Today was an eventful day, from start to finish.
First, we spruced up the house. The landlord was letting some potential tenants in to view the apartment. We are asking to get out of our lease a month early, so we figure we should make the place as hospitable as possible to attract tenants. The landlord did not raise rent, and with our paint job adding value I think this place is a darn good deal. There has already been a lot of interest so I am optimistic that the place will go for June 1.
The bulk of the day was spent downtown at the Merchandise Mart, a giant art-deco building bordering the Chicago River. We attended the Chicago Bungalow and Green Home Expo, which is more or less a priceless opportunity for contractors to get their business cards out to the yuppies of Chicago. We did pick up a few flyers - we will be in the market for hardwood floor restoration and electrical work in the coming month - but spent more time listening in on a variety of interesting seminars. Splitting up to maximize our information gathering, we learned about grants for energy improvements, plastering, redesigning our second floor, and that vinyl windows are universally despised by home preservationists. It was a good place for us to begin thinking about the material aspects to our new home; both the good - upgrading, restoring, and personalizing our first place - and the bad - permits, bills, and never ending "to do" lists.
This evening, we attended a college performance of Hairspray. A friend from church is in a production, and we ventured out to go support his endeavors. He said he was nervous when he saw us in the audience. So cute! And I have never actually seen the musical (other than snippets of the movie), so that was a plus.
We close on the house in a week; and the baby is due in two. Oh my!
-alan
First, we spruced up the house. The landlord was letting some potential tenants in to view the apartment. We are asking to get out of our lease a month early, so we figure we should make the place as hospitable as possible to attract tenants. The landlord did not raise rent, and with our paint job adding value I think this place is a darn good deal. There has already been a lot of interest so I am optimistic that the place will go for June 1.
The bulk of the day was spent downtown at the Merchandise Mart, a giant art-deco building bordering the Chicago River. We attended the Chicago Bungalow and Green Home Expo, which is more or less a priceless opportunity for contractors to get their business cards out to the yuppies of Chicago. We did pick up a few flyers - we will be in the market for hardwood floor restoration and electrical work in the coming month - but spent more time listening in on a variety of interesting seminars. Splitting up to maximize our information gathering, we learned about grants for energy improvements, plastering, redesigning our second floor, and that vinyl windows are universally despised by home preservationists. It was a good place for us to begin thinking about the material aspects to our new home; both the good - upgrading, restoring, and personalizing our first place - and the bad - permits, bills, and never ending "to do" lists.
This evening, we attended a college performance of Hairspray. A friend from church is in a production, and we ventured out to go support his endeavors. He said he was nervous when he saw us in the audience. So cute! And I have never actually seen the musical (other than snippets of the movie), so that was a plus.
We close on the house in a week; and the baby is due in two. Oh my!
-alan
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