There is talk of moving in my life.
The mister and I live with a roommate in our place. It’s a tiny (no really, it’s TINY) 3 bedroom on the fifth floor of a six-story walkup tenement with no storage space. That sounds bad, I know, but it’s also rent stabilized at about $800 under market rent, on a vibrant street with shops, groceries, laundries and restaurants and it’s 2 blocks from the first stop on the train into Manhattan.
The location and price are insane.
Furthermore, even though it’s a rental, it’s not terrible looking. The floors are hardwood except in the kitchen and bath where we have off-white tile. We have 12” deep windowsills. Our kitchen and bath are tiny, but useable. All three bedrooms have doors, closets, and windows to the outdoors.
I know that sounds rudimentary but it’s a serious luxury in this town.
It’s a great apartment for living with roommates.
The thing is, I feel that the mister and myself are well past the living-with-roomates stage.
We don’t require it financially or socially, and although our roommate is a nice guy, we value our privacy.
The biggest weakness of our apartment is the bathroom.
I took over the lease on our place a couple years ago after moving in here with a former roommate. My former roommate was a dude and he lived here for three years prior my arrival, all with other dudes.
Six years of dude-level wear and neglect has added up.
Since I’ve moved in, the cleanliness level in the bathroom has skyrocketed, but it’s still a struggle. 3 people and a curious cat who wants to know what all the fuss is about inhabit the bathroom on a daily basis.
Like I said, we talk about moving into our own place. Maybe a small garden level one bedroom a little further out where we can have a backyard to build into a magical garden and room inside to park our bikes without them dominating the space.
It could happen. I’d like it to happen, but we’ll see.
We have the money, but do we really want to live further out?
We’re just starting to really get our current place in a state we can really enjoy. Do we really want to start again?
A new place probably wouldn’t be rent-stabilized, what happens when we settle in deep, plant annuals in the yard and our rent gets jacked up an additional thousand bucks a month?
There is also a very good chance we’ll be living in Australia for six months of 2010. Subletters are a cinch to find in NYC, but what if they flake? What if they destroy or steal our stuff? If we were still living with a roommate, there would be a built-in watchdog for the space and someone to secure new subletters if need be.
I must admit, we are also deliriously in love with our roommate’s cat Cooper.
I’d like to do a low-level remodel on the bathroom. Some new shelves, new paint, a new medicine cabinet. It wouldn’t be expensive, maybe around two hundred bucks. Worth it if we’re going to be here another year. Not worth it if we move in the next 6 months.
I guess we need to decide first for sure if we’re moving.
Lots to think about. Opinions welcome.
