So I mentioned yesterday that our plans to do the apartment ministry have fallen through. (Which is fine.) We were in the midst of trying to decide whether we should move or not when our lease is up in October.

We have some very good reasons for moving. Besides all the downsides to our current apartment, we realized that we could move to the area of town where we’d like to eventually buy. We could get an apartment, allowing us a year to explore the area and give us more insight into which community we want to settle in. (Ha! Settle! That’s a funny word. :-)) While alone it isn’t a reason to move, paired with our current dissatisfaction with our current apartment it seemed to make more sense…

I called the leasing office yesterday of our current apartment to see what our rent will be if we were to renew our lease in October. They had warned us previously that the rent would be raised, since the complex was recently sold and now under new management.

I was shocked when the leasing agent told us they were raising our rent $120. That’s ONE HUNDRED TWENTY DOLLARS. I was shocked. That puts our current apartment way out of our budget. Strike three, we’re moving!

According to a friend who grew up near here, when our apartments were built 25 years ago, they were luxury apartments and apparently THE place to live. Lack of upkeep has caused them to lower in value, so you get fabulous floorplans (seriously, almost 1500 square feet? that’s great!) and good prices. Apparently the new owners are remodeling the apartments. They’ve started re-roofing and re-siding all the buildings, and I think as apartments become empty they’ll upgrade the appliances. Anyways, that explains the raise in the price. I guess they’re wanting to go back to the previously “luxury” apartments.

That gives us about a month and a half to find a new apartment! We are excited to move, though we’ll seriously be downsizing. Since this area is a lot more expensive, we may have to downsize to a one bedroom. But it will be worth it we think! We are currently going through our stuff and deciding what we can sell, throw away, or give away. It’s going to be really tough, but good for us. I need to not be so tied to material possessions!