For Rent

I am constantly on the lookout for someplace to live. I am not homeless, I am not desperate, but I am always looking. My last trimester of pregnancy was filled with hours, and I mean HOURS of online scavenging to find us somewhere to live in Chicago. Seriously, in my mind the words December, January, February, March of 2009 are almost synonymous with words like: gut rehab, updated kitchen, in-building laundry (pay), close to transportation, free credit check, some utilities included, and great location!. To this day these words parade across my brain like some strange song I dreamed up and can't get out of my head in the morning. It doesn't end. I've continued looking since the day we moved here.

Last May we found a beautiful new condo complete with every amenity we had dreamed of: dishwasher, washer/dryer, central air, covered parking, elevator, right beside an 'El' stop (also with an elevator--very important for mommies with strollers), I'm talking the works! The rent per month was at the top of our budget, but it worked for us, and considering we had one afternoon (and I mean ONE afternoon) to ( in person) find a place to live in a city we'd never visited before (Sterling had visited downtown as a kid, but nowhere else, and since we're not: A). Millionaires or B). Willing to live in a cramped studio last renovated in 1975 while still paying $1600/month, real estate downtown was a no-go for us), I'd say we got a superb deal for the money.

But we're itching for a change. The apartment has been great for a year, but there are little things like windows without screens that open out instead of up, and I have terrifying visions of smart Ethan climbing on a chair at 2 years old, opening the easily-opened window and...I don't even want to write the rest. Plus the hall carpets are always stained, the management is very hard to get a hold of, we're on a very busy street with a 15% visibility (thanks to the hoards of cars perpetually parked on the sides), left-hand turn out of the building which sometimes can take several minutes to make...blah, blah, blah, I sound pretty spoiled and fickle. We're just not feeling this place anymore, ok?! The biggest factor, really, is that with a rent like ours it's becoming very difficult to put any substantial amount of money into savings for a house in the future. And even though so many people in this city seem to be perfectly content to rent, rent, rent, rent, rent, rent, DIE---I'd like to BUY before I die, thank you very much.

And so I'm attracted to "For Rent" signs like a moth to a light, like a dog to a hydrant, like a pregnant lady to pickles, like a....you get the idea. Walking towards a rental sign feels frighteningly like an addiction. I tell myself, "This building isn't on a great street, it doesn't have A/C...and yet I have to get a closer look and even write the phone number down. That odd song starts ringing in my head again, the verses becoming longer: one month rent deposit, street parking available, contact Hal for info...actually, would you excuse me? I have to call someone about a rental I saw today. It's "in a great location!"