Los Feliz is what we initially wanted, mostly because it's beautiful, right next to Griffith Park, and less than 5 miles from his job- he wouldn't even have to take a freeway. Unfortunately, all the apartments that were available and we checked out were so tiny, even for 2 bedrooms. It just wouldn't have worked with the space we needed. It was almost a sacrifice we were willing to make until they upped the rent another $100 a week later. Sigh. Not to mention pet rent was $50 per pet.
Anyway, we continued to head a little more north to check out some apartments we contacted over the phone in the Studio City, Toluca Lake, and the Sherman Oaks area. When the day of browsing was almost up, Gary made one last stop to another apartment building in Sherman Oaks. We never set an appointment with this one, just thought we'd check it out for the heck of it.
While we didn't exactly fall in love immediately, it fit what we needed. Almost 1300 square feet for a 2 bedroom, washer and dryer in the unit, lots of storage space, a fireplace, a newly updated kitchen with all the appliances, and a quiet neighborhood. It also came with a wet bar- which won't really mean much to us, but why not? Anyway, the best part? No pet rent and the rent itself wasn't bad. Slightly a little higher than we had planned for that area, but not a big enough deal for it to make an impact.
I spent the next week continuing to look at and call other places, but still, nothing. This whole thing is exhausting, for real. Finally, I called Gary and said I was defeated. So we made an appointment with the place in Sherman Oaks the following Saturday and went back over there to check it out again. The primary reason we didn't immediately fall in love was due to the unique floor plan in the living room. It was spacious, but a little odd. However, measuring our furniture at home, then bringing the measuring tape to measure the new living room, we were able to, with the help of the manager, figure out how we were going to set it up while leaving plenty of space. Thankfully it worked out better than we had thought. So, we did everything we needed to do and got a call a couple of hours later- it was ours!
Whew! So, here's to Alex's first official place!
While Gary and I were waiting for our appointment that day (we were about 20 mins early), we decided to stroll the neighborhood. Wow! Little did we know, there was a beautiful community behind our complex (our complex is right on the street, but go deeper a block and you reach beautiful homes and a gorgeous neighborhood). Since the day was so bright and sunny, we took our time planning out which homes we liked the best and even took a second walk after the appointment. It wasn't an HOA community either. Just a beautiful neighborhood in general. It was then I became excited at the idea of all the walks I can take after the baby is born. It was also rated as a very safe neighborhood, and has some nearby parks, which is definitely a good thing! We then told ourselves we could definitely see buying our first home there. Of course, when we went home and checked out the real estate there, we saw the average home there is in the $800 thousand range. Someday.
Anyway, the new location will shave off an hour of Gary's commute since it's only about 13 miles way. Much better! It only shaves off about 10 miles for me, but still better!
Okay, so that's the new update! We will officially move out on Saturday the 25th- that will be our big day. Big times ahead!
So, here's just a random picture of part of the neighborhood:
Okay, that's all for now.
