update on housing search
Posted by emh1969 on March 13, 2009
Time for a quick update on my housing search. I have two main criteria for housing. One is that my commute to work be 30 minutes or less. The second is that the place has to be furnished. I got rid of all my furniture when I left DC and don’t want to acquire any until I know if I’m going to stay in Portland for a while. The second criteria really limits me. Mostly I’ve been looking at places where I’d be renting a furnished room in a house where I’d share the rest of the house (living room, kitchen, etc) with other tenants. I haven’t had a roommate in about a decade so it’s a bit scary.
So far I’ve looked at 4 places. The first was a room in a house that I would have been sharing with the owner and his aunt. I really liked the owner and the house was beautiful. But the room was a bit small and there was a fair amount of car noise from a nearby street. So I passed on that place.
The second place was a 15 minute bus ride to work. I would have been renting the upstairs bedroom in the house and would also have my own bathroom. The house was nice looking but I didn’t care for the current tenant (who I would have been sharing the house with). He was a nice guy but a bit weird. Just couldn’t imagine sharing space with him.
The third place was also the upstairs of a house. I would have been sharing the house with the owner and her 13 year old daughter. I really liked the owner but didn’t care for the idea of living in a house with a 13 year old.
The fourth place is the place that I’ve decided to apply for. It’s also the most private of the four. Assuming I get it, I’ll be renting a fully furnished studio apartment with my own kitchen and bathroom. So no roommate! There is one quirk to the place. The aparment is part of a house and get to the front door of the apartment, you go in the front door of the house and then walk past a living room and kitchen. The living room and kitchen are part of an apartment that’s being rented by a family of five. Their space is “open” so you can see right into their living room and kitchen as you walk past. There’s also no stove in the apartment but I can use the stove in the family’s kitchen. I’ll probably just end up buying a hot plate instead. You can see photos of the place here:
Teresa said
It looks like a really nice place. I don’t think you’d need a stove. The apt has a toaster oven & mircowave. I’d be fine with that myself.
I looked at an apt once that was in someone’s basement with it’s own entrance. It was similar to what you looked at but each room was seperate & unfurnished. I would have had access to the washer & dryer too which were in the garage. I passed on it as I just wasn’t comfortable with being in a basement.