And another development...

I guess we just like to do everything at once...

We have been looking at different places to live for a while for a number of reasons:
1) We live on a fairly busy street right now
2) We would like to have a yard for the puppy now that she is getting bigger.
3) We don't LOVE our place. It's just a good area to be in.

We've kind of been back and forth about it because:
1) We have had a really great relationship with our landlord and even though our rent is higher than most places around us, we like him and have been happy to pay him.
2) We really like our location and don't want to move out from it.
3) We don't want to buy (market here is still falling and I believe it will continue through next spring- seems to be the general consensus among my real estate clients. Additionally, for what we can get now, it's still ridiculous. Try at least $400K for a 1960 rambler that needs an extreme makeover. Some are going for $380 but these are short sales which you probably wouldn't even want to set foot in. No thanks).
4) We don't really want to go through the whole moving process again.

HOWEVER, our decision was made for us. Just the other day I received an email from aforementioned cool landlord telling us he was going to have to raise the rent anywhere from $50-$200. I flipped shit. We are already paying a mortgage in rent at $1600- welcome to Seattle! There is NO WAY in hell I am going to pay $1800 for rent for a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath townhome when similar townhomes are going for $1400. That's just dumb.

So I promptly started looking around for something new. And found it right away. Just so happens there was a showing that very day from 2-3pm. It's perfect. It is bigger, has a yard for Miss Bella, has a cooler layout, has a side by side garage (no more tandem!) and has infinite more storage. Plus it's just nicer- hardwoods, granite, new appliances, wood blinds, etc. It's also in a much nicer, quieter neighborhood and we are even closer to the water. AND the kicker?! It's $100 cheaper than we are paying now. I was sold. We don't have to buy and we get to move to a nicer place where we will be paying less? Sweet.

I was even more sold when I met one of the landlords- a lady about my age who moved here from Australia to be with her husband. We hit it off right away. I love her.

SO, needless to say, I let the first landlord know right away. It just sucks because I felt like he was trying to take advantage of us and we had had such a good relationship. Oh well, he can have fun trying to rent that thing out above market in a market where there is SO much available to rent. We have the old place through the 31st and I committed us to moving in to the new place on the 15th so that the new couple doesn't lose out on 2 weeks of rent (we really wanted this place- it is so perfect for us right now. It's the best I've seen!) We're doubling up a bit but we are so ready to move up a little bit and we're so excited about the new neighborhood. So, July 14th, we get to do the whole process again. I always get excited because I love to throw stuff away, organize, de-clutter and I actually love the workout of moving. It's exhausting but it is probably the best workout around. I know, I'm a freak but it's fun for me until it's over and then I can barely walk and vow to never move again.