Friday, June 16, 2006

So, I'm not the only one who faced these problems!

The vacancy rate for apartments is 2.3 percent. That's down from 3.1 percent two years ago and among the lowest rates since World War II...

I had no idea I was asking for the impossible as I searched for a place to live!

During the first weeks of her internship, Kinlaw refreshed her Internet browser every 20 minutes, checking the "sublets / temporary" section of Craigslist.org, a Web site for free classified advertisements. If any new listings cropped up, she pounced on them, firing off an e-mail... She responded to as many as 14 ads in one day. If someone e-mails back and agrees to arrange a visit --something that happens about 10 percent of the time -- the rooms rarely match their online descriptions, Kinlaw said. More often than not, " 'furnished' means air mattress," she said, and "close to Dupont Circle" could mean a 20-minute walk and a steep hill away.

Sounds familiar... I could add many more horror stories to that one... like the spacious studio apartment that was smaller than my dorm room in college and had no closets...or the basement apartment that required my walking through the kitchen, dining room and living room of the main floor to access the apartment (there were 3 guys living on the main floor)... or my favorite: the kitchenette that consisted of a sink and a single burner, plugged into a wall outlet!

I am more thankful than ever for my little apartment!

No comments: