62. March 24th, 2011 Picture.

On March 24th our exciting news became official.  We had been nervous to share the news until the names were signed on the dotted line, it seemed almost too good to be true, but Ratty and I signed a lease for a fabulous apartment in the South End.  Yes, we're moving in together.  SURPRISE!


We'd talked about it around Christmas, pushing a potential move in date to May 1st at the earliest, due to foul weather, weddings and lack of funds.  Moving is expensive!  First months rent, last months rent, security deposits, fees - I practically drained my savings account to lock down our apartment, with much anxiety.  I know I'll be able to put it back, when I'm not paying rent for 2 months, but that fact doesn't make it an easier pill to swallow.  


I had been working with a realtor in Boston for a few months, well, I'd been working with LOTS of realtors in Boston, but one in particular really took care of us.  He emailed me every time an apartment popped up in our price range and kept in touch even when there wasn't anything on the market.  The South End is absolutely ridiculous, more expensive than a lot of other neighborhoods in Boston, which meant that keeping within our price range was going to be slightly difficult.  There is a lot of demand for great, semi-affordable apartments, but not a lot of supply, which means that you have to work FAST when you see something you like.  There had been times that Ratty and I had been on our way to see an apartment when we'd get a call that the apartment had been rented not even 30 minutes before.  The whole process was seriously stressful.


I just happened to get a call from Maxwell, the great realtor, on the Monday after the St. Paddy's day party, a day that I just happened to have off, and he told me he had the perfect apartment for us.  I quickly called Ratty and made plans to meet at 4:30pm, right after he got out of work to go and see the place.  The realtor quickly called me back and said that he didn't think the apartment would still be available at 4:30pm, and that if we were serious, we had to go see it immediately.  Ratty couldn't leave work and said he trusted me to make the decision, since we'd talked at length about what we wanted in a place, so I threw on some clothes and headed over to meet Maxwell.  Well actually I had to go to Cambridge to get my checkbook [to throw down a deposit with my application], and then race to the South End.  I did it in 20 minutes and I didn't die - SUCCESS!


What happened next was a whirlwind.  I ran through the apartment, absolutely loving it, saying I'd take in and flying over to the real estate office to submit my application and do a credit check.  After that I ran back to the apartment's management office to drop off all my information, wrote a check and BOOM!  That was it!  It was absolutely insane and it was all done before Ratty even got out of work.  While I was sitting in the real estate office, multiple realtors had to call clients and say that the apartment they wanted [the one we got] had just gotten scooped up.  You honestly cannot move fast enough when finding an apartment, we're so lucky that I just happened to have the day off!


We signed a lease for July 1st, for a fantastic apartment in the SoWa area of the South End.  It's near coffee shops and right above galleries and design shops, walking distance to our favorite restaurants and brunch places.  Located in a renovated brick factory it has exposed beams and brick walls, with stainless steal appliances and granite counters.  We're on the 3rd floor of the elevator building, where you can't access the floors without a swipe card, so it feels beyond extremely safe.  This will help when I'm trying to sleep after watching too many episodes of 'Criminal Minds'.  We are both really excited and I've already begun decorating the place in my head.  If you feel the need to buy us something, just make sure it's yellow.  I'll return it otherwise, KIDDING!  But not really, kinda, I really like yellow.


After signing our life away, and writing a check for almost 6k [eeek!], Ratty and I headed to the Elephant & Castle for some celebratory drinks!  Cheers!

Yay roommates!