It's official!

Whee! Peanut and I have decided to start officially apartment hunting. While we're not planning to move until July 1, this will give us some ideas of what we can get for our budget. We're also going to ask both of our current landlords to keep us in mind for places they own that will be open at that time. We like both landlords and the way they keep/run their buildings, but we do need to move to a new place. His apartment is a two bedroom/two bath and is too big, expensive, and far from the train for both of us to live in. Mine is too small for the long term, but dirt cheap and as close to the train as you can get without hearing it. If we don't find anything we love by July 1, Peanut will move into my apartment and we'll stay month to month while we keep looking.

Our perfect apartment will:

• Be on or one block from the avenue we already live on--for easy access to Costco
• Be in an apartment building (I will NOT live above my landlord ever again--I'd only consider a private house if the landlord lives off-site but close enough to fix stuff quickly)
• Be close to the train (less than five minutes' walk)
• Be no higher than a third floor walkup without an elevator
• Have a fantastic kitchen (meaning: more than two cabinets, enough grounded plugs for microwave/blender/toaster all at once, regular-sized refrigerator, at least six feet of counter space, room for a table, enough space for us to both be in there at once. Note what we're not asking for: dishwasher, granite counters, fancy anything.)
• Have a large enough living room for Peanut to keep his comfy couch
• Have newish hardwood floors
• Allow cats (we don't have one, but I realllllllly want one eventually)
• Have a bathtub (instead of just a shower stall)
• Have lots of windows
• Have two bedrooms, but one of those bedrooms can be very small (for company and/or office space)
• Be $1,400 or less
• Ideally, a grocery store would be between the train and the apartment and a laundromat would be within on block (I don't care whether it's in the building)
• A balcony would be a great plus, but is totally not necessary
• Not require a broker's fee

Actually, I think all those things are doable, according to a quick Craigslist search. I hope we don't find the perfect place right away and then lose out on it because we're looking too early. I hope we don't wind up paying double rent anywhere.

I'm not looking forward to moving during the heat of summer, but I will be very happy to be ensconced in one apartment with Peanut.