Friday, July 08, 2005

if the early bird catches the worm, what happens to the bird who oversleeps? (he suffers and feels sorry for himself, that's what)

I found a great place here in Cambridge. I looked at it at 6:30 last night. The rent was on the high side, and so I wasn't sure if I should take it. Around 9:30pm, I decided that I really should take the apartment. But then, since it was owner-occupied and the owner had a small child, it seemed a little late to call, so I decided I would call in the morning. Besides, I decided it was important for me to walk by it again and also to walk from the place to Porter Square to see how far that would be.

Then I overslept. I got up and set out for the apartment. I verified that the neighborhood did seem great and that it was a reasonably short walk to Porter Square. I called. This was like 10am. The owners had received a call "not a half hour before" making a verbal committment to rent the place. (They had also listed the place with an agency, which they hadn't mentioned to me when I looked at it, and which if they had I probably would have called last night.)

A friend of mine, who is not unemotional but is the steady type you imagine would be good at the helm of a ship in a storm, said that searching for housing in the Boston/Cambridge area had once reduced him to tears. I was impressed with myself that I did not start crying. I did, however, walk around woozy in the rain for a half hour feeling like I had been punched in the stomach.

And, then, despite all my mental rules about never making a decision involving a lot of money when in the throes of panic or any other strong emotion, just went and opted for the most promising of the five other places I looked at yesterday. I am paying even more for rent than I would have been paying with the other place. The principal virtues of this place are that it is very close to where my office will be and it is roomy enough that I can move all my stuff out here rather than have to pay for a storage facility in Madison.

In truth, the great place did have a kitchen that was too large for what I needed, and there wasn't really enough closet space, and the basement area with the washer/dryer was a little skanky. So, really, I shouldn't overstate the difference here. I feel worse about the way that I lost the place I wanted and then took the place that I did than I feel like I'm getting a particularly bad deal compared to whatever else I was going to find. Although, eek, I am paying a lot of money.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Look. You WILL be making money in the future, so your fortune will not drain away. Cambridge rents ARE expensive. There is NO better place than the one you've now taken -- and it's near your office! You are investing in yourself these years. It pays off. Congratulations!!! Well done!

Anonymous said...

i agree. as someone who lives in cambridge and has experienced the craziness of the housing market too many times, if you can find something that you like, you just need to take it.

congratulations on the new place!

Ann Althouse said...

Jeremy, it's so much better to live in close to the center of things. Perhaps you overslept because in your heart you knew that and yet you couldn't directly give yourself permission to spend more money.

Anonymous said...

Is the landlord at least a pair of hot twins? That would justify the higher price.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, because I can really see Jeremy latching on to that hot twins thing. Sounds just his speed.

jeremy said...

A houseboat would be totally awesome. I'd be just like Quincy, M.E..

Regarding the twins, as Anon 3:10 may well be aware, there was indeed an episode in college where I had to quash a friend's suggestion that we avoid trying to get a better price on a sublease because our sublessors were attractive twins.

Anonymous said...

jeez, jeremy, could you be more whiny? you got an apartment after looking at 5 places. what if you hadn't seen anything you liked at all?

dorotha said...

all right, that last anonymous comment was from me. but, really, come on! you found a place, didn't you?

Ang said...

Quincy was awesome. And it had a great theme song, too. I sort of had a crush on Jack Klugman when I was a kid. Kinda like Dorotha's thing with Richard Dreyfuss.

jeremy said...

I don't remember ranting about the awesomeness of Quincy, M.E. at karaoke or any other occasion, but it is true that it was my favorite drama from that era.