201 21st Street
I am considering making a deposit on an apartment I’ve never seen the inside of. Is that completely loony?
Earlier this year, I had occasion to swing through Norfolk when Sean and I visited Danielle in Dahlgren. OK, since Norfolk is quite a bit south of Dahlgren, maybe “swing through” isn’t quite the right phrase. We did, after all, intrude on John, Ruth, and Theo, but, other than that, the main purpose was to scout apartments in Ghent.
201 Twenty One took me by surprise. It’s new construction located on 21st St. The building used to be a Sears department store. Then it was a grocery store, if I remember correctly. Now it’s apartments. And quite nice apartments if you can believe the propaganda promotional materials.
But I’m kind of a sucker for promotional materials when I really want something, and I really want an apartment in Ghent.
And I want it now. I don’t want to wait until November or December or, God help us, January or February. I want it now, and I want it locked in so I can stop thinking about it.
As if fate has rested her heavy hand on my back, 201 Twenty One is delivering addresses by floor and the final stage will be completed in February. And if I sign a lease now, the first month is comped.
It’s fate!
While I have to vouch for living in the heart of the action (walking to work for me and one block to a direct bus for my wife is awesome – plus everyone always wants to meet at your house), I’m always leery of complexes run by big management companies. While they’re typically newer, there’s the inevitable mystery rent increase at the end of the lease. This generally has no correlation to the state of the market – I think it’s just trying to find the most pain you’ll endure before you’ll actually rent the U-Haul and move. With smaller landlords laziness rules, and the initial price is usually the price you pay until you leave because they don’t want to be bothered finding a new tenant.
Before we were married my wife and I both had apartments in similar complexes. After both of us got a particularly heinous increase, we both decided we were done with the big complexes for good. Since then we’ve scoured neighborhoods and found one-off apartments and small complexes in areas where we want to live – and been a lot happier. The units tend to be funkier, and don’t have the flashy amenities, but they aren’t cookie cutter either. You can definitely score some deals on a cool spot if you’re willing to look – my wife had a converted garage studio w/loft that had its own fenced yard – for $650. Our current townhouse is a claustrophobic 650 sq.ft., but it’s got mountain views and a two car garage (and it’s a block from the local brewpub). All for less than $1000/month including cable!
That’s only about 5 blocks from our favorite Starbucks. I would do it just based on that!