So...My Old Apartment Is Listed on Craigslist

My uncle, a real estate agent, came over on Saturday and informed me that the house Kevin and I were living in is still on the market (I already knew though because I check it regularly on MLS), but that our old landlord did get an offer for the house. That offer fell through. My uncle asked me if I thought he would re-rent the upstairs apartment in the meantime. I'd checked a while ago, but not recently, so I went onto Craigslist (the method our landlord used when we found the apartment) to do some sleuthing. 

Guess what? He's got it listed. What a shocker....

$925 / 1br - 650ft² - Bright, clean, recently updated 2nd fl. apmt, Central A/C, all-inclu.

This listing is for an unfurnished, UNbasement ;) clean, bright and quiet apartment on the 2nd floor of a house. There is hardwood throughout with a separate entrance off the main hallway.

Rent includes all utilities, cable with most specialty channels, hi-speed Wi-Fi internet. Sorry no laundry facility but there is a Laundromat literally 2 minutes walking distance.
Ample street parking and permit is $14/month from the city.
This apartment is well-suited for a young professional who enjoys quiet M-F evenings but comes alive on the weekends. ***Rent for couples is $975; 1st and last months rent required upon signing.
Not suited for families.

HA!

There is so much wrong with this listing!

650ft² 

I measured the apartment while living there to make as accurate as possible a floor plan on floorplanner.com. If you include everything (stairs, closets, space taken up with counters, etc), the apartment is 504 square feet. I don't know where he came up with the extra 146 square feet...

Central A/C

The kitchen didn't have a working vent and the living room had little/no insulation on the exterior walls or floor. We had fans/heaters going about 10 months a year.

Hardwood

The kitchen is poorly installed laminate and the rest was hardwood, but was original and in desperate need of replace (re: stained with a bad shellacking job). People regularly told us they felt like they were on a boat because the floor was so crooked.  

Separate Entrance

I don't know how he's gonna get around this one... The entrance is most definitely shared.

When Kevin and I first saw this listed a couple years ago, he had it posted at $925. Then he lowered the price to $825 a few weeks later, so we went for a viewing. We knew the place was small, but we also knew that it was temporary and that we'd be able to save a bunch of money towards a down payment - and we did exactly that. (It also included laundry, but we had to walk through his unit to do it... which I admit, must've sucked for him, but we set up a schedule with him and only did laundry on Monday nights).

I know I sound like I'm ragging on my old landlord a lot, but I just don't get this guy. When I told him last year that Kevin and I bought a condo, he asked if we planned on staying until it was built and I told him we definitely would. He seemed relieved not to have to find new tenants. But then a few months later he told me he wanted to put the house up for sale, so we gave notice and left. Living in a space where you constantly have strangers walking through is not fun. He told me his intention was to sell the house and rent an apartment downtown with his friend. 

Whaaaat??...

If I owned a duplex house, and had secured tenants in one of the units, I would just get tenants for the other unit if I were planning on becoming a renter again. I never asked him, so I'll never know his reasons, but doesn't it seem weird that he's selling to become a renter?

Anyhow, long story short: He listed the house way too high (according to my uncle and all the real estate agents that came by for the open houses) so it hasn't sold yet and now he's looking to re-rent the upstairs unit again, but this time for 18% more than we paid and not including laundry anymore...

If he wanted more rent, he should've just upped the rent a bit while we were living there - that's totally reasonable and to be honest, we expected it! Because now, even if he gets the higher rent ($975), he's already lost 3 months of rent since we left (including October). So over the next 12 months, assuming best case scenario (he gets a couple in there for $975 starting Nov 1st), he'll be down $675. If he gets a single person in there who would pay $925, he’ll be down even more with $1275 in lost rent.

Date	Our Rent	New Rent (Couple)	New Rent (Single)
Aug-11	$825	-	-
Sep-11	$825	-	-
Oct-11	$825	-	-
Nov-11	$825	$975	$925
Dec-11	$825	$975	$925
Jan-12	$825	$975	$925
Feb-12	$825	$975	$925
Mar-12	$825	$975	$925
Apr-12	$825	$975	$925
May-12	$825	$975	$925
Jun-12	$825	$975	$925
Jul-12	$825	$975	$925
Aug-12	$825	$975	$925
Sep-12	$825	$975	$925
Oct-12	$825	$975	$925
TOTAL	$12,375	$11,700	$11,100

I know it’s not a huge amount, but I’ve always been taught a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush!

P.S. Feel free to laugh if you thought this because I totally did: Maybe he hated us and thought we were horrible tenants and this was all a huge ploy to get rid of me and Kevin... 

Packed Up and Shipped Out

Kevin and I lived in our apartment for 2 years and 2 months - it was the first time either of us had ever lived with a significant other, so I think it'll always be special to us.

That said, moving was tough. Apparently, I don't deal well with open houses. Our landlord was kind of a jerk about it and wasn't giving us nearly enough notice - he's supposed to give 24 hours, but we'd always get less, sometimes only 1 hour's notice. At first, I felt like I should be accommodating, then I got upset about strangers traipsing through our place, then I got bitter and stopped trying to make the place presentable (We were moving after all!).

The last week was probably the hardest because we were living with next to nothing. No couches, no TV, next to no food, no computer, no seats at all... and Riley had already been brought to my parents' house. I would get home from work a realize I couldn't watch TV, go on the computer, or even sit anywhere (except for the bed). Ergo, I spent a lot more time napping than I should have - this was my way of procrastinating with packing. Because let me tell you, even when you think you're almost done, you're not. You're not even close. You still have more to do than you realize or want to even think about!

I finally got the pictures that the realtor used for the MLS listing, so here are the before and after pictures I promised. (I realize the "after" pictures are small, but there was SO MUCH dust in the air so the pictures weren't coming out properly...I think you can click on the image to enlarge it)

 I know the bathroom shot doesn't have any "after" pictures, but it looked pretty much the same - I just took back my extra medicine cabinet and changed back the shower curtain.

I'm almost settled into my new place. Kevin and I have done some trading of furniture in the last week because he had some stuff I use regularly and I had some stuff he used.

It's Official: The House is on the Market

This is what I came home to yesterday. And a text from my landlord saying he's holding an open house this weekend. I photoshopped out some of the For Sale sign details. I hate that we have to find another place to live before we move to the condo! The whole situation really frustrates me. He asked me last year if we planned on staying on because he was wanted to know if he'd have to find new tenants and I told him we would definitely stay here until the condo was done. Think less of me all you want, but I'm feeling bitter and vengeful right now and I'm hoping this house takes months to sell. Ugh.

My Weekend Follies

Up until Sunday, I didn't do much this weekend. Kevin and I hung out at a bar with some friends on Friday, and then hung out at another bar with some other friends on Saturday (Sara and Darcy, from this post, who are soon to be travelling around Asia for 4-months!!). I did manage to finally get around to baking so I could put my cake stand to use! I made cupcakes instead of a full-on cake because I have a cupcake carrier. In theory, I could more easily bring cupcakes to work to share with my co-workers. In reality, I'm addicted to sugar and have already eaten at least 15 cupcakes. Three cupcakes lost their lives in this photo shoot alone. 

But can you blame me?? They're French vanilla with raspberry cream cheese icing! They're super pink because I used a new food colouring and mistakenly thought it was less concentrate than the kind I regularly use. 

On a less gluttonous note...well I guess this still has to do with eating... I went on something called the Edible Tree Tour with some people in my Meetup group. 

Each year Toronto’s urban forest produces millions of pounds of edible treats.  Follow our knowledgeable leaders - and your taste buds - through Toronto's urban forest and discover what appetizing delights await you.

Learn about urban harvesting with Laura Reinsborough from Not Far From The Tree, then explore the Ben Nobleman community orchard with Susan Poizner of Growing for Green.  Uncover delectable edibles in unexpected places with LEAF's Amanda Gomm, and learn how to glean what you've seen with foraging tips and tricks from Forbes Wild Foods. Forbes' jellies, syrups and tree goodies will be available for tasting and sale giving you the chance to satisfy any new-found cravings.

I'm not gonna lie - I thought there would be more eating and less talking, but it was interesting nonetheless. Gary was on the walk and asked today if I took notes. It has been well-established that I'm a horrible note-taker, and case-in-point as this is all I wrote on my iPhone's notepad:

• Conifer trees are high in vitamin C
• If the animals are eating the berries, they're edible
• Juniper is used to make gin

The hike was was over 2 hours and that's all I managed to write lol At least I got this picture of a crab apple

On another note, my dad came over on Sunday to take a truck load of our furniture back to my parents' house. The kitchen table and chairs were the biggest item to go. The kitchen looks so empty now. We have just over 2 weeks until we move out, and I'm really not looking forward to it. Moving sucks. When I was in university, all of my friends said they want to travel as much as they can and work in different countries and cities. Not me! I was always the one saying I want to get a government job and buy a house, and then work at that job until I retire and live in that same house until I die.

Definitely not gonna happen, but a girl can dream!

How was your weekend?  

Realtor Photos

My landlord's realtor came by this evening to take pictures of our apartment. I rushed home to do some quick cleaning up before he came because Kevin said he couldn't find his August metropass and tore the apartment apart this morning looking for it. I thought he was kidding - he was not. It literally looked like we'd been robbed when I came home. Like the apartment had been RANSACKED! If I hadn't been in such a rush to clean it up before the realtor arrived I would've taken a picture.

This isn't our place, but if you replace the baby toys with flyers and clothes it's pretty close to how it looked when I got home!

{via}

I had planned  to use this opportunity to take pictures of the apartment too... but then I asked the realtor if I could see his pictures (because he had a very fancy lens on his very expensive camera) and they were waaaay better than any pictures I would've taken! His lens was super wide so he could practically get the whole room in one shot. I asked him if he could send them to me - he (begrudgingly) took my email address, so I'll share those once I get them.


Also, the Realtor tried to tell me our apartment is 650 square feet - Ha! Yeeeeah RIGHT! I've measured the unit, room-by-room, wall-to-wall and it came out at 504 square feet. That's including non-usable space like where the counters are, the stairs, closets, etc. He said square footage is calculated by measuring the maximum length by the maximum width of the dwelling. Is that true? If it is, that sucks!