The Bay Lives: greater things fall into place

I had an epiphany the other day: good things fall apart so that great things can fall into place. If a door ever closes in your face (and as you read on you will begin to take this statement more literally), there will always be another opportunity on the horizon. Perhaps even a greater one.

Derek and I have been looking for apartments in Noe Valley SF for the past few months, and we finally found the most amazing apartment/location. We were so excited and determined to get this place, so we arrived at the viewing an hour in advance. Derek had heard that the property manager was taking applications on a first come first serve basis, so we staked out a front row spot by the entrance. One hour later, I could not believe how many people showed up to see this place. There was a line of 25-30 people out the door with applications, credit reports, checks in hand. Clearly we weren't the only ones who thought this apartment was absolutely amazing.

The property manager showing the apartment made an announcement to the crowd that the "first person to hand her a cashier's check for a $5,000 deposit" would get the apartment. So, as you can imagine, we all dispersed by foot in different directions- crashing into walls, running to our cars to find the nearest bank. Mind you this all went down on a Saturday afternoon at 3:30. MOST BANKS AREN'T EVEN OPEN! This property manager was pure evil to subject us to this rat race. Needless to say, the door to our dream apartment closed right in our faces. And I can't blame Bank of America's hours of operation for that.

Apartment hunting when there's ridiculous competition can be an extremely frustrating thing. Although we were discouraged and bummed about the events that just took place, we didn't give up on our search. The beauty of the story is that we managed to find something greater than our expectations. In the end we were offered a fabulous home by the nicest owner/landlord we've ever met. And seriously, who wants to have a property manager who's entertained by causing other people stress? Not me. We have a great new home to look forward to on February 12th.