The Saga of Finding Housing

Posted by Ashley

My roommates and I found what we thought was the perfect place to live next year (see this post on Feb. 9). We waited and waited and waited to hear if we got the contract. We finally had to contact the management again, and they said to wait another week. When we called back the following week, they informed us they wouldn't take us because they only wanted tenants who would sign full-year contracts or spring and summer contracts at that time.

Why didn't they tell us that before? They said they'd hold our applications until the end of summer. Uh, HELLO! We would like to find a place to live—we can't wait that long.

So my roommates and I got up early on Saturday and went and stood in line at 7 a.m. in hopes of getting an apartment at the complex that was our back-up plan (a place we weren't too excited about, but we need a place to live). As we moved closer to the front of the line, the manager informed us that there were only two completely empty apartments left—and we were the third group in line. The complex assigned six to an apartment, and the group in front of us only had three people. If there was a half-full apartment available, the group in front of us could take it, leaving us with the last empty apartment—and allowing the six of us to live together.

The manager went to check, but came back with bad news. There weren't any apartments with three contracts still available, so the group in front of us would take half of the last empty apartment.

We were bummed, but we decided to continue waiting in line. We're lucky we did, because the manager was wrong: he came out later and told us there was one apartment that still needed three people, so the group in front of us could take those spots. After waiting for five hours, we got the LAST full apartment.

What a day! We decided to go to Brick Oven to celebrate (it was my first time there). While we were eating, Cosmo showed up and we got a picture with him. It was a great Saturday.