A Nice Place to Live
I, my associate Mr. Mike (of 30 Minutes…), and fellow associate Rob have been looking for a place to live after this semester ends. It’s been a tricky job: we need to find a place that fits our modest budget[1], that’s reasonably close to campus, or at least effective transportation to campus, and in an area where we won’t become part of the rising number of murders in Philadelphia. This has been more of a problem than one might think. The three of us are barely employed, and attempts to find housing through legitimate and semi-legitimate sources[2] have left us with a number of failed leads, and a lot of frustration, compounded by conflicting work schedules leaving parts of us unable to gather to see places as a trio.
We have managed to get appointments to see two locations, both in North Philadelphia. The first, a tiny, tiny, tiny 3 bedroom rowhouse near LaSalle University for $900 was snatched from beneath us before we could even fill out paperwork. Between that, and the next, we attempted to schedule appointments, had one realtor pull out on showing us a house, another simply hang up when I mentioned we were Temple students, and several not even bother to return calls. Friday, though, we seem to have found a place.
For the appointment, I was joined by Mr. Mike, and we traveled not too far from campus in a passable neighborhood occupied by mostly elderly black people. The place was a four bedroom apartment converted from the top two floors of a three story rowhouse, almost finished being renovated. It had new windows, fresh paint, a new kitchen, and – best of all – cost $850 a month. Plus, it was two minutes, by foot from a new PathMark supermarket[3], a short walk from a new laundromat and shopping center, and stupidly close to public transit options like the R8 Regional Rail and the Broad St. Subway.
I did some breakdowns of the rent. There are two larger bedrooms, and two smaller bedrooms. If we divide rent according to room size, and our potential fourth flakes out, that splits the rent into two people paying $300 for the larger rooms, and $250 for the smaller room[4]. If the fourth joins in, then we’re talking $225 for the large rooms, and $200 for the smaller rooms. Either way, with our current job-status, we shouldn’t have any problem affording rent.
Of course, this is all pending a credit check, and some other formalities, but the deposit (two month’s rent, or $1700) is available when needed. We still need to hear from our fourth, but whether he’s in or out, we could easily afford living there, and it’ll be ready to move in by the time Mr. Mike and I are forced to flee from our dormitories. I’m hoping it works out.
