The Great Apartment Hunt Begins (and I self medicate with Susie Cakes)
June 22, 2011 at 4:33 am 4 comments
Its official: I can no longer live life on the opposite side of the 405 from Susie Cakes.
While there are parts of my current apartment I love (huge studio loft with tons of light) there are aspects of it that I just can’t deal with anymore (excess of undergrads in my building, small kitchen, proximity to school). Thus I made the decision to move. My lease isn’t up until August 1st but I would love to move before then. I also want to move now because, this time next year I will be buried in bar studying and definitely won’t have time to move.
Saturday kicked off the grand hunt. Truth? Apartment hunting totally stresses me out! Its fun in theory but waiting for applications to be accepted, looking at place after place and trying to find an apartment that will accommodate this critter…
just stresses me out.
So in an effort to make this more bearable, let’s play a little game called Apartment Hunter! Yes, I love House Hunters. I watched a TON of House Hunters with my Mom whenever I’m home and I not so secretly would love to be on the show. With no further adieu…
Here is my Must List:
- 1 bedroom
- Allows my cat
- Bigger kitchen than I have now (a full size oven would be nice)
- Quiet neighborhood, quiet apartment
- Decent light
- Parking
- Refrigerator (not always included in apartments in LA)
- Walking distance to Tavern (I’m totally not kidding. How else would I pick a neighborhood?)
And my Want List:
- Hardwood floors
- Dishwasher
- Air conditioning
- Bath tub
- Outdoor space
- Community space
- Laundry onsite
Truthfully, I totally don’t expect to get everything on my want list. If I were able to get two of them or even none of them, that would be fine with me if it’s the right place.
Last Saturday I looked at three apartments.
Apartment 1 – Above my budget, no fridge.
Pros: good size, hardwood floors, quiet building with lots of community space, parking and allows cats
Cons: above my budget, no fridge
Apartment 2 – Quiet location, great kitchen
Pros: quiet, secure building with parking, a nice kitchen, plenty of space and some community space. Dishwasher (!)
Cons: No a/c
Apartment 3 – Lots of light but on a busy street
Pros: allows pets, lots of light, friendly manager, parking, beautiful pool, nice size in the apartment
Cons: small kitchen, bedroom window looks out on loud and busy street
In the end I put an application in for Apartment 2 and am just waiting to hear back so cross yo fingers! If it’s not accepted this week get ready for Apartment Hunters Round 2 starting this weekend.
All of this back and forth is crazy stressful for me so I walked to Susie Cakes after looking for apartment and bought myself a little reward. June is strawberry month at Susie Cakes so I got the seasonal cupcake: Strawberry with White Chocolate!
Oh yes, apartment hunting was worth it to enjoy this cupcake. This was slightly different than other Susie Cakes cup cakes. The cake was white and the center was strawberry and crème! The frosting was white chocolate. It was soggy, in a good way, and completely melted in my mouth. Definitely worth trying if you like cup cakes, Susie Cakes, or strawberries. Cup cakes like this should be mandatory for apartment hunters!
What are your apartment must haves?
Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: apartment hunting, apartments, Brentwood, cup cakes, house hunters, Los Angeles, strawberries, susie cakes.
1.
Danielle | June 22, 2011 at 6:20 am
Keep in mind that you can get a perfectly good refrigerator from Craigslist for perfectly cheap, and they will often deliver for like $50. (People who buy a fridge for their place and then later move out of LA or into a place that already has one have to get rid of their fridges somewhere!) And don’t underestimate how big of a hassle it is to not have laundry in-building (or a non-shady laundromat close by).
2.
Maura | June 23, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Parking Parking Parking! I live in Santa Monica, after all. That and a secure building, based on the fact that I live alone and am a severe scardey cat.
3.
leftcoastcontessa | June 24, 2011 at 4:46 am
100% agree on parking and secure building. Living alone, I freak myself out all the time thinking someone is going to break in. As for parking, I have a friend who street parked and went out of town for 1 week. She had to pay someone to move her car for her to avoid tickets. That was when I knew I could never live without parking. Way too much of a hassle.
btw- following you on twitter was the highlight of my day today. One of your posts made me literally spit water onto my work computer (it was the one about the guy who was into Vons).
4. 2011: A Retrospective « Left Coast Contessa | December 31, 2011 at 6:46 pm
[...] 2011 I moved to a new apartment closer to Susie Cakes! I love my new apartment. I need to put the finishing touches on it still but [...]