Searching...
Hunting for living spaces is a lot of work. Two days of searching by Me, Grace, Alison, and Paul have produced a couple of possibilities and a couple of definite thumbs down. First the good. A nice apartment with hardwood floors in a great historic building, circa 1924. It includes a heated garage, an art deco lobby, and is within walking distance of all kinds of shops and a movie theater. Plus there is a Starbucks across the street and that fact alone makes it very attractive to me. We also checked out a couple duplexes that were ok, but the apartment has beaten them out so far. The bad was an experience with a raging racist who had us meet him several blocks away from the property solely to check us out first. He peppered Alison with questions about me and what I did for a living when she called to inquire. They were not just simple profile questions to see if we were serious. He made some odd comments about people of color during our six block walk from the coffee shop to the house. See, we had to meet far away at a Starbucks to be checked out. It was clear that if we did not appear to be the right kind of people, we would not have proceeded to the house from the coffee shop. It was just a very odd experience and frankly no matter how great the house was (not too great) I would not want this person as a landlord. Tomorrow after my 8:30 meeting, we have another appointment to see a duplex that we have already checked out on the outside. So far it looks good and is a decent size space, so it may just make it to the list of possibilities. After that Grace and I will be heading back to Michigan and it is back to work on Tuesday.
I cannot thank Alison and Paul enough for their help and lodging in this adventure. And also for helping me make my way around Pittsburgh. Alison has been great working the phones and steering me clear of areas that are farther out than I want to live or for whatever reason are not desirable. And thanks to my road trip partner, Grace, for helping in the search. All these eyes and advice in looking out for the good and the bad in housing is a great help.