Surprise Moving & Mold during a Pandemic!

So we moved! 

And what a surprise that was.

Let me explain...

Leaving our Loft

For almost 2 years, we have been living in a downtown loft that we loved. It had 15ft ceilings with 12ft windows that offered gorgeous waterfront views.  Aside from being so walkable to the main harbor park and great downtown spots, it sat right on the water. Literally, walk outside the building and you're on the water. It felt so glamorous and fun to live in a place like this while we're still young. It was tiny, but other than that, it was perfect. Or so we thought. 

What Happened? 

Back in February, we had a really rainy month. During this time, I noticed a lot of moisture seeping in through the concrete wall that spans the length of our loft. We reported it to maintenance and were told that the wall needed to be re-sealed. We asked them to take care of this at the start of March, since we were away from home for a week. Well a month of so later, I decided to reorganize our bedroom. You know-quarantine project! When I moved our dresser, I was stunned to find mold behind it. So I began moving more and more furniture and found more and more mold. I contacted our property manager only to find out that she had "forgotten" to have the wall sealed. Sweet lady, but terrible at her job. So a month plus worth of moisture + darkness where the furniture sat = mold. 

Why we chose to Move?

Our beloved downtown trendy loft had turned into a complete nightmare. Fixing the problem would require us re-locating during repairs. We couldn't continue breathing in mold, especially during a respiratory pandemic. But the idea of Husband, myself, and the dog being trapped in some tiny motel room all day for weeks during quarantine would have been miserable. Since we were being asked to move our furniture for the repairs, we figured why not just move the furniture to a different location. So we terminated our lease.

Now What? 

The reality set in that we had just broken our lease and had absolutely nowhere to go. We spent the next two days scouring the internet and making phone calls, trying to find a place. As you might imagine, many places didn't even respond, oh because you know-the world is shut down during this pandemic. And most of the places that did respond, didn't have the immediate availability that we needed.

Where are we Now? 

At first, we fully intended to move into another downtown apartment. Ultimately the time crunch, forced us to consider options that weren't originally on our radar...including rental houses. We found that our best option was to move to the cutest 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom rental house. So we've given up the downtown lifestyle and now live in the suburbs. But we have doubled our space (at the same rent as our loft) and are now even closer to the beach. Basically, we're ok with it.