My name is Richard and I own the house at 16 Eames Ave., where the apartment you're interested in is located. I am working overseas (although I spend the summers and other periods in Amherst), and although I do have a T-Mobile phone number you could call, I MUCH prefer you don't: it costs $2/minute to talk to you! I would rather you do the following:
1. Read this Web page closely
2. Send me an EMAIL, to: gassan@history.umass.edu
(please state in the subject line that you're interested in the apartment)
Tell me a bit about yourself, and, most crucially, what your phone number is and when I can get a hold of you. I'll send you an acknowledgement.
3. I'll then pass your name and number to my house's manager, Mike, who rents a room in the main house and who will be responsible for collecting the rent from you. (Mike is a graduate student in history.) You and Mike will coordinate looking at the place.
4. After you've seen the place, and if you're still interested, please send me another email stating your continued interest and we can go from there. I'll probably call you back to chat with you using some very cheap Internet software. (Why? Well, I live in the house attached to the apartment for around four months of the year and I'd rather get a sense of who you are.)
5. The apartment costs $600/month, ALL UTILITIES INCLUDED (except, of course, your telephone): heat, water, electric, snow removal, and a wi-fi Internet connection. You also get a parking space in the garage. And there's a washer and dryer in the basement of the main house, accessible through a door in the apartment. (Note, though, that if you somehow abuse the washer and dryer privileges I reserve the right to withhold them.)
6. NOTE: This is a VERY SMALL SPACE. The entire apartment, including the bathroom and kitchen area, is twenty feet long by ten feet wide.
7. NO DOGS. YES to cats. NO other pets, please. (Why no dogs? There are several irresponsible dog owners in the neighborhood who allow their dogs to run free. This has caused problems in the past. Yes, I've talked to them. No, they've not changed. Yes, they're otherwise very nice people. Cats can run away from them - both the dogs and the people.)
8. YOU should be: older (graduate student or non-traditional undergraduate), non-smoking, QUIET, friendly, and able to live in a small, small space. (There is some storage available, but not a heck of a lot.)
9. To secure the place, I will need a check for the first month's rent PLUS the last month's rent PLUS a security deposit of $250. So that's a check for $600+$600+$250=$1450.
You will sign a lease for a year (June 2008 to June 2009), but if circumstances demand that you need to leave at the END of a semester (only!) you can let me know and we can work out something.
10. If everything's all good, then please drop the check off for $1450 with Mike, and you're good to go!
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Want to look at the place after all that? Really? Okayyy....
--> click on the pictures to get a larger version <--
Okay! So here's some of the particulars. First, where it is (look for the green arrow on the right):
As you can see, it's very, very close to campus. However, although this map doesn't show it, standing between my house and the university is a rather large hill. The house is surrounded by trees. It's very, very quiet; the nearest neighbors seem very far away, indeed.
Now, what it looks like from the outside:
And what the house it's attached to looks like:
(the apartment's on the left, just behind the hemlock tree.)
Okay... So what's it like inside. Right: SMALL. But ... nice.
...this is how one of the tenants arranged the place. That's the living area, looking to the left. In this photo, I took a half-step forward and snapped to the right:
The kitchen looks like this:
(It's the view you get when you open the door...)
And the view toward the bathroom area (once back inside the apartment) looks like this:
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All right. I'll look forward to your email.
