Anxieties and the Inevitable Move

I’ve been making concrete efforts to secure a new place to live. This was harder than one would expect for me because as it turns out, I’ve never really had to look for a place to live. My first apartment was within walking distance of my college, and that’s how I picked it. No looking, no random tours, just said, “that’s good,” and lived there. My second living arrangement was in a dorm on campus. My next apartment was another drive by, “that looks nice,” and I commited. My next apartment was found in a classified ad in an actual newspaper. Who does that anymore? After that I moved from place to place IN with someone that already had an apartment or townhome or house before I got there. I didn’t have to make a lick of a decision. So yes, I’ve never had to go through the trouble of finding my own place with more than just a drive by.

I’ve found this whole thing to be very stressful and my anxieties have begun to pile up. The worst of it is the unknown part. We have until the end of the year, which is very gracious of our landlord, but I’m left with this feeling of I should be doing *something* and *now* but what? I don’t know where we’re moving, I don’t know when we’re moving, I don’t know how much space we’re going to have available, I don’t know how much stuff we have to get rid of, I don’t know the layout of the new space we’ll have... I have nothing but worries about all of this and no place to put them. It’s been quite a taxing couple of weeks. We’ve done some sifting through our third bedroom, which we use for storage, a bit and that was calming in a way. We took three very large boxes of things to be donated out and threw away two trash bags worth of things as well. We haven’t done anything since then though and that’s really throwing me for a loop. I needed a different answer, and soon.

Miayah’s sister recently moved back into the Austin area. She was living in another state and due to some life changes, came back to be closer to family. Miayah let me know that her sister used an apartment realtor service, where they do the searching for you, and recommended Maddy, the representative, to me. As you can see from my first paragraph, I’d never used one before and didn’t know how they worked. Turns out it’s free! And they do the footwork! How refreshing. This would take one bit of stress off my plate because let me tell you, googling for apartments is a fresh kind of hell. Not all apartments advertise online. Not all apartments list their cost on their websites. Townhomes and homes for rent are hit or miss online and may not appear in any searches at all. Pictures are missing or unhelpful, tours can’t happen, move-in dates are rare, and you just don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Getting the realtor was the best idea by far that I could have asked for.

I spoke with Maddy about our hopes, dreams, and budget for a short while to help her get a good picture of what we’re looking for in our new home. I was worried that our budget would be a big hindrance to what we’d end up with, but after our phone conversation she came back with a LOT of choices that fit right in. There were quite a few 2 bedroom 2 bath apartments available in our range and in the area of town we were wishing for. The cherry on the top was that she found a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath townhome in our budget and within a reasonable commuting distance to my work. I was shocked! A 3 bedroom was a dream that I didn’t have a lot of hope for. Miayah works from home and a third bedroom that would operate as an office for her was something we’d really wanted and now we could have it! With the townhome we’d even have a lot more space than most of the apartments. We’d be losing the garage and about 200 square feet of space and that’s it. 

It’s no guarantee that we’ll be getting this townhome but we’re putting in our application today to find out if we can qualify. Cross your fingers for us! If we secure this location, my anxieties will decrease 10 fold. I’ll know where we’re going, when we’re going, how much space we’ll have, and I’ll have a much better idea of how much stuff I need to get rid of. I can make a schedule for myself where I can plan out what days I need to devote to going through our belongings. I can plan for savings in a better manner. I can feel more secure and know that we won’t end up in a strange inbetween where we have no place to live at all. This is very exciting and very important for me.

I know that this move will ultimately end up being good for us. We’re getting away from a stressful living arrangement and taking up residence in a more neutral environment. I’m really excited about that. We’ll sign a long term lease agreement so we won’t have to worry about rent increases or moving for a while. We’ll have a place where the pups can exist with a little yard and a quiet, grassy area. We’ll be situated and safe. I’m looking forward to it now that we have a plan and my anxieties can’t go quite as wild. Definitely keep us in your thoughts as we apply for this place! I’ll take any good energy we can get.