #5: On the northern end of Bolton Hill again. The entire second floor of a newly-rehabbed end-of-group rowhouse, just across a narrow alley from a park. Pros: Really lovely rehab, kept the antique character without keeping the antique inconveniences. Dark-stained hardwood floors, white walls, lovely moldings, bay windows, a little stained glass in the front bedroom, a mix of pretty antique-y light fixtures and modern ones. Big open-plan kitchen/living room with enormous, beautiful kitchen island - twice as wide as a normal counter, with deep storage on both sides. All-new appliances and counters. Two nice full baths. Only two bedrooms, but they're big - and there are lots of little extra spaces that make the apartment feel bigger. Prewired for cable and internet. Nice features I'm not used to seeing in a U.S. home: a central vacuum, and those instant water heaters rather than a hot-water tank. Washer and dryer in unit. Plenty of storage. Very sunny, but because it's right next to a park, in the summer it's apparently shady and green. Central heat and air conditioning. OMG central air! Cons: Second-floor walk-up. I was kind of hoping not to live over someone again. Living room is less spacious than the mansion apartment - there's plenty of space, but it's sort of rambling away in different rooms rather than being concentrated and open-plan. Block itself is okay, but there's a pretty sketchy neighborhood about two blocks away. We couldn't walk to grocery stores, etc. A bit pricey for a 2-bedroom apartment: $1500, and they want a $1500 deposit as well. They don't want to wait until March to rent it. Verdict: This is a beautiful place, and I think they're going to rent it out from under us. I can't see it staying on the market long enough to wait for us.
So all in all, I feel really good. In our first two days of visiting, we found three places, comfortably in our price range, where we'd be happy to live. If all of these fall through for some reason, we've still got all of February's listings to consider - and I feel confident that if we found this many good options right away, more good options for us will continue to come on the market.
Place #4: On the southern (nicer) end of Bolton Hill. The apartment takes up half the first floor of a historic mansion. Pros: Gorgeous! Super-high ceilings, fireplaces with elaborately carved surrounds and beautifully tiled hearths, gorgeous moldings, enormous bay windows, and huuuuuge mirrors with elaborate gilt frames. Strangely enough, doesn't come off as tacky - probably because of the white-on-white paint scheme and the natural hardwood floors. Tons of windows, very sunny. Little balcony-type covered porch (it's on a hill, so by the time you get to the back of the house you're up a level from the ground) which looks shady and pleasant. Long hallway of a kitchen with plenty of storage and basic but reasonably up-to-date appliances. Tons of tiny little cupboards and closets and built-in shelves stowed away everywhere - a surprising amount of storage, altogether. Huuuuge location plus: this house is just half a block from Alex's nursery school, so it would completely eliminate the first half of my commute. Also, unlike the other locations we've looked at in Bolton Hill, it's close enough to our neighborhood that we could still walk to the grocery store and shops near our current house. Not too expensive: $1200/month, less than we're paying now. Cons: Only two bedrooms, and they're quite small. (I am envisioning them as part of the mansion's servants' section - offices, or something.) Heat is communal for the whole house - there's one thermostat and one shared heating bill. Could conceivably be chilly during winter daytimes if someone is home, because they run the thermostat on the assumption that everyone is going out to work in an office. High ceilings = OMG high heating bills. Washer/dryer down in a slightly scary basement. Verdict: I think this would be a lovely place to live. The lack of bedroom space might be an issue, but I think the public areas of the house are spacious enough that we could be comfortable.
Place #5: On the northern end of Bolton Hill again. The entire second floor of a newly-rehabbed end-of-group rowhouse, just across a narrow alley from a park. Pros: Really lovely rehab, kept the antique character without keeping the antique inconveniences. Dark-stained hardwood floors, white walls, lovely moldings, bay windows, a little stained glass in the front bedroom, a mix of pretty antique-y light fixtures and modern ones. Big open-plan kitchen/living room with enormous, beautiful kitchen island - twice as wide as a normal counter, with deep storage on both sides. All-new appliances and counters. Two nice full baths. Only two bedrooms, but they're big - and there are lots of little extra spaces that make the apartment feel bigger. Prewired for cable and internet. Nice features I'm not used to seeing in a U.S. home: a central vacuum, and those instant water heaters rather than a hot-water tank. Washer and dryer in unit. Plenty of storage. Very sunny, but because it's right next to a park, in the summer it's apparently shady and green. Central heat and air conditioning. OMG central air! Cons: Second-floor walk-up. I was kind of hoping not to live over someone again. Living room is less spacious than the mansion apartment - there's plenty of space, but it's sort of rambling away in different rooms rather than being concentrated and open-plan. Block itself is okay, but there's a pretty sketchy neighborhood about two blocks away. We couldn't walk to grocery stores, etc. A bit pricey for a 2-bedroom apartment: $1500, and they want a $1500 deposit as well. They don't want to wait until March to rent it. Verdict: This is a beautiful place, and I think they're going to rent it out from under us. I can't see it staying on the market long enough to wait for us.
So all in all, I feel really good. In our first two days of visiting, we found three places, comfortably in our price range, where we'd be happy to live. If all of these fall through for some reason, we've still got all of February's listings to consider - and I feel confident that if we found this many good options right away, more good options for us will continue to come on the market.
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Date: 2008-01-21 10:40 pm (UTC)