We move on Saturday, but here are some pics we took today of the new pad, or click here to see the full set of photos.
My sister and her family flew in from North Carolina on the 4th and things have pretty much been nonstop between spending time with them and getting ready for our move. We went to the playground before dinner to let the kids run off some of their energy and later that night we watched the fireworks from my parents' driveway.
We got word Tuesday afternoon that we'd been approved for the place we'd sent in rental applications for. SWEET! We met with the property manager that evening to pay our deposit and sign the paperwork, and set an appointment to meet back with him next week at the place to do a walkthrough inspection and get the keys.
Are we excited? YES.
Our new home is part of a 4-plex, but its kind of an unusual place. It's more like someone built a house, then decided to drop a three-unit 2-bedroom/2bath apartment building behind it.
We went there to see the house last Friday, also checked out the apartments behind it just for kicks, and later put the house at the top of the list after we went through all the pros and cons of every place we visited that day.
It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1 story house with a yard in front and a side porch area. The front door opens into the large living room which is open to the dining room and large kitchen. A hallway goes to the 3 bedrooms and a bathroom, while the 2nd bathroom is in the master bedroom. Behind the building is our 2-car garage.
We really liked the layout of the home, which is very open and amenable to hosting friends. The front yard is all fenced, so Carter can play out on the grass and not wander into the street. The street (with plenty of parking) is a cul-de-sac in a nicer part of town (which was important: we rejected a couple places outright based on the areas we drove into.) This is all a stark contrast to our current 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment in a not-so-great part of town with limited street parking.
Katie and I are beyond excited for this, and can't wait to get pictures up for people to see. We'll snap some photos next Wednesday when we walk through and start taking stuff down there.
The big moving day is Saturday the 18th, if anyone wants to help ;)
Heading down to the San Diego area *early* tomorrow morning to start checking out some potential apartments/condos/houses. Katie's lined up a dozen or so appointments to view places across Friday and Saturday, so it's going to be quite a full couple of days.
We're looking to upgrade! Our ideal is a 3 bedroom pad, even if it costs a few hundred more than we're paying now. We're starting to feel cramped in our 2 bedroom, and with an extra room Carter could have his own bedroom while all the office stuff and Lego could go in the other. Right now the Lego is in the living room and it's eating up a fair amount of space in there.
We are also thinking about getting rid of some furniture. Katie's had a couple sofas she got from Ikea years ago, and we may be looking to possibly sell them to someone here instead of moving them with us. Same thing for the entertainment center, though depending on the size of the new place we may find a place for it yet.
Oh, speaking of things we want in the new place, we really want washer/dryer hookups. Moving away from Mom and Dad Bradley means no more free laundry (thank you, guys!) Doing laundry in our own home would be a dream come true. Oh and a dishwasher, too. <3