I
once moved to Binghamton, New York. I wouldn’t’ recommend you do the same. For
about the five months I spent living there, there were many instances where I
found myself anticipating the next way our landlord would screw us over. Though
I hated it at the time, I’ve learned to look back at this period with fondness.
I mean, I learned some neat things like how roaches aren’t really anything to
worry about and how easy it is to live with them. In line with bug issues, my
roommates and I experienced mild forms of delusional
parisitosis. I also embraced the idea that it’s not entirely crazy to
prefer working over spending leisure time at home.
Theoretically,
this was supposed to be time for me to take a break from school and relax, try
to find myself, and make some life decisions. Being a first time tenant, I had
no idea what to look for or the general procedures of renting an apartment.
Someone smart would probably say do some research, maybe look at the obstacles
tenants have faced and how to protect yourself from fraudulent claims, lying
landlords, and potential problems with renting. What can I say? I’m not that
smart.
Instead
of worrying about potential problems, here were my general priorities:
1. Cheap rent
2. Be near other college
kids so there is potential to socialize
3. Get money, make lady
friends
And
that’s how I ended up living in a Main Street slum. It’s also how I met
Natalie.
We
had already toured two other apartments before finding our future home that day.
The first one, my roommates and I were told, had been broken into by the
neighbor kids and trashed. The windows had been left open and the whole place
smelled like mildew and urine. Had the kids been peeing in this place?
Hopefully it was just the animals. Add to that the fact that, as we pulled in,
a toddler was rolling down the hill on a Big Wheel in his diaper with his older
sister running behind, yelling at him, “Get back here you little shit.”
After
the tour was over we thanked our guide politely and said we’d have to get back
to her in the next couple days and, “Let her know.” Needless to say it didn’t
take long to reach a group consensus—we were going to avoid waking up to rabid
children roaming and pissing in our apartment throughout the night.
Any
place, compared to the first apartment, would’ve been an improvement but the
second apartment we toured that day turned out to meet all of our demands. And
it didn’t hurt that the guide was an attractive young female student.
“Do
any college kids live around here?” we asked, making sure to keep our
priorities straight.
“Oh
yeah, I actually live right around the corner from here. Most of my friends are
close by too.”
Check
and check, one last concern. “How much is rent?”
“$2,400
a month.”
Damnit.
An
hour or so before our long drive home we received a reply to an inquiry we made
on Craig’s list earlier that day. It was the tenant of that apartment and he
said we could tour the apartment since he was moving out within the next couple
weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment