Apartment hunting was hilarious as well! We looked at a few different apartments, condos, and duplexes until we settled on the one we currently live in. But here are a few memorable moments that must be shared:
1st: We fell in love with a duplex located in a very nice residential neighborhood. The duplex was very large with 2 huge bedrooms and bathrooms and a very large entertainment/living area. What's the problem? The LANDLORD! We asked if he would allow the tenants to put up vertical blinds on all of the windows instead of the 70's run-down curtains he has had for years... he said NO. We asked if we would be allowed to switch out the oven (very old) I believe it is the original from the 70's also. We offered to pay! He said NO. We wondered how he felt about visitors coming in for a week at a time to stay with us...he said NO, or he'll charge us $20 per person per night! We decided to give him another chance and go over the lease agreement together. As the minutes turned into a very long and boring hour of listening to what we cannot do, Byron and I decided we'd take the Landlords advice and say NO.
2nd: We looked at a 2bd condo that was incredibly PERFECT! Every room was painted a different color which Byron and I absolutely loved! He and I both like color. We are fascinated with an artist named: Pecoff, who's paintings are vibrant with electricity flowing through them and they are of everything TROPICAL. We wanted our new place to have the same feeling that Pecoff's paintings offer so that we would feel like we are in the Tropics in our own home, but once we step outside back into reality...its just cold and icy. Anyway, this condo was perfect. The Problem? The PRICE! The landlord was a feminine type of guy and you could tell he was the female in the relationship. He was so timid and shy, and didn't want to ruin his relationship with his boyfriend by renting the place out for a $1000 a month. The boyfriend wanted $1300 a month not including utilities. So as we ooh'd and aww'd at the beauty of the place, the landlord tried to raise the rent. We were sad, but knew when to say NO (since we were taught so well by the other Landlord).
3rd: As we were walking out of the 2nd condo, Byron saw a for rent sign in another condo just 4 doors down the way. He called the phone number and it was all down hill from there. I didn't get to walk through that condo as I had to work. So Byron walked through it all by himself, made a decision for our family, called me and said I'm going to sign the lease. I said OK even though I had no idea what it looked like...but I figured it must be very nice because Byron will not live in anything ugly. And so we have a place!
It is an upstairs/downstairs 1bd condo with woodfloors. In between packing our last place and moving all of our stuff into this new place, it was tough! But we couldn't have done it without the missionaries, friends and family!
We painted our new place just like the other painted-condo that we loved. Its very hard to describe our color choices without having you all here to see it. If you were here, I think you'd love it too! We're not sure what our landlords will think of our color choices, but once Pecoff's paintings are up on the walls, they'll hopefully understand that we are a very tropical people.
Painting the walls:
Yes we got approval to paint the place from the wife. Of course the husband was a bit iffy. I'm sure they'll love it! Especially after getting back from their 1 month vacation in Sunny BRAZIL!
