So after having pimped myself out on our entering class’ Facebook group, I have secured a roommate. She likes to cook and I like to clean. Her name is Amy. I think we will get along swimmingly. The past several weeks have been occupied with finding a suitable rental house for two young ladies and a furry, four-legged friend. Or rather, her past weeks have been occupied since she is already in the Memphis area, and I’m still here in little old Mesquite. My contributions so far have been mostly yaying or naying her finds. So imagine how glad I was to be able to help when she asked me to search listings online.
Up until now we had hoped to find a good place through word-of-mouth from people she knew, or to be able to drive around nicer neighborhoods looking for “for-rent” signs. We have nearly exhausted those options either by being too late, too early, or having rejected them as too sketchy, too expensive, or too far. Being two lone females unschooled in martial arts, safety is our primary concern. Our second is to avoid a long commute to school each morning. In a city like Memphis, these two criteria alone have narrowed our options tremendously, let alone keeping it within student budgets. While we’ve been able to find a few places that fit the bill, they are far too run-down with old appliances (or lack of) to justify the asking price. I am starting to wonder if we are asking for too much. However, we still have time, and as time passes, one of our greatest enemies should disappear: the landlord unwilling to hold until August 1st for move in. We’re still hopeful, and more options may become available as students graduate and move out of the area.
If all else fails we can always rent an apartment and continue our search again later. I can’t fret too much. I know God is watching out for us. We were just on the verge of signing a lease for what appeared to be a very promising place. Just hours before finalizing things, Amy met a patient who happened to once live on that very street. On his information, we discovered that this area had frequent brake-ins from people who walk along the railroad tracks and hop the fences. She forwarded this concern with the landlord later that day and he didn’t even deny it! Talk about a narrow escape. Now we are doing triple research on the areas to be as certain as possible. Time is flying by quickly and the summer will be gone before I know it. I hope to have good news to post next time.