I think "fun" is supposed to be the word...

"Round two" is going well so far, it's just a stressful process. It's a big decision, and you can't always have EVERYTHING you want in one package, so there's a lot of hemming and hawing involved. For an indecisive person like myself, this is a gourmet recipe for headaches, upset stomachs, sleep deprivation, and just general, unending discomfort, 24 hours a day.

So, "round two" of apartment hunting again began online. I searched 3 different apartment search sites, most of which had all the same stuff anyway. We upped our price limit a tad, and I generally stayed away from anything close to the beltway. I didn't completely discount them - if they looked half-way decent I'd check them out (crime report and previous tenant reviews), but more often than not, they didn't check out very well. Over the past few days, we narrowed it down to 3 complexes. All right around White Marsh Mall and The Avenue, with in-unit washers & dryers, with average ratings of 3.5 stars or higher on apartmentratings.com, and no major crime issues. Apparently these are IT. And I've looked, quite compulsively, non-stop, for days. Ben called them and got my long list of questions answered for each, and made appointments to see two of the three today.

So, for the second time this week, I rushed out of work and drove from Rockville to White Marsh (guess I'd better get used to it!) to meet him. Our first stop was Cambridge Court. I immediately texted him (I beat him there) and told him it was BEAUTIFUL and he'd never want to leave - when he arrived, he concurred. It's a gorgeous community, the staff were extremely warm and friendly, the apartments themselves were very nice (a LITTLE on the small side compared to what we'd seen previously, but comparable to the other two that we're now considering)... and of course, they're running a ridiculous special on a particular floorplan - they had like 3 of them that they were trying to move so they became "featured units" and went fron $1340 to $1065 a month - and there's one left, and WE WANT IT. 1BR/1BA with den. Full-size washer and dryer. Walk-in closet in the bedroom. About a 6x6 deck, easily big enough for a table and chairs. Gas stove. Gas FIREPLACE (which we'll never run if BGE keeps hiking their prices, but it's a nice bonus!). Vaulted ceiling. Lofted "den" space for me to study. Garbage disposal. 3rd Floor (no worries about noisy upstairs neighbors). YEAH. AND on top of all this, I have a friend who lives in this complex and has been there for almost a year and loves it - first-hand good review. The only problem is that we'd have to take it almost immediately - she could give us about a 2-week extension on move-in but then we'd have to start paying. It's also more than we had originally wanted to spend, but we've already come to terms with the fact that we're going to have to pay more to feel safe in the area where we want to live. And after re-evaluating Ben's tool bills (which I didn't NOT know were as low as they are! Score!), we're feeling like we'll be OK to tack on a little extra to the rent budget anyway. And he is in line for a raise - it's basically waiting for budgetary approval, from what I understand, and given the administration change I think they've just been waiting to make sure that there aren't going to be any big cuts in defense spending (like that's even an option at this point...). Now that the President's budget is out, I'm hoping that the proving grounds will come out of it's breath-holding freak-out phase and move ahead with business. Anyway, that'll help too whenever it comes. Probably just in time, because that's just God's way. So the lovely girl at Cambridge has a 24-hour hold on this apartment for us. We wanted to give the other two complexes a shot, obviously.

The second stop was Southfield Apartments. I had high hopes for this one, but it didn't pan out very well. It's just much much older - funky smells, icky exterior, extremely outdated kitchens (reminded me very much of my college apartment kitchen - not cool), stackable washer/dryer... the floor plans were slightly larger, but over all it wasn't worth the $20 or $30 savings per month to take that big of a downgrade, we decided.

Tomorrow, I'll make the trek AGAIN from work to White Marsh to check out the last complex we're considering, Silver Spring Station. The girl at Cambridge admitted it's their biggest competition. It's a little older, but the floor plans are a little larger, and they include water and trash pick-up in their rent (not included at Cambridge). The unit we're interested in would rent for $1080 a month, and would be available in late April which is a much better time frame for us. It's also a third floor 1BR/1BA with den, and has a full-size washer and dryer and a walk-in closet. So it seems like it'll be comparable - it's just going to come down to what we like better. At the end of the day, we'll spend less if we go with Silver Spring - though the rent is a bit higher, it includes more and we wouldn't have to pay for the entire month of April. But we just kinda fell in love today at Cambridge. So we'll see. The neighborhood at Silver Spring seems really nice - we went over and drove by today (the leasing office was already closed but we figured we'd at least check it out), and we saw lots of young couples with strollers, women out walking their dogs or jogging alone (a good sign), and it's a little further off the main drag in a quieter area and it backs up to a single-family home community. Definitely in the running - it seems like a very nice place!

I'll be posting an update soon. We should have a decision by tomorrow evening - we have to tell Cambridge yes or no by 6pm when our 24-hour hold is up. YIKES! It's a little rushed, but I'm starting to realize that this is just part of the nature of apartment rentals. When you find a community and a unit you really like at a good price, you kinda have to jump or someone else will take it. Then you're stuck just hoping for something similar to pop open, and you're likely to have to settle for losing a few amenities or paying more. Maybe we should've just waited til April to look. At least we wouldn't have known what we missed...