A Tale of Two Apartments

It is a hot, muggy, 90-some degree day in Adana, Turkey. The date is August 2006. Jake (my brother) and I are in search of a furnished, three bedroom apartment. A realtor tells us there is one available. We look at the apartment. Its in a great location and a good sized apartment, but that's as far as the positive list goes. Its dirty (very dirty,) old, painted green and yellow, one of the bedrooms is locked shut, has a small bathroom, but, all things considered, livable. We take the apartment, considering it is the only furnished apartment in the neighborhood.

Last year, had many adventures in the moving-in process, countless hours spent opening electricity, phone lines and ADSL, countless hours spent waiting for electricians and phone guys to come hook up the stuff, many problems with neighbors and people in our building, a very very cold winter, and my roommates had to move out half-way through the year for a month due to a mold invasion. Altogether, it was an incredibly misearable experience. And I haven't even mentioned the complete doctor's office that was shoved into the locked bedroom, which we got to clean out.

It is now 2007 in Adana, Turkey. We are in search of a new, un-furnished apartment. We check out three great apartments in the area, all of which are new, clean, spacious, and very attractive, all in their own way. We had a great experience with our realtors and chose an apartment. Meeting with our landlord went amazingly smoothly. During the time with him, he told us the electicity and water can stay registered in his name. He lives in the same building, so if we have any problems, we can contact him extremely easily. Great location, new building, no waiting, no mold, and very few surprises. The only surprises so far have been great, God-sent type surprises.

We are extremely happy and extremely comfortable in the new place. We keep comparing the experiences and thinking about how completely different the moving in process has been so far. I feel like we've been paid back in full for the heartache that was last year's experience!