Life in the apartment complex

[elSicomoro]

With the exception of one year, I've lived in an apartment all my life. (Though the place where I did most of my growing up was a 2-family flat, with my grandmother and aunt living downstairs...not exactly an apartment, but close enough.)

Having been in an apartment for so long, you get used to seeing a lot of people come and go. Since we've lived at our current place (almost 3 years), we've had 5 new tenants. (We live in a 5-unit building. The complex has 77 buildings, most with 5 units, some with 6).

Our neighbors have been pretty good for the most part: Across from us is the East Asian couple and their toddler. Below them is an older lady. On the first floor is a family of 5. All seem very nice...no complaints, other than them leaving the front door partially ajar.

But when a neighbor moves out, you begin to wonder...who's coming in next? You just hope they'll be decent folk and not cause any problems.

Our neighbors below us just moved out at the end of May. They were an interesting pair--a white couple, late 30s/early 40s...best described as high-class white trash.

Wait a minute...I'm pretty much high-class white trash, so that would put these folks in the middle of the pack.

Apparently, they had kids, though they didn't live with them. But you could tell when they were visiting. Running around the apartment, making an incredible racket...our floor was always shaking. Thank God they were only here for a year. And that damned dog they had...a yippy dog. It barked quite a lot the first several months they lived here. Then the female would be out front in the early morning or late evening...in her nightgown, letting the dog do its thing. What a mess. Maybe if she were better looking, I might not have cared, but...

Our complex has a glut of vacancies right now, it seems. Probably b/c our complex is on the expensive end of places around here...I suspect many folks are getting priced out. We're paying $734 now, and when our lease flips in October, it'll probably bump up to $765 or so. Hopefully, the apartment will stay vacant most of the summer. It's a one bedroom joint, and those seem to be the most plentiful at the moment (along with the 3 BR ones, though there are less of those).

We can't afford to move this year (not enough money in time to do so), so we'll be here one more year. But I've already resolved to get the money saved up early--hopefully this fall. As I've mentioned previously, Rho and I want to live in a place that is more tailored to our lifestyle. And with me working in the city, it's not really worth it to move to the suburbs anymore.

So for now, we'll spruce up the patio and the apartment, and keep looking for our dream place. I love this apartment though--probably the best one I've ever been in. It'll be hard to leave it, but I'm sure we can find something just as nice, if not nicer, come next year.