Searching for a unicorn

It’s been no small secret that Eric and I have wanted to move out of our love shack. We moved in October 2010, about six months after we got married, because we knew Eric would be entering the fire academy full-time, leaving us with one income and a whole lotta bills.

By living in the shack (it’s actually a guesthouse in someone’s backyard), we were able to cut our rent and utilities from about 33% of our monthly income to only 22% of our monthly income. Obviously, for the area we live in, this was a very, very sweet deal.  Free internet, free cable, all utilities included…

This also meant we had no dishwasher. The bathroom was the size of a porta potty. We had no washer, dryer, so we had to go to the laundromat (or our parents’ house). There was no storage, so you may find kitchen supplies in the bathroom, and bathroom supplies in the hutch, and our “entertainment center” doubled as our underwear drawer. The place is so small, we had to get rid of our dining table so we could have more room.

There are conference rooms at work that are bigger than our shack.

But we dealt with it because we knew we had to.

Now that Eric has started working again though, we decided to be open to the possibility of moving. Our lease is month-to-month, so no worries there. But we don’t want to keep moving ALL the time (In the past 3 years, I’ve moved 3 times). So this next place we find, we really want to make it our own until we can afford to buy our own place.

Requirements for a new home:

• Must allow dogs
• Must have a dishwasher
• Must have ample storage space

Would like to have:

• Garage
• Small yard for gardening and Bentley
• Washer/Dryer in the unit
• Large master bedroom
• Walk-in Closet
• Dual sinks
• Either a loft or a second bedroom area
• Nice Kitchen
• High Ceilings

Prefer NOT to have:

• giant apartment complex

So we started browsing on Craigslist, because where else do you look for places to live? We tried some realtors websites but to no avail. It’s not like we had any intention of moving anytime soon, but if we found a place that fit our description, we’d want to take a look at it, right?

So I entered my search criteria into Craigslist: townhome, 1-2 bedroom, must allow dogs, and set our absolute MAX price range.

And I swear, the only things that popped up were townhome-style apartments. No, thank you. We tried condos too, but nothing struck our fancy.

Everything that looked halfway decent was WAY out of our price range. And it’s not like we were lowballing either, but we simply can’t afford $2300 a month in rent right now for a two-bedroom townhome.

I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. We had practically given up on finding our unicorn of a home…and then, the unicorn appeared.

We’re moving!

We found a two-bedroom, 2.5 bath townhome with a very small yard (but enough for Bentley and gardening!), a one-car garage and a carport, high ceilings in the living room and master bedroom, a huge walk-in closet, an updated kitchen with black granite countertops, a built-in microwave AND a dishwasher (yes, yes, yes!), a laundry room with a washer and dryer, a separate dining room, a second bedroom, tons of storage space and it’s only a 10-minute drive from my job! AND THEY ALLOW DOGS!

The only downsides are a) there is no dual sink in the master but the two upstairs bathrooms are connected so it’s kinda like dual sinks and b) none of the bathrooms have been updated, so they look kinda old school with their 70’s style formica.

And yet, we could not be happier! We are so, so excited to move into our new place in THREE weeks! eeeeeee!!! Everybody do the happy dance!

I’m gonna ride that unicorn into the sunset!