New York: Part Deux

Sunday morning, we woke up with a purpose. We met with the realtor in the morning to prepare for “the hunt”. Don, the realtor was friendly and ready to help us. He showed us four places. When we saw the first place in Diplomat Towers, we thought it was relatively nice and spacious… except for the kitchen. I love to bake and cook, so the closet-sized kitchen didn’t particularly appeal to me. Plus, as limited as the counter-space was, the kitchen lacked a built-in microwave. This means that a good chunk of the tiny counter would need to be taken up by our large microwave. Where would I cut things? Where would my mixer, toaster oven, and coffee maker go? Well… hmm… that would pose a problem. But it was still nice, so who knew? Maybe it would work out somehow.

The next apartment we checked out was in the same building but on the bottom floor and furnished. It looked really nice furnished and painted. The kitchen was just as small, but much nicer because it had wood cabinets, a granite counter top, and- whaddayaknow- a built-in microwave! It was still teensy, though. We figured that if we were to live in Diplomat Towers, we would choose the latter. However, we did need to consider the danger of being on the bottom floor. Oh well, they both were pretty nice… we thought. We just didn’t know what we were missing...

After Diplomat Towers, Don brought us to Heritage Hills- a beautiful community of duplex apartments in Somers. The first one that we viewed was pricey for us yet magnificent. It was painted, had hardwood floors, and included modifications that were rare for a small place. For example, the bathroom included a shower with glass doors and a separate bathtub- a Jacuzzi brand bathtub. Oh yes. We instantly fell in love.

Why haven’t we booked it yet?

1. We visited this place in late June when we need to move in in early September.

2. It is pricey.

3. The commute is 1 hour and ten minutes! Ouch.

We ventured onward. The next one we viewed was also in Heritage Hills, was pricier, and less appealing to us. It didn’t contain the interesting modifications, it wasn’t painted, and it looked overall… sterile. Now, clean we want- doctor’s office we don’t want. We then took a short visit to the “club” of Heritage Hills where there are many activities. You must be a member to use the private golf course, but there were many things one could do for free such as billiards, swimming, exercising in the gym, ping pong, classes, etc., etc. Needless to say, we were impressed.

It was then time to get some grub, and consider the options we had just viewed. We ventured to a local restaurant where I inhaled a huuuuge burger because I realized during our expedition that I hadn’t had anything to eat that day. I was living on 90 Calories of Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte from Starbucks. That’ll keep you going, not. Ahhh, we were done with all of the exhaustion and ready to turn in, right? Ha! As I passed out on Travis’s lap in the back seat, we traveled to Irvington, Tarrytown, and Dobbs Ferry to check out more possibilities. Obviously we couldn’t go into any apartment because we weren’t with a broker, but we wanted to see the areas. Sure enough, Dad E. found a realtor in Irvington who set up a meeting with us for Monday.

We finally made it to our Holiday Inn in Mt. Kisco, which was in better shape than the ridiculously expensive hotels in Manhattan! We relaxed until finally going downstairs to partake in cookies and conversation- it was actually a “tea time” kind of thing… or liqueur, if you were a drinker. The hotel lady lead the conversation and trivia! Dad E. won a big chocolate bar thingamajig. Trav and I didn’t answer any questions. We went up to the room for a little while before heading back down to talk to the hotel lady about the train system and the commute in general. She was definitely knowledgeable and helped us gain a better understanding of the commuting system. Finally, it was time for bed after a busy day. We already felt the decision making pressure descending upon us, and we weren’t even finished looking. Ohhhh boy.

***Tune in next time for the final episode of our New York journey to hear all about the next realtor; the nice places; the junkers; Angelo- the landlord straight out of a sitcom; and weird, naked hoarder man.***