drawing the line- is Harlem really too far north? part 2

So E and I went out today and looked at some places on the West side above 125th.  It was a waste of time, really. Though we didn't realize how much of a waist of time it was until later.

The first place looked nice, was on a side street near the Riverside park, was refinished and all that jazz, but I am just totally not going to take my trash to the basement. Call me lazy. But right now when I take our trash out, I'm taking it down the hall...I can hear Ranger crying for me at the door propped open enough for me to hear him. Sometimes he moves the door and comes after me. I don't want to wait til the end of the day and have E take it out- ew- dirty diapers!

So strike that one out, plus there wasn't really a great vibe on the nearby 'main' street. I guess I'm a little miss priss now, but I like clean sidewalks. If the owner of the building has to emphasize that he has no funny business, no drugs no fighting etc, you have to wonder about the area.

The next two were nearby. They were actually facing the busy street, but had a gated in court yard with limited entry keys.  The next apartment was laid out all weird- we couldn't figure out which room was the living room and which was the master bed room. Yeeeaaaahhh pass on that one. So we went to the next. Boy that one was huge. If it were just about space, we'd have snatched that sucker up. Three bedrooms, a formal dining room, a living room, and an eat in kitchen. Oh, and TWO full bathrooms! The catch? No laundry room, not even in the building.  Yeeeaaah, moving right along. 

The last one, frankly, I don't remember.  It didn't seem to have a dishwasher, and the layout made the place feel very closed in...

E and I had expected to see some newer construction- the ones we saw were all pre-war buildings, with elaborate detailing architecturally.  There had been one new construction that the broker had sent us a link to mid week, and when I first mentioned it he couldn't recall the listing. Ok. That's fine. I have a smart phone. So I pulled up the listing and he was all, "they must have rented everything out because I called every where this morning."

He gave us some application forms, with a not so subtle warning that the good ones go quickly and to get back with him as soon as we could if we wanted to make a decision.  This was followed up by an email after we'd parted.

By that point we were only a few blocks from where Ranger was born, so we knew the area and headed to lunch.  (oh- Wendy's walnut apple chicken salad is pretty good). After lunch we decided to try to find that listing I'd shown him on my phone.  The listing clearly stated the cross streets. We hopped on the bus and oh boy was that fun with managing the stroller (gotta fold those suckers up before you get on), and the bags (my bag, Ranger's bag, E's bag), and Ranger being all squirmy.

Y'all, we never found that building. So either it was a bait listing (see these lovely listings, why don't we go take a look at what's available this weekend- oh, sorry, that one's not available), or the listing's cross streets were completely in error.

Back on the bus, feeling kinda miserable that we didn't see ANYTHING we liked.

When we got home, I went to www.nakedapartments.com and did another apartment search. Wouldn't you know, there were plenty of listings in more likable neighborhoods, in our price range, and pet friendly.  I contacted two brokers and have set up meetings with one on Monday and one on Tuesday during the day.

Gah! It is so hard to find a nice rental here! The brokers seem to all be slimy!

Well, I'll report back to you as things play out. Tomorrow we will not be looking at places. We are participating in the Hudson Valley ALS walk.  Actually E and Ranger are participating. I am still benched from walking more than 20 blocks/1 mile.