Curve Ball-Slider
A brief explanation of my area:Olympia, (population 45,000), Lacey (population 42,000), & Tumwater, (population 17,000) are all part of the blended area. Lacey is where I am nearest; 2 miles away, downtown Olympia is about 8 miles away and Tumwater is 10 miles in distance. The metropolitan area combined is about 104,000 people. At most times, no matter which direction you are diving from or to, you can see Mt. Rainier and the Cascade Mts., in the background. Lots of forests surround us, and the city has done a great job with lining the streets with trees and keeping it clean. You can, often, see the Capitol Dome sitting aside Capitol Lake, right in the middle of it all.
I continued my search of spaces for rent and responded to more ads via email. There was one post that was quite amusing and tested your abilities to follow instructions. After the ad described the rooms for rent, utility information and deposit requirements, it jokingly referenced the man cave in the garage, with pictures. It had explicit instructions to follow. It also gave a briefing of why the detailed instructions;spammers, solicitors or the wrong kind of people "shouldn't bother to reply". It first suggested reading the full ad in order to learn the proper way of responding; which was to put "RED SOX" in the subject line of the email. The whole time I read the ad, I was laughing. Really? Really! I followed instructions to the tee. Of course, I explained briefly why I was looking for a space to rent and would share my phone number after I felt the ad response was legitimate. (A habit I am practicing). I complimented the writing style of the ad and cracked a couple of jokes about the man cave; "Your man cave looks pretty cool, which means the woman cave must be the house, right?"
Bryan: After a few corresponding emails with RED SOX, we finally were able to coordinate schedules via my phone call to him. I traveled to the house on a Wednesday. I walked in and there he is standing at the sink rinsing dishes, in a stocking cap and layers of clothes. His house was ass freezing cold. He immediately explained his two tenants moved out a week apart. One relocated and the other up and got married last weekend, thus forcing him to search for new housemates. He apologized for the temperature and explained since he is gone a lot and is comfortable dressing accordingly for cold weather, he conserves heat for cost effectiveness. He will have no problem warming the house up with a tenant sharing utilities, though he'd appreciate their monitoring the thermostat, too.
His former tenant stopped by for the refund of deposit money, which Bryan gave him. (I mentally noted this, neither having qualms or debate.) After a tour of the two bedrooms for rent and our discussion, he took me to the man cave. He proudly displayed his HUGE screen and ceiling mounted projector for TV purposes. We talked & laughed non stop during the tour and learned he is 47. I enjoyed the surprise look on his face when I fessed up to being 51. $300 for the small room and $360 for the second room. He also said he occupies the biggest room, but if needed, he would gladly take a smaller room and rent the biggest out for $420. He showed me the last electric bill and said three people sharing this cost would amount to $45 each, at the most expensive time. It drops with warming weather, of course. He joked of the fact that he has no living room furniture and stated, "My decorating style is...sparse". We discussed my storage unit and the fact that if I could furnish the living room etc...and empty my unit, it would save me money. He quickly said that would be fine and any leftovers could be stored in the garage. Problem;1) The rooms are small. 2) I'd be sharing a house with two other people. 3) There's only one small bathroom, but doable. 4) He has a one year lease which ends in June, and at that point, someone else would have to take over being the leaser should he opt to move. Savings would show in my budget, however. Bryan and I visited for almost two hours. (laugh here)
The next day, I realized I had done an idiotic thing during touring the house and my long conversation with Bryan. I forgot to look at the bathroom! I made arrangements with him to view the place again, after deliberating about the whole situation and reworking the math. I went prepared for our evening meeting. He welcomed me again, and I laughed my ass off when I went into the bathroom...he has a 4 foot cut out of an Iranian stuck to the wall behind the toilet. He drew a caption bubble from it's mouth, "I'll pay you $150 dollars if you wash your hands". When I quit laughing and addressed the character with him, he stated that a former roommate didn't wash his hands after using the bathroom. It drove him crazy because he proclaims to be clean...which it appears he and his space are. That was his reminder to the guy.
We sat at the table. My opening line upon taking my seat, "I am here to sell you". He laughed and said, "Oh boy, this ought to be good. Should I open a bottle of wine, for this?" I handed him my resume and reference letters and said. "Sure." The first subject we determined; we were very copacetic and could house together just fine. I continued to sell myself and my deal of a rental break should I rent both rooms and sharing the expenses two ways. His expenses wouldn't increase much by this proposition. He'd only have to deal with one renter, not two. My furniture would cozy up the place and I am very clean. After HOURS of conversing on a tenant/housemate topic and a humorous, intelligent, personal level, I excused myself. He added he would consider the negotiation and let me know his decision. Before I walked out the door, I turned and thanked him for the nice wine and conversation. I shyly asked him if I could give him a good bye hug, of which he said he'd like and accepted.
I threw the slider and hugged his 6'2" frame before walking out the door.
I continued my search of spaces for rent and responded to more ads via email. There was one post that was quite amusing and tested your abilities to follow instructions. After the ad described the rooms for rent, utility information and deposit requirements, it jokingly referenced the man cave in the garage, with pictures. It had explicit instructions to follow. It also gave a briefing of why the detailed instructions;spammers, solicitors or the wrong kind of people "shouldn't bother to reply". It first suggested reading the full ad in order to learn the proper way of responding; which was to put "RED SOX" in the subject line of the email. The whole time I read the ad, I was laughing. Really? Really! I followed instructions to the tee. Of course, I explained briefly why I was looking for a space to rent and would share my phone number after I felt the ad response was legitimate. (A habit I am practicing). I complimented the writing style of the ad and cracked a couple of jokes about the man cave; "Your man cave looks pretty cool, which means the woman cave must be the house, right?"
Bryan: After a few corresponding emails with RED SOX, we finally were able to coordinate schedules via my phone call to him. I traveled to the house on a Wednesday. I walked in and there he is standing at the sink rinsing dishes, in a stocking cap and layers of clothes. His house was ass freezing cold. He immediately explained his two tenants moved out a week apart. One relocated and the other up and got married last weekend, thus forcing him to search for new housemates. He apologized for the temperature and explained since he is gone a lot and is comfortable dressing accordingly for cold weather, he conserves heat for cost effectiveness. He will have no problem warming the house up with a tenant sharing utilities, though he'd appreciate their monitoring the thermostat, too.
His former tenant stopped by for the refund of deposit money, which Bryan gave him. (I mentally noted this, neither having qualms or debate.) After a tour of the two bedrooms for rent and our discussion, he took me to the man cave. He proudly displayed his HUGE screen and ceiling mounted projector for TV purposes. We talked & laughed non stop during the tour and learned he is 47. I enjoyed the surprise look on his face when I fessed up to being 51. $300 for the small room and $360 for the second room. He also said he occupies the biggest room, but if needed, he would gladly take a smaller room and rent the biggest out for $420. He showed me the last electric bill and said three people sharing this cost would amount to $45 each, at the most expensive time. It drops with warming weather, of course. He joked of the fact that he has no living room furniture and stated, "My decorating style is...sparse". We discussed my storage unit and the fact that if I could furnish the living room etc...and empty my unit, it would save me money. He quickly said that would be fine and any leftovers could be stored in the garage. Problem;1) The rooms are small. 2) I'd be sharing a house with two other people. 3) There's only one small bathroom, but doable. 4) He has a one year lease which ends in June, and at that point, someone else would have to take over being the leaser should he opt to move. Savings would show in my budget, however. Bryan and I visited for almost two hours. (laugh here)
The next day, I realized I had done an idiotic thing during touring the house and my long conversation with Bryan. I forgot to look at the bathroom! I made arrangements with him to view the place again, after deliberating about the whole situation and reworking the math. I went prepared for our evening meeting. He welcomed me again, and I laughed my ass off when I went into the bathroom...he has a 4 foot cut out of an Iranian stuck to the wall behind the toilet. He drew a caption bubble from it's mouth, "I'll pay you $150 dollars if you wash your hands". When I quit laughing and addressed the character with him, he stated that a former roommate didn't wash his hands after using the bathroom. It drove him crazy because he proclaims to be clean...which it appears he and his space are. That was his reminder to the guy.
We sat at the table. My opening line upon taking my seat, "I am here to sell you". He laughed and said, "Oh boy, this ought to be good. Should I open a bottle of wine, for this?" I handed him my resume and reference letters and said. "Sure." The first subject we determined; we were very copacetic and could house together just fine. I continued to sell myself and my deal of a rental break should I rent both rooms and sharing the expenses two ways. His expenses wouldn't increase much by this proposition. He'd only have to deal with one renter, not two. My furniture would cozy up the place and I am very clean. After HOURS of conversing on a tenant/housemate topic and a humorous, intelligent, personal level, I excused myself. He added he would consider the negotiation and let me know his decision. Before I walked out the door, I turned and thanked him for the nice wine and conversation. I shyly asked him if I could give him a good bye hug, of which he said he'd like and accepted.
I threw the slider and hugged his 6'2" frame before walking out the door.
Comments
I adore you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!