I've been helping my son Taraz look for an apartment. He would prefer to live in a house with room-mates, and share a kitchen, livingroom and bath. He's done that before, with several different living arrangements, always enjoying the group experience.
We've looked at one place already, a basement apartment in a good location about four blocks away. It was an apartment that had a kitchen, bathroom, and two separate bedrooms - no livingroom. So the small bedroom would be Taraz's living space.
It had no screen on the bedroom window,and that poses a safety hazard - anyone could crawl through there in the summertime, at night, and take his stuff. I mentioned to the landlord that it needed a screen - and he said, "yeah, you could get one."
The landlord had not repaired a hot water faucet in the bathroom sink, so everytime the sink was used it had to be turned on, under the sink. I felt that a landlord getting a place ready for occupancy would have something like that taken care of before renting to someone. It would be a nuisance to operate it like that.
The landlord had also left the front door and a window wide open, to air the place out. That seemed unusual, as if he was attempting to get rid of a bad odor. No heat was available in the bedrooms, and when I pointed this out to my son, the landlord said, "you could get a space heater".
I asked how long the apartment had been 'for rent', and the landlord said, "for three months". So, I asked how long the other tennant had lived there, and the landlord said, "for three months." So, what was it about this apartment that had delayed renting the other room? I inquired again about the other tennant, and the landlord said "he is about 50, retired, and is gone ALL DAY. He is rarely home."
I felt reservations about this apartment. Naturally, I worried about it as I was trying to sleep. When Taraz came downstairs to have breakfast the next morning, I told him I didn't think the place was a good choice. We need to keep looking. I thought the 50 year old tennant was probably the deciding factor as to why the other room can't get rented.
I could be totally wrong here, but I kept imagining someone getting SSI, a mental disability check. I see a number of mentally ill men walking up and down 6th Avenue, talking to themselves, unkempt, wearing a winter coat in August. They spend the entire day walking. It doesn't occur to them to bathe, shave or put on clean clothes. A broken faucet in a sink would not be a problem... The lack of heat in a bedroom wouldn't be noticed....
I didn't feel comfortable about that basement apartment. We will continue looking. Taraz has some more addresses lined up. I'm imagining something on a second floor level, a place of his own. Maybe something near his brother Rahmat, downtown. I want him to have a nice little place of his own - something that won't keep me awake at night, worrying over him. A safe, warm, friendly place that feels like home. We'll be apartment hunting again today, with the hope we find something.
