My wife and I have embarked on a new journey. As we wait for our house to sell in Arizona, with the fear of destroying our down payment for a house in temporary housing, we have punted and signed a lease on an apartment. Fortunately, we found a place that was happy to have us with our greyhounds. Yay.
This series of posts will chronicle our time here, and the fun that it will surely entail.
Part 1 – Introduction
We are renting a 2 story “townhouse” apartment in the Blossom Hill Apartments. Located on Lean Avenue in San Jose, near the Hayes Mansion, it is a 40 year old complex. Fortunately they cleaned, painted, and replaced the carpet (I get the idea that the tenants before us were here a LONG time). It is probably 1100 sqft, maybe a little more. Sadly, that is pretty close to the size house we can expect to afford.
The place is fine, and it is pretty conveniently located. My commute to the office is about 25 minutes in at 7:00AM, and about 40 minutes home at the end of the day. Not too bad.
The complex is moderate density. All buildings are 2 story with a mix of 3 bedroom larger units and 2 bedroom single floor units. We are glad to have the 3 bedrooms, as that means Barbara and I will both get an office. We got an upgraded unit in that it has both a microwave and a dishwasher. Woo hoo.
Fortunately, this place is great for the dogs. Lots of open grass to do their business on, and plenty of paths/places to walk.
We do have a small patio, but it is piled with empty boxes. That will be a weekend project. I am looking forward to grilling again.
We still have to get the dogs used to the stairs. Garrett has a major case of the “nopes” and Tate is a bit clumsy when I lead him up or down. I am sure that they will get the hang of it, and want to spend time with us.
The unfortunate thing is that our master bedroom faces Lean avenue, and west. There is a fair amount of traffic until midnight or so. That will take some getting used to. And in the late afternoon, the sun beating on the back of the house does make it brutal. Fortunately, once the sun sets, it cools down quickly, and we do have a small wall unit AC downstairs, so that takes the edge off. (in Chandler, we had two giant AC units to just keep it mid 70’s during the day in summer…)
Future episodes I will talk about the neighborhood, the parking situation, and the common trash removal.
All fun!
