Tucson: House Hunters, Part 1

Derelict house Highway 54 between Vaughn and Santa Rosa, New Mexico. September 2013.

When I embark on a house hunting search, I consult various sources, including craigslist, hotpads, apartments.com, real estate property managers, zillow, and online forums.

During my Tucson search, a forum responder proposed that I had filet mignon expectations on a hamburger budget.

I burst into laughter upon reading this.


My last place - I didn't even have a stove. I called it my French kitchen, a kitchen comprised of components:

• A borrowed toaster oven
• A borrowed electric skillet
• A folding table for a counter, borrowed

Heheheheh.

Filet mignon! The idea!

Well, wait.

I did have filet mignon there:   

• Well-aged wood floors gentled with a soft patina
• The wash of daylight that bathed my 1970s shower and tub, a luxury compared to the space capsule in my El Paso apartment
• A garage! First ever in my adult life! Did it matter that it was in the basement and three flights of stairs going down AND coming up? No! A garage!
• The red fox that visited the big blue dumpsters one morning, licking sweet remains from a slippery plastic wrap
• Congenial neighbors
• An easy walk to the grocery store or library, beneath mature trees and alongside bursting yellow, orange, white, and indigo flower gardens

Bathroom, Ferguson, Missouri. November 2017.

And in Opelousas:

• Lovely light that streamed through tall, old windows
• A lush spring-flowering tree outside a window, which a melodious mockingbird called home
• A gentleman neighbor who spent many a day babysitting his young grandsons, and who accompanied me on occasion to the local casino for a bit of dancing

 

Opelousas apartment. Opelousas, Louisiana. April 2015.

Hamburger budget?

Dude, I've got a chicken liver budget.


Fortunately, I love chicken livers.

El Paso: My New Digs

My El Paso apartment - in the back, unseen. El Paso, Texas. August 2016.

Back here I visited house hunting present and past.

I present you today with photos of my new digs in Sunset Heights. It came furnished, which has its pros and cons.

My kitchen. It overlooks the rooftop terrace. Which overlooks the landlords' garden.

My apartment kitchen, El Paso, Texas. September 2016.

My apartment kitchen, El Paso, Texas. September 2016.

My bedroom, office, and living room.

My living space in my apartment, El Paso, Texas. September 2016.

Look, a real bed. The first since I left Alamogordo. Not that I'm complaining about my chic red friend from Alamogordo and Louisiana:

My chic red bed.

In my "living room," see that folding table in the lower left-hand corner? I bought that from my friend "Suzanne" (who I visited in D.C. last year) at her moving sale, years ago, for one dollar, and it's traveled with me in the US ever since. Perfect height, perfect length and width, so light and yet sturdy, and it fits snug as a sweet puppy in the ledge beneath my car's rear window. It is my office.

View from rooftop terrace outside my apartment, El Paso, Texas. September 2016.

My rear view from the rooftop terrace that I access from what used to be the kitchen back in the day, but which is now the bathroom. You can see UTEP in between a neighbor's roof and a mountain.

View from rooftop terrace outside my apartment, El Paso, Texas. September 2016.

Here's a slip of a Juarez view - in the far background - from the side of my apartment, also on the rooftop terrace. 

View from rooftop terrace outside my apartment, El Paso, Texas. August 2016.

An evening view from the terrace. Most afternoons and evenings, the clouds congregate over by the mountain, unseen in this photo, but behind the foliage that's on the upper right quadrant of the picture.

The wind - the opinionated, bossy, busybody El Paso wind - likes to swoosh around the exterior corners of my apartment and complain and sing at I don't know what.

El Paso: House Hunting

 

Sunset view from new home, El Paso, Texas. August 2016.

August 2016.

El Paso marks my 5th year of annual moves.

In Caucasus Georgia, my first nomadic year, my homes were assigned to me, the first in New Rustavi and the second in Old Rustavi.

In Alamogordo, New Mexico, my second nomadic year, I learned that renters:

• Are second-class citizens; and
• With unusual financial lives cause some confusion for potential landlords. 

Nevertheless, I found a terrific apartment quickly, with story here and here. And here was my temporary home til I could move into the apartment.

In Lafayette, Louisiana, I based myself in a hotel when I arrived. Miraculously, I found a teeny place in a dream location about two days after I landed, and was able to move in about two days after that. Here and here are about my hunt. And here is my moving day, heheheh.

In my year for Opelousas, Louisiana, I based myself in an airbnb - well, two airbnbs - while searching for my new digs. The fact that I arrived back in Louisiana just before Mardi Gras was not the smartest decision, but it all worked out fine. My Opelousas apartment turned out to be the perfect place for me. Friendly neighbors, walking distance to a grocery store, super close to I-49 to zip down to Lafayette, and a different view of South Louisiana than I had in Lafayette, which is exactly what I'd sought.

I've learned that when I get stressed out over finding a place, it's of my own making, and is not only unnecessary, but unhelpful.

Well, I should say that I've learned it even better after my El Paso hunting experience.

The biggest challenge, I've discovered, is finding the right information source for apartment hunting. Yes, most cities have a rent.dot.com or some such, but these generally focus on the larger complexes. Craigslist is useful, and that's how I found my Opelousas apartment.

In El Paso, it was Hotpads that led me to my chosen place.

But before I found it, I located a Plan B apartment - a teeny studio on Mesa on the west side that would have worked just fine for a month or two, if necessary.

Where I ended up, oh my, exceeded my dreams! I am within walking distance of both the university and downtown El Paso. I am just a few blocks from I-10. The range of architecture here is like a bag of Halloween candy - so many delectables to look at and sigh over.

My apartment is furnished, which means sleeping on an actual bed this year - the first time in two years! Although I cherished my red couch-bed, it's a luxury to have a real bed. The utilities are included, as well, which saves on start-finish hassles and deposits and bill-paying.

My cherished red chairbed from Alamogordo, Lafayette, and Opelousas.

Ouch, though. Frankly, the rent is a real stretch for me. And it's a tiny place with barely enough room for me to set up my work space. But location, location, location.

I'm in the Sunset Heights neighborhood, one of the several historic districts in El Paso. My apartment is within a large, historic home. I can see the roofs of UTEP from my rooftop terrace. (Oh, I didn't mention that yet?)