Got a call from our realtor today to confirm that we've been accepted as tenants to a townhouse in Claremont. Townhouses seem to be a common way to live down there. We'll be in a corner unit in a community of 35 townhouses, with a pool, walkable to Claremont's downtown Village. We've already met a few of the neighbors, including Alvis next door who hangs out in his garage supervising the area when he's not out cruising the Village on his Harley.
Wikipedia has some interesting things to say about Claremont. The short of it is that about 40,000 people live there, it gets about 16" of rain per year, it's located about 30 miles east of L.A. and is otherwise known as the "City of trees and Ph.D.s"--there are 7 colleges in Claremont. Our new place is located about 2 miles from my school in Pomona.
Housing isn't all that cheap. We didn't want to spend any more than $1,800/month, but most of the rental options are found within the $2,100-$2,500 range for a townhouse or a house. Even a 2 BR 2 Ba apartment can run $1,700--and we were really trying to avoid apartment life. We were able to score this townhouse for $1,575.
What does that get us? It gets us almost double the square footage that we live in now: 1,499 sq. ft., 2 BR 2 1/2 Ba and a 2 car garage (half of which is now officially Man's World) with a groundskeeper. The ceilings are very tall--quite an improvement on our little Hobbit house with its 7'6" ceilings. I am relieved that I have no yard to take care of, just a patio and some flower beds. And a huge plastic puma. (?!)
But it won't be easy, either. It'll be hard to trade our Tiny House where we have made everything perfect for ourselves and live in some one else's house with pretty basic amenities.
Then again, it's only for 2 years, and we'll get used to the extra space FAST.
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