Open houses and running

I went to three open houses in Bed Stuy this weekend.

I saw one place that I loved but the part of the neighborhood it was in was right in the middle of the projects. It was a 1BR with 1.5 bath. It was huge and beautiful. I could see all of my stuff fitting in it SO nicely. However, I felt uncomfortable in the neighborhood in the middle of the day on a Sunday, so no.

The next place was in a beautiful building with tons of amenities. The neighborhood was happening, it had lots of financial perks, and a communal rooftop balcony. Unfortunately, it was tiny. Like really, really tiny. I wouldn't be able to fit my a couch, a TV, a murphy bed and my elliptical in it, much less my pottery wheel, Brady's stuff, a sewing machine, etc. IF the storage units were included instead of for sale in the building, I might still have considered it.

The clear front-runner was a 1BR with exposed brick walls, a galley kitchen with tons of cabinets. a built in bookshelf and high ceilings. I wasn't expecting to like the apartment. I was going to see it just cause I could, but I wound up really liking it. The only down side is that I'm really unsure of the neighborhood over there. If I walked to one corner, it looked kind if ghetto. If I walked to the other corner it looked kind of nice. I know the whole neighborhood is on the rise so any of these three would be a good investment, but I still have to live there until that happens.

Decisions decisions... I'm going to have my sister drive me around the neighborhood and that specific block after dark. I want to see what the park is like and what the neighborhood in general is like once the sun goes down. I may ask to go back and take another look at it.

In the mean time, I'm planning to let my realtor know that I want to keep looking and I want to expand our search to include other neighborhoods.

On a different note, I started running this morning. I was able to do two minutes, walk one minute and run the last two, sprinting the last 15 seconds. I think I could have kept going but I couldn't get my breathing to a good rhythm and I don't want to push myself too hard a wind up hating the whole experience. Baby steps.