Hunt for a home

It has been a looooong day.

I spent the day in Madison looking for a place to live. We still own a house, which we are trying to sell, so we will be renting for awhile. I have this picture in my head of a downtown, modern apartment where we can walk to coffee shop or cafe. However, there are a few problems with my dream home. A lot of other people have this idea. So, the apartments are few and far between and the ones that are out there are expensive. Especially if you still have a mortgage.

We looked at a few beautiful ones that were way out of our price range. I shouldn't have even gone inside. The gigantic closets! The hard wood floors! Marble counter tops! Stainless steel appliances! Not to mention the parking. If you want underground parking, it's at least $125/month. Above ground in the snow: $75. Per car. But still, it would be so cool to live downtown.

All those challenges aside, I think I did find a semi-affordable place downtown with a coffee shop close by. It doesn't allow dogs and of course we have one, but that is another headache altogether.

One of the places we looked at was a trendy little loft carved out of an old industrial building. It was a neat concept with high ceilings and brick walls. It was hard to picture though, because the one we looked at was trashed. I mean trashed. The tenant was there at the time, and we awkwardly walked around trying to look past the pile of dirty dishes, the ring of black in the toilet and the trash and clothing strewn everywhere.

I was absolutely floored. First of all, how can you live that way? Second, wouldn't you be ashamed when people came to look at the place? I just don't get some people.

--MM