Category: Glimpses of Life

The sign at the apartment complex says “Ultra Luxury Living.”
Then a quote comes to mind “if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.”

Living in an apartment for 4 1/2 months has been interesting.  The customer service was good — to start.  The apartment complex made it easy for us because they were able to take care of the rental of our furniture and other supplies.  We looked at the rental packages in the book, confirmed what we wanted and signed the lease (which included the cost of the rental furniture).

The first day I arrived at the apartment, the rental furniture was already set up except we didn’t have a king size bed nor did we have the extra sleeper sofa.  We called and the sleeper sofa was delivered within 2 days.  We didn’t bother to change out the size of the bed. After all, we were only going to be here for a month or two at most.

Since we arrived here:

— the washer broke down twice and finally had to be replaced

— the dryer shrinks our clothes

— the garbage disposal backed up. Someone was sent out right away.  Not sure he knew what he was doing as water spewed throughout the kitchen floor.  “Oh sure” I said.  “You can use my clean towels to wipe up the mess.”

And now I get a message on my cell phone “This is management headquarters for The Classic.  A month ago you received a letter regarding your rental and we have yet to hear from you.”

A wrong assumption as no letter has been received.  I called and left 3 different messages before “management” called me back.

The woman starts by saying “You got a letter and you owe us $1100 to make your account current.”  Uh, why don’t we start at the beginning I say.

Come to find out, the furniture rental company has charged the complex two delivery charges.  One for the first delivery of our furniture rental and another charge for the second (even though it was their mistake to not have delivered it with the first shipment).

In addition, we are (supposedly)  being undercharged monthly for the rental by approximately $80.

What an interesting scenario.  I do enjoy solving other people’s puzzles.

Me:  Do you have a copy of our lease?

She: No

Me:  Well, if you look at our lease it doesn’t show we owe the amount you’re stating.  We have paid our monthly charges in full every month.”

Her: Well, it’s more and we shouldn’t have to pay for it.  And you didn’t pay for the two delivery charges.

Me:  No delivery charges were quoted to us and the amount on the lease is what we have been paying.

Her: You received notice a month ago.

Me: Did you send a certified letter?

Her: No the caretaker was supposed to drop it off.

Me: Well she didn’t.

Her: We’ll have to come and remove some of the items.

Me: (in a higher pitched voice now):  I DON’T think so.  You need to check the lease and abide by the terms of the lease that you signed with me.

And off she went.  Haven’t heard another peep from her.

Our lease expires the end of April and we will be moved by then so it will be a mute issue.

Apartment living does not seem to agree with me.  I guess I could never get used to ultra luxury.

We tried to stay away from the larger towns in Minnesota in searching for a house.  But, since we hadn’t had much luck in finding exactly what we were looking for, we decided to attend some open houses.

We weren’t surprised at what we saw in St. Paul.  We didn’t go into the larger mansion-type houses but instead focused on the small “remodeled” ones.

Small closets built under the eaves, radiator heaters, and cramped backyards.

This neighborhood had similar type houses as we walked back to our car.

And interesting colored walls and niches.

Didn’t find a house in St. Paul.  At least not in this neighborhood.

Listening to CNN, they discussed a website that had the locations of the nuclear plants.  All one needs is their zip code to see how close they are to one.

I found it quite interesting.

Nuclear Plant Locations

This is another house we looked at this past Sunday when we went viewing houses that were open to the public.  It’s in Woodbury, Minnesota and is in a development with houses that are almost cookie-cutter.

The back of the house overlooks a pond.

And, unfortunately, a bunch of townhouses.

We signed the offer paperwork this afternoon for the Lino Lakes House.  It should already be in the seller’s agents hand.

We were told that there are two other house offers that may be coming in.

Just our luck.  We are not in the type of market that should have multiple offers on houses.  We’ll see what happens now.  Hopefully we’ll have an acceptance or rejection by Monday so we can plan our next step.

Since we haven’t been having much luck with the offers we’re making on houses, we have a backup house in case the Lino Lakes offer is not accepted.

The backup house is in Lake Elmo.  This house is a little closer to my husband’s work by about 15 minutes.  It also has lake access although it is not lake front.  The reason we chose the Lino Lake house instead of this one is because the other one needs very little updating and this one needs a lot more updating with the exception of the kitchen.

Tomorrow we’ll be putting in an offer on a house in Lino Lakes since our counteroffer on the Hudson, Wisconsin house was rejected.

The Lino Lakes house is on an acre of land and has a wetland/marsh in the backyard.  It has a beautiful deck where one can sit and watch the birds and it has an enclosed sun porch.

The kitchen has recently been remodeled along with the master bathroom.  Unfortunately, this house does not have a bedroom on the main floor although it has both a living and family room on the main level.

This house also has access to the nearby lake.  Canoeing anyone?

Another house we went to visit this past Sunday was in St. Paul, Minnesota. The house sits right across the street from the Mississippi River.

This is an older house.  The kitchen was slightly re-done but they would have had to remodel all of the kitchen in order to replace the smaller and older ovens as there is really not much room.

Wood paneling, similar to the one that we took out of our Seattle house, is rampant throughout this one.  Ugh!  There is a built-in 70’s type bar that pulls out in this built-in cabinet.

This is the 2nd house I’ve seen that has a very pink bathroom.  Notice the detail on the tile next to the sink.

And, lastly, a laundry chute (much smaller than the one in Seattle) and push buttons to turn on the lights.

This house is too dated for our taste.  It also sits on a very busy street.