Finding an apartment

Part of the reason that I came out to Washington this week was to look for a place to live. We're still kind of toying with the idea of finding a place to buy, but since we don't know how long we'll be staying here, the thought of being locked in for at least a few years is a little scary. So I'm pretty sure that we're going to end up renting for a couple more years until we move back to Colorado.

On Saturday, we found Place #1: the Avalon at Brandemoor. It's really close to Shawn's job, which is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it would definitely save on gas money; he could walk or ride his bike to the office if he wanted to. On the other hand, the complex is right on a busy highway. There are certain times of day when I'm assuming it would be nearly impossible to make a left turn out of this place...and Shawn's job and the Interstate are both to the left. It's a very new building, so the finishes are all very modern. The units that we're looking at would be bigger and nicer than where we live now. The place also has a great clubhouse, with pools, a hot tub, fitness center...all kinds of things. Although we may find it easy to do things on the property with others who live there, there's really nothing close by in the way of restaurants, coffee shops, or boutiques. There is a huge mall a few minutes away, but that doesn't exactly have the "small town feel" I was hoping for.

Yesterday, I literally got myself lost looking near Kirkland, and I found Place #2. It's only a couple miles from the Juanita Beach area that Shawn and I liked so much on Saturday. Lots of cute little shops, restaurants, etc nearby. Easy access to major highways. The main draw to this particular complex is the outdoor space. The apartments are on 42 acres, much of which is available to residents (which would be great for Shawn to run sprints). There is also a pool, hot tub, and club house with a sauna, fitness center, racquetball court, and tanning bed. This place is also very pet friendly, with no weight restrictions on dogs (which makes Shawn happy). However, the major drawback here is that the buildings are a little older. The units we're looking at would be a little smaller, and the finishes are definitely older.

We're still looking, of course. In fact, there's a duplex we'll hopefully look at later this week, and today I was exploring (and really liked) the town of Edmonds. We really might be running into an issue of finding too many places that we like!