We're Moving!

After a month of chasing down craigslist ads and scouring sites like Trulia, along with tons of neighborhood drive-throughs, we have found a rental house!  Renting a house in Austin is tricky.  The housing market didn't suffer here as much as Florida, and the rental market is brutally competitive.  The city has a 97% occupancy rate--this means only 3% of the available housing in the city limits is open for rent.

We wanted to stay on budget with what we're spending now, since we still have the same financial burdens and didn't want to cinch our budget too tight.  We wanted no carpeting, and at least 900 sq ft with basic amenities (no window ac units etc).  My husband and I had two or three main neighborhoods in central Austin we liked, so we looked and looked and looked.  Houses would go up on Trulia or Craigslist and be gone in a flash, or they didn't allow pets, or it was only a 10 month lease, or they wanted you to move in TODAY, not at the end of the month or next month.  Our lease here isn't up until June 23, so we expected to cover double rent for the month in order to secure a place we liked.

I run with two mom's at 6:30am twice a week, and one of the mom's mentioned that her and her husband bought a house and were moving out of their rental home. She raved about the landlords' good qualities and the quaintness of the house.  Turns our she's moving out June 10th, so she put us in touch with the landlord and were were able to secure the house for rent before the guy even put the "for rent" sign up! No one to compete against, no pressure to lease a month ahead.  The landlord was super friendly and chill and is letting us move in anytime after June 10th that we want.  He didn't even charge a full months' rent as deposit, which is nice.

Not having to cover double rent for the entire month helps out a ton!  It allows us to hire movers for the big furniture, and buy some new furniture to fill the additional sq footage!

So about the house....
It's 1200 sq ft (we live in 968 now)
Has a one car detached garage with built in shelving and cupboards
fenced backyard (yeah for our dog buddy!)
all hardwood floors and tile! (Yeah no carpeting!)
attic converted for storgage (can you say no more clutter!?)
3 bedrooms (yeah for having a separate office again!)
1.5 baths (not ideal, but i'm not complaining!)
washer dryer hookups in a HUGE laundry room!
big bright open kitchen with a vintage feel with eat-in area
dining room (yes! we can finally have friends over for dinner!)
TONS of closet space for a 50s house
Cute brick fire pit in the backyard
adorable front porch are with built-in flower boxes

the list goes on.....

I am beyond excited to have a home again--one with a driveway, and storage, and an eating area!  Mimi is really excited to have a new room (even though her room now is pretty swank) and we are excited to leave apt life!  About the only thing I'll miss is the amazing pool here!

Wish us luck! I'll share photos when we move in!

ttyl!