A Place to Call Home

WE GOT THE APARTMENT!!! We are ecstatic. The last two days, I have been sick to my stomach from the stress of thinking about it, and now I feel like I could throw up from excitement which I didn't even know was something my body could feel!
I had planned on calling the landlord again today just to touch base, make sure he remembered who we were and tell him again how much we want the apartment. I was waiting until 2pm to call, not exactly sure why, but I felt like that was a good time. I had been nervous all day and wanting to call him sooner but telling myself I needed to wait. Finally it was 1:45pm, and I couldn't take it anymore. I was getting ready to call because I was sure he was probably getting ready to give it to someone else.
But then Victor called me and told me the landlord had just called him and said he wants to move forward with us! I just started sobbing. I don't know if I've ever been so relieved about anything before. I had been mentally preparing myself to hear that he was giving it to someone else. I'd been setting up more appointments to see other listings and looking at Craigslist constantly. Just to know that we can stop looking and know where we're going to be in two weeks and know it's a place we love and are excited about is the biggest blessing. God is so good.
Now I can tell you all more about the place since I can think about it without having an anxiety attack! It's a top floor unit in a Victorian style 4-plex in the Rockridge neighborhood in Oakland. It has hardwood floors and a fireplace and big, beautiful windows that make it so light and airy. It's 725 sq. feet so it's plenty of room for us. It has several storage closets and a big enough kitchen that we'll be able to fit all our stuff. There's a front entrance as well as a back entrance that goes straight out to the shared yard. Yes, a YARD. It's so cute. There are lights hanging in the trees and everyone has patio furniture out there. There's also a shared shed in the yard for more storage. The parking is just street parking, but I don't think we should have a problem with that. There seems to be plenty of street parking available. We'll probably have to get an Oakland parking license to be able to park in some certain areas, but that's only like $35/year.
The Rockridge neighborhood is a lot more of what we're used to than the neighborhoods in San Francisco. There are trees and landscaping everywhere, and even though houses are still pretty close together, there's just a lot more breathing room than in the city. The apartment is a block from the main downtown which has all these cute shops and restaurants and a thrift store (which I'm super excited about). It's less than a 10 minute walk to Trader Joe's and about a 15 minute walk or so from the BART station which goes right into the city. From door to door it will probably take Vic about 40 minutes to get to work, but it will be an easy commute because it's a train instead of a bus. It will be a lot more expensive to commute from the East Bay (about $7.50/day), but Victor's commute allowance from work will cover most of that, and since the apartment is on the low end of our budget ($1,825/month) it will all even out even if I'm commuting every day as well.
The landlord seems really great. Most of the landlords we've come across are super rushed and don't seem to care about the tenants or the property but just how much money they can get. This landlord knows his tenants by name and was very interested in getting to know us. He said he has a maintenance guy come by the apartment twice a week just to check on things, and he himself comes by as often as he can.
The one downside is there's no laundry, but going to a laundromat (which there are several of those close as well) is a small price to pay for a place we love so much.
We haven't signed the lease yet, so it's not technically official, but we're setting up a time to meet with the landlord on Monday to go over everything and sign it. It's also available in two weeks, which is exactly when our temporary housing expires!
Thank you all so much for your prayers. God is so good. We're so excited to be able to move into this beautiful apartment, to be able to relax and stop looking for places to live and be able to enjoy our Labor Day weekend!