Settling in a new place is always...interesting to say the least. There are good aspects: the staff and faculty at CMC have been great about helping me learn the ropes and get up to speed on the local system.
But there are always bad aspects too. Most baffling is my new faculty housing. In many respects it is a wonderful small two bedroom house: the air conditioning is both effective and quiet, and the blinds are great. On the other hand, the laundry room isn't wide enough. Sure, it has both electric and gas hookups for a dryer, but the room physically lacks about four inches needed to fit a washer or dryer in there. This is the kind of thing you'd like a think a builder would know about.
So today I took my second trip to the laundromat. Not much to say there, as like most things in Claremont, the Coin-Op Laundry is clean, sunny, and modern. After a year or two of tramping over there I might feel differently, but for now it seems better than the last time I used a laundromat regularly by a wide margin.
Showing posts with label Claremont. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Claremont. Show all posts
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
A room of my own
At last, it appears that I will no longer be homeless in Claremont!
Claremont-McKenna has some faculty housing available, houses that they rent for 20% below market value. Once you start renting, you have to stay for at least a year, but you are allowed to stay for several years if needed. Today their agent wrote me and indicated that a nice little two bedroom had become available that will suit my needs just fine. Awesome!
My goal, given current prices, is to save up a new down payment for a home as quickly as possible. Half of my previous down payment was invested in stocks--so took a big hit this last year. Moreover, I was saving for a home in Durham, while homes in Claremont seem to run about 60% above value.
Ironically, rents in Claremont are somewhat more in line with Durham, which means that after the 20% discount, I might even be paying slightly less than I did for my apartment here.
There have been issues in the past with getting into faculty housing at CMC, but fortunately with the fall in housing prices many have been leaving the rentals in order to take advantage of the prices. My hope: after a year of saving I'll have an understanding of Claremont and its neighboring towns enough to purchase a home and finally install that sweet sweet home theatre system I've longed for lo these many years. It's good to dream.
Claremont-McKenna has some faculty housing available, houses that they rent for 20% below market value. Once you start renting, you have to stay for at least a year, but you are allowed to stay for several years if needed. Today their agent wrote me and indicated that a nice little two bedroom had become available that will suit my needs just fine. Awesome!
My goal, given current prices, is to save up a new down payment for a home as quickly as possible. Half of my previous down payment was invested in stocks--so took a big hit this last year. Moreover, I was saving for a home in Durham, while homes in Claremont seem to run about 60% above value.
Ironically, rents in Claremont are somewhat more in line with Durham, which means that after the 20% discount, I might even be paying slightly less than I did for my apartment here.
There have been issues in the past with getting into faculty housing at CMC, but fortunately with the fall in housing prices many have been leaving the rentals in order to take advantage of the prices. My hope: after a year of saving I'll have an understanding of Claremont and its neighboring towns enough to purchase a home and finally install that sweet sweet home theatre system I've longed for lo these many years. It's good to dream.
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