Vacancy Blog Scholarship

http://www.vacancy.com/north-carolina/charlotte-apartments/heatherwood/

When I first started looking for an apartment a few particular needs of mine stuck out. First: I have bad knees, so I need someplace where I'm either on the first floor or there's an elevator. Second: location. I'm a country mountain girl, so I don't like cities - therefore, I tired to be a little ways out. I don't mind driving - after all, where I currently live, every thing's at least an hour away ;). I've also discovered (by living there for four years) that I don't like empty plains, so I need somewhere that's got green trees and mountains at least nearby. I was also hoping for somewhere with a theater near it. Third: pets. I grew up surrounded by animals and it'd just be too weird to try living without a cat. Fourth: internet. This one's a bit obvious, as I can't imagine trying to do school or run my business (that pays for school) without it. Fifth: price. I don't have much money (sob; school costs too much!) so whatever I choose had to keep the costs down. Sixth: (a lesson I picked up from my bro's experiences) keep the lease time short. I wanted that option. I'm still sorting out what I want to do with my life, so I want to keep my options as open as possible. ( I wonder if I could've written 'so' anymore times? Bleg.)

With that done, and the state picked (North Carolina, and if you read that without a southern accent, shame. Go back and try it again) I just ran down the list and went through a couple of apartments before coming across this one. The price (naturally :D) was what initially caught my attention - $470 a month for one-bed, one-bath. (It's just me and my cat. And maybe a fish.) Since my answer to "where's that place?" has always been, "Planet Earth, I think," I went and looked it up on googlemaps.

My initial response was, "hmm, maybe?" Then I got a look at where the apartment was and I was all, "win!" It's a bit out of the main part of the city, surrounded by trees, and there's mountains nearby. So second need fulfilled.

I checked out the apartment , but couldn't find out if it was handicap friendly (like, with elevators and stuff). Since they've got several one-bed, one-bath apartments though, I figured there was a good chance of getting one on the first floor. So first... sorta fulfilled.

Third was pets, and lo and behold (I like that phrase; we should use it more) they allow pets. (My cat's well-behaved anyway. Any place should let her in ;<.)

And they have internet. I mean, what wouldn't nowadays? But it was still a consideration, so I mentally made another check mark. (alright, why does blogger want to capitalize 'internet'?)

Fifth was price. It's $470 a month for a 510 square-foot apartment, got a washer and dryer in the actual apartment (and even then, I know I'll still forget to do my laundry), bedroom, bathroom (can't really tell if it's got a tub in it - 'tears' if it doesn't :( - but I'll live), and a kitchen/living room/dining area. Good enough for me! (I didn't ask my cat, though. I don't think she'd be too big on moving... maybe I'll just keep it a surprise.)

Sixth - apparently, you can get down to a three-month lease on this? Or up to two years. SO with that, I can plan out my life as I need to.

SO there it is! And there's some other amenities - like a pool, exercise room, some apartments have a balcony, and some other random things that I don't consider necessary, but make living there nice.