the evil upstairs neighbour from hell is moving! hurrah!
how do i know this, you ask? well, just to toot my own intuitive horn, i've had my suspicion for a couple of weeks. i don't know if it was all the bumping and thumping or what seemed like an extraordinary amount of boxes in the back of her boyfriends civic, but i definitely had an inkling she was on the move. finding out for certain occured last night, though.
after arriving home yesterday, two and a quarter hours after leaving work thanks to an overturned semi on the bridge and the resultant traffic nightmare, i found a message from my landlady on my voicemail which went something like:
"hi, this is linda the landlady. i just wanted to let you know that evil upstairs neighbour from hell is leaving. you have 375 square feet and her suite is 450. if you wanted to upgrade, please let me know. it'd be available march first."
honestly, once i heard the "is leaving" bit, i almost tuned out i was so happy. then something else caught my attention...
"oh, and the rent is $700 a month."
um. she's got to be kidding! $110 for 75 more square feet? and that doesn't even include heat! i realize that this a prime opportunity for them to increase the rent seeing as they're constrained to 3% annual increases by law and that makes what evil upstairs neighbour from hell is paying about $60 less than this new asking price, but really. they've got to be smoking crack. $700 for a bachelor suite? yeah, it's a great building. yeah, it's a great location. no, it's not worth it, especially considering how much it costs to heat these places in the winter.
if i'm going to pay another $110 per month, i better damn well have a bedroom and free fucking heat, thankyouverymuch.
so, i'm going to phone her back later today and say something like:
"thanks for thinking of me. i'd have been interested for $650."
you should say that. in my experience, sometimes they'll come down a bit to have a tenant they know is good. though I guess if you really don't want the place then say whatever the heck crosses your mind.
heh. yeah, i hope she doesn't think i'm actually making an offer because if it ain't got a bedroom, i don't want it.
Well, from a purely legal standpoint what you want to say is "I might have considered the offer for $650" - that leaves you an out. You are simply stating that a consideration would be made for the right price.
Stating "I would have been interested for $650" is more of a commitment - in short, "heck yeah! fork it over $650!"
The other one leaves you more room to wiggle it.
imho... even payin 650 for a bachelor suite is gettin screwed.
why are ya havin such a hard time findin a place? are you only looking at apartments?
yeup. even basements hereabouts are $650-700 and then you have to deal with living in someone else's home. that kind of disquiets me.
yeah true enough. tho in my case I really cant bitch because I neither see nor hear anyone else livin in this place. though come summer I'll bet it'll get a bit more lively here, what with the pool in the backyard. gee, darn eh. ;) I'm puttin the motorbike back on the road soon. Want some help scopin places out over there? I'd like an excuse to cruise around the city with a destination(s) / purpose.
mmm, motorbike.