Our New Home
Let me tell you a little bit about our trip to Bloomington. It was complete CRAZY.
Thursday night, we arrived in Indianapolis after five hours of flying (plus a two-hour layover in Denver), grabbed our rental car, and drove 70 minutes in MINUS five degree weather to our B&B in Bloomington. Needless to say, Saya just about had it.
At 2 a.m., we checked in to the Scholar's Inn, a very cute, early 20th-century house. We stayed in the Annie Fellows Johnson Suite:
What wasn't so cute about this room is that it was separated from the kitchen by an old wooden (read: not soundproof) door. So when the manager started preparing breakfast at 6:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. by our clocks), we heard everything. Between that and Saya waking up about four times, I think I maybe slept two hours.
We'd set up appointments to see a dozen rental properties, observe three day care facilities, have three separate meetings in our hiring departments, and managed to schedule three social dinners. It was a whirlwind of a trip.
The rental market in Bloomington is surprisingly terrible. I'm totally used to the California rental market, where things pop up on Craigslist and get rented within a matter of weeks. I'd thought we could go out to Bloomington sometime in May to secure housing, but I was wrong. Apparently all the rentals are done on the academic cycle (August to August), and they're rented out - mostly to students - within a matter of weeks in January. I was completely shocked when roughly half of the initial appointments I'd set were canceled because they were rented in the week before our trip.
The rental stock is weird. Because the housing in Bloomington is so affordable, most professors buy...so the rentals are usually student housing. What's so weird to me is that a lot of the student housing is in these gorgeous old turn-of-the-century limestone cottages. They are absolutely beautiful on the outside. Then you walk in...and realize that EVERYTHING is original. And landlords do not want to spend a penny on the interiors, because they'll be ruined by students.
For example, there are original clawfoot bathtubs that are completely blackened on the inside...from, oh, just A HUNDRED freaking years of use. And the kitchens haven't been updated (older kitchens tend to be miniscule - and some of these had original pedestal sinks in the kitchen - I'm talking sinks that are the same size as my bathroom sink). The floors were original and had large cracks between the floorboards, or were incredibly uneven. Lots of these places were populated by freshman boys. And the landlords seemed kind of surprised that we wanted to see these places. But how was I supposed to know that the house described as a "beautiful 3-bdrm, 2 bath limestone cottage" was a total dump? I don't know the areas. All the streets in Bloomington look nice, and the university doesn't provide much support for househunting. It's very laissez-faire over there, I guess because they figure anyone can buy. The only guidance I got was from one faculty member, who told me not to live in a particular area because I "might have to lock my front door" as if that were some sort of huge imposition. Isn't that kind of cute?
We saw a bunch of places that were old, old, old. We were told we could rent a nice, newer home if we were willing to move into a subdivision a few miles from the campus. But our goal was to walk to campus and to the downtown area. I mean, a move to Bloomington is enough culture shock to me, so I want to be as close to public amenities and shopping/restaurants as possible. I didn't think I could handle moving to a subdivision on top of everything else. The problem is that the housing next to the campus was all constructed in the early 1900s. And the only updated houses aren't rental properties.
We ended up looking at some Downtown lofts. New construction, and beautifully done - but with no storage space at all, and no parking! And the prices they were charging were outrageous. Apparently the lofts tend to get rented to rich students from the East Coast...but can you believe that people pay $2,500 per month for a three bedroom loft with no storage, and no parking...in INDIANA? I had to put my foot down. I felt indignant.
By Friday afternoon, I was totally burnt out and thinking that we should just buy a place. We could buy a home and pay less on the mortgage than for rent at some of these places. I was moping around saying "But the whole reason why I'm moving out here is because I thought I could actually afford to live somewhere nice!" I was even more inspired when I went to a new colleague's house for dinner. It was absolutely gorgeous. But she told us she bought her house over the course of a single weekend, when she and her husband saw 38 different houses and just committed to one.
We ended up driving around for two hours with a really nice realtor. She showed us a lot of different areas and where all the good elementary schools are located. Ultimately, I decided that, even though it's cheaper to buy in some areas, I couldn't commit to buy a house in one day. I was afraid I'd regret being locked in without knowing the area or where to live. Even my colleague with the gorgeous house said that she wouldn't re-choose the house she'd purchased, because she would have noticed negative things about it if she'd taken more time. So I decided not to stress myself out and opted instead to delay my housing gratification for yet another year.
So we signed a lease on our best rental option. It's a one-story ranch style house on a gorgeous tree-lined street, in a neighborhood filled with professors. It's within walking distance to campus and downtown. It's 1,700 square feet and has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a bonus room, attached garage, large fenced backyard, washer, dryer, and dishwasher (none of which we currently have) and is really nicely laid out. And we're only paying $100 per month more than for our current one-bedroom apartment in Northern California.
Here it is, in all its glory:
Sounds perfect, right?
But did I mention...the inside is horridly, disgustingly, horrifically ugly? Sigh.
Thursday night, we arrived in Indianapolis after five hours of flying (plus a two-hour layover in Denver), grabbed our rental car, and drove 70 minutes in MINUS five degree weather to our B&B in Bloomington. Needless to say, Saya just about had it.
At 2 a.m., we checked in to the Scholar's Inn, a very cute, early 20th-century house. We stayed in the Annie Fellows Johnson Suite:
What wasn't so cute about this room is that it was separated from the kitchen by an old wooden (read: not soundproof) door. So when the manager started preparing breakfast at 6:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. by our clocks), we heard everything. Between that and Saya waking up about four times, I think I maybe slept two hours.
We'd set up appointments to see a dozen rental properties, observe three day care facilities, have three separate meetings in our hiring departments, and managed to schedule three social dinners. It was a whirlwind of a trip.
The rental market in Bloomington is surprisingly terrible. I'm totally used to the California rental market, where things pop up on Craigslist and get rented within a matter of weeks. I'd thought we could go out to Bloomington sometime in May to secure housing, but I was wrong. Apparently all the rentals are done on the academic cycle (August to August), and they're rented out - mostly to students - within a matter of weeks in January. I was completely shocked when roughly half of the initial appointments I'd set were canceled because they were rented in the week before our trip.
The rental stock is weird. Because the housing in Bloomington is so affordable, most professors buy...so the rentals are usually student housing. What's so weird to me is that a lot of the student housing is in these gorgeous old turn-of-the-century limestone cottages. They are absolutely beautiful on the outside. Then you walk in...and realize that EVERYTHING is original. And landlords do not want to spend a penny on the interiors, because they'll be ruined by students.
For example, there are original clawfoot bathtubs that are completely blackened on the inside...from, oh, just A HUNDRED freaking years of use. And the kitchens haven't been updated (older kitchens tend to be miniscule - and some of these had original pedestal sinks in the kitchen - I'm talking sinks that are the same size as my bathroom sink). The floors were original and had large cracks between the floorboards, or were incredibly uneven. Lots of these places were populated by freshman boys. And the landlords seemed kind of surprised that we wanted to see these places. But how was I supposed to know that the house described as a "beautiful 3-bdrm, 2 bath limestone cottage" was a total dump? I don't know the areas. All the streets in Bloomington look nice, and the university doesn't provide much support for househunting. It's very laissez-faire over there, I guess because they figure anyone can buy. The only guidance I got was from one faculty member, who told me not to live in a particular area because I "might have to lock my front door" as if that were some sort of huge imposition. Isn't that kind of cute?
We saw a bunch of places that were old, old, old. We were told we could rent a nice, newer home if we were willing to move into a subdivision a few miles from the campus. But our goal was to walk to campus and to the downtown area. I mean, a move to Bloomington is enough culture shock to me, so I want to be as close to public amenities and shopping/restaurants as possible. I didn't think I could handle moving to a subdivision on top of everything else. The problem is that the housing next to the campus was all constructed in the early 1900s. And the only updated houses aren't rental properties.
We ended up looking at some Downtown lofts. New construction, and beautifully done - but with no storage space at all, and no parking! And the prices they were charging were outrageous. Apparently the lofts tend to get rented to rich students from the East Coast...but can you believe that people pay $2,500 per month for a three bedroom loft with no storage, and no parking...in INDIANA? I had to put my foot down. I felt indignant.
By Friday afternoon, I was totally burnt out and thinking that we should just buy a place. We could buy a home and pay less on the mortgage than for rent at some of these places. I was moping around saying "But the whole reason why I'm moving out here is because I thought I could actually afford to live somewhere nice!" I was even more inspired when I went to a new colleague's house for dinner. It was absolutely gorgeous. But she told us she bought her house over the course of a single weekend, when she and her husband saw 38 different houses and just committed to one.
We ended up driving around for two hours with a really nice realtor. She showed us a lot of different areas and where all the good elementary schools are located. Ultimately, I decided that, even though it's cheaper to buy in some areas, I couldn't commit to buy a house in one day. I was afraid I'd regret being locked in without knowing the area or where to live. Even my colleague with the gorgeous house said that she wouldn't re-choose the house she'd purchased, because she would have noticed negative things about it if she'd taken more time. So I decided not to stress myself out and opted instead to delay my housing gratification for yet another year.
So we signed a lease on our best rental option. It's a one-story ranch style house on a gorgeous tree-lined street, in a neighborhood filled with professors. It's within walking distance to campus and downtown. It's 1,700 square feet and has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a bonus room, attached garage, large fenced backyard, washer, dryer, and dishwasher (none of which we currently have) and is really nicely laid out. And we're only paying $100 per month more than for our current one-bedroom apartment in Northern California.
Here it is, in all its glory:
Sounds perfect, right?
But did I mention...the inside is horridly, disgustingly, horrifically ugly? Sigh.
You did the right thing. It's only temporary - while you stay there you can get to know the area better like you said and then snag up The House. We wish we did that when we were looking in OC - we ended up just buying one from the one day we had able to fly back to look and we've been pretty pissed with everything we didn't anticipate/defects we didn't see that now drive us CRAZY.
Plus, I'm sure you'll make it fab inside. :)
Posted by
Mishy |
February 12, 2009 at 9:12 PM