housing situation

It has been a real pleasure living in this apartment for the past year. Let’s list off the things I’ve had to deal with to date while living here:

1) The ghost situation
2) Having no air for 2 months, and then again for a week in September (it is hot here folks)
3) My landlord sucks
4) Threw my back out last month trying to close a window. Picture me literally hanging on the window to get it to close. The window was open in the first place because I had to install an a/c unit (this shit is heavy and leaks all over the wood floors) because the HVAC was broken yet again.
5) My smoking neighbor. He used to smoke in the apartment and the smoke would drift into my unit. Smelled like roses. Thankfully, this situation has been resolved and my neighbor is awesome.

and last but not least…

6) Cockroach infestation in the building. Final straw?

I am on the 3rd floor of a three story building. Apparently there is a family on the first floor that has attracted said roaches, however, they  refuse to get treated. Thus, the fun little critters have managed to make it all the way up to the 3rd floor. And you know, it’s one thing seeing a few of them in your kitchen. At first, I had no idea what they were. But then I asked other renters around me who were encountering the same problem. Did some probing – sure enough, roaches. That’s fine, I think to myself. At the time I had no idea how out of hand this whole situation could get. I figured they would go away. But if you are not treating the source of the problem and you live in an old condo building, one can deduce that this could quickly become an issue. Somehow these disgusting insects have made it to the top floor.

But it gets better.

I think to myself, hey – there may be some in the kitchen, but I am totally safe upstairs in my bed (I have a loft). Literally the same night I tried to convince myself that everything was okay, I woke up to one crawling on my hand. Was I dreaming, perhaps imagining the sensation of something crawling on my hand? Of course I was. But after returning to bed, that sucker crawled into my pillowcase. I killed that SOB. And I was not dreaming.

Again, tried to talk myself into that being a random occurrence of randomness. But no, two nights later, another piece of crap was crawling under my covers on my foot. Couldn’t catch that one so he’s back in the wall somewhere. Doesn’t that thought just make you want to cuddle in bed with me right now? This was last week and I haven’t seen one since, but I must admit that I’ve been avoiding this apartment like the plague and sleeping on the couch. Overreacting? I have to wonder. Mostly everyone I tell this to tells me not to address the problem but to get the hell out of there. Move. Once the problem starts and since the problem unit isn’t even being treated, it could be a while before this problem is rectified. They are trying to evict the family apparently, but who knows how long that might take. I tell my landlord about it, and she blames it on me. Nice.

So…looking for apartments I have been doing. And again I ask, am I overreacting? Should I at least give it a try before up and moving again, which I do not want to do in the least? I love this neighborhood and my rent is cheap (for obvious reasons as depicted in this post). I do not want to leave U Street. I put down a deposit at a unit in Columbia Heights, but it is exponentially more expensive than I am paying now. I have 24 hours to decide if this is really what I want to do before losing the money. So of course, I have continued to look at other units in my neighborhood. Found two reasonably priced units in a building a few blocks north of here and still in the U Street area. I looked at both and met the landlords, who seem great. The building is old but both the units are renovated and nice. Was ready to declare one of these my home…until I just did some online research only to realize that the building the units are located in is Section 8 housing. Seriously?

FML

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