The Apartment Search

Ok, so, this is really just going to be a bit of a rant.  I just have to get it out.

Apartment . Shopping. While . Overseas . Is . HARD.  

I have checked every single Philadelphia Craigslist apartment listing since April 15th that has an image, is under $750 and comes up when "university city" is typed in the search box - which is a lot of listings.  For example, it's only 11:45 am in Philly right now and there are already 13 new listings up for today.  Of all the listing I've looked at, I have emailed more than 60 of them and called who knows how many.  And all of those phone calls have been late at night after a hard day at work (I get home around 9:30pm and Philly is 12 hours different) when I just want to be going to bed.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen this listing.  They post it several times a day!  So annoying!  If only they wanted a September 1st move in...

Still, every single one has fallen through, mostly due to us being overseas.  It's like we're handicapped.  We act as quickly as we can, but someone who can just walk in and fill out an application can always fill it out sooner.  Plus, we need adequate pictures because we can't take a tour.  That makes us difficult and annoying.  Not to mention, people just don't like renting to someone who can't tour the apartment.  

Why, then, don't we just quit and find one when we get there?  Well, we may, don't get me wrong, but from what I've consistently heard, if we do that we'll pretty much be screwed.  Slim pickings when you have to live close to campus and the semester's about to begin.

I haven't even mentioned yet the joy of figuring out how to pay a deposit from overseas.  "Would it be alright if we wired it?"  "It might take a few days."  "It may not be an exact amount because of the exchange rate and all..."  

I want to just say, "the heck with it!" and quit.  But, I also have a very strong drive to not get stuck in a horrible apartment.  And when I say horrible, I mean it.  We're not even finding much over 400 sq. ft. as it is.  Can you imagine if we wait?