Saturday, May 08, 2004
Madison, Wisconsin: A Return Story
January 2004 shipped in the new year, but also had my landlord of almost ten years informing me that he was selling the house in which I live. So I was faced with the dilemma of finding a new, affordable place in San Francisco, or speeding up my plans to return to Madison, Wisconsin. I selected Madison. So as the move looms, I find myself with the desire to discuss it more. Since my friends aren't too happy with my plans, my readers will unfortunately have to suffer. Hopefully, I won't ramble too much.
The Apartment
So at the end of April, I returned to Madison to seek housing. Ideally I was looking for a large one bedroom flat, preferably on the bottom floor of a house. My price range was fairly wide, between $450-$750 per month. As my friends can attest, I’m often use to finding great deals on apartments. My current one bedroom in San Francisco is a three room, one bath space, with garage storages, and a full backyard. I started off paying $450 for it, and now pay $541. A steal for San Francisco. But before that, I paid $400 for a four room, 1 bedroom flat, with front porch, enclosed back porch, and garage storage. Anyway, you get the idea.
So I’m in Madison, and I already know, I want the east side. Nothing against the west side, it’s just a different pace of life. So I’m looking in the Willy Street Area, Atwood-Schenk Area, Fair Oaks, etc. My primary focus was Willy Street, but then I went out to visit two apartments in the Atwood-Schenk area and fell in love. It’s grown up since I was in Madison last. It has a great neighborhood feel, neighborhood gardens, a community center, easy access to the Barrymore for music, its near the Jennifer Street Market, and a qquick bus hop from the Willy Street Co-op, which I will be renewing my membership with.
The neighborhod doesn’t have a student feel to it, but isn’t as suburban as the west side. It’s more like grown up, a bit professional. A good mix of graduate students, young and old professionals, and local home owners. Apparently it also has a large growth rate, and it’s being close to the Yahara, and Lake Monana, as well as Olbrich Gardens is very nice as well.
So I’m visiting placing on Ohio, Milwaukee, and Waubesa. I love this place on Waubesa, even though it’s not what I was looking for. It’s a two bedroom, second floor flat. But, yes, but, it’s light, it’s airy, it’s spacious, hardwood floors, tons of storage, on-site laundry, a gorgeous back yard, a huge kitchen, with gas stove, plenty of counter space, and a small pantry, and it’s within the price range I specified for a one bedroom.
I applied, after much grumbling over the amount of information landlords require these days (but that’s a different post). I didn’t hear anything back, so I called. I still didn’t hear anything after week two, and was feeling a little depressed. Now I’d have to schedule a return house seeking trip back to Madison, and I’m already down to my six week count down.
I was also a little frantic, five days in Madison, means five less days in San Francisco. I’m completing close-out projects for clients that we transitioned to new vendors. I’m trying to hire a new support tech for clients that I directly served, who wish to remain with Nonprofit Tech. I’m updating computer profiles at five sites (between 200-275 machines). I have two trainings to schedule. Interviews. New contracts to prepare. Project plans for work that will start-up once I move to Madison.
Now add move related tasks such as boxing, selling, shipping, cleaning. Then to just make life a little more compressed, add that my mother’s in a nursing home for congestive heart failure (this happened during the last three months). Her nursing home stay is temporary. I’ll need to also move her to Madison, so she’s near by, and she may or may not need on-going assisted living. So going back to Madison wasn’t ideal, but you do what you have to do. So I’m booking a ticket, when the potential landlord calls. She’s evaluating my application but hasn’t been able to reach my current landlord. So I put my airplane ticket on hold, call my landlord and suggest that he returns her call.
So five hours later and I have a new place. I will be Madisonian again, and in a place that I actually like, instead of the first that gave me a shipping address. Yeah.
Anyway, exeperiences with packing in a later post.
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