Instead of going for either option 1 or 2, I went with option 3. Yay! I get to move in Thursday.

I called the apartments for option 1 (the more expensive place) to find out if they allow rats. They had to ask around, but finally got in touch with the owner of the building. No. I had to go down there to get an ID, but I was hoping to talk with the owner about this. The secretary shook her head no. I asked what the reason was for not allowing rats, and she just said the manager only said "No." That was disappointing on many levels. That place allows cats and dogs, but not rats apparently. They didn't even give me a reason. Rodentophobia, I suppose. I could understand a place having their reasons, but the fact that I couldn't meet with anyone to discuss it makes me mad. That sent the message that management was basically unapproachable.

I decided to go for the cheaper place. The good news is that option 2 was already taken. Good news? Yes. They had another 2-bedroom apartment. This was much closer to the university (only a few blocks, as opposed to a mile). Despite that, I like the apartment more. The kitchen has two entrances, so I can walk through it. The dining area is tiled. The bathroom has shelves and a big counter. The rooms, compared to what option 2 had, were good sized- at least I didn't feel as if I'd be cramped. The closets aren't as nice as option 1- no shelves, much smaller... but considering this apartment was still $120/mo. cheaper (than option 1- with management I didn't like), I decided to take it. I don't know if I like the location by the university, since I'm around a lot of other complexes. It might be noisy- or the people upstairs (yeah, I'm on the bottom floor) are night people. I don't have a balcony or patio. The plus side is that since it is by the university, there will likely be more folk around my age. The best part is that I can get rats :-)

I'm schedule for orientation for my new job in two weeks. I might call back and see if I can get it pushed forward a week, so I can take advantage of the MLK holiday. Now I just need to take care of getting an apartment. It's down to two places.

( Apartment options + pics )