Living in Southern California, and in Los Angeles in particular, like many folks, we live in an apartment.  For the most part, we love our apartment (except in the heat of the summer when we don’t have AC).  We’re in a nice, quiet location.  The apartment itself is a good size and a decent floor plan.

But…

(and you knew there had to be a “but”)

Sometimes our landlords can drive us crazy.  You see, they live upstairs, and her crazy (yes, truly and honestly) 95+ year old mother lives nextdoor.  The weekly calls to remind me to clean up after my dog when I already do clean up after my dog (mind you, I don’t clean up after the other 20 or so dogs that come through our yard) are really getting old – almost as old as the old calls about how our computers used to make so much noise they were waking the crazy lady nextdoor.  Uh, yeah, okay.

Basically, we’re the only ones in the unit that rent.  Subsequently, we’re also the only one that pays the mortgage, since we’re the only one that generates some income.  But that’s neither here nor there.  Sadly, we’re also the only ones in the unit that aren’t allowed to do ANYTHING.

We can’t install an AC unit in the bedroom or hang shades to help block the western sun that effects half our apartment and brings our indoor temps to 90 degrees even with the shitty AC.  We can’t get a new stove/oven that actually works the way it should.  We can’t grow a few potted herbs or a tomato plant outside.  We can’t paint the walls (tough shit on that one…after three years of living here they’d have to repaint anyway – so I told him I was doing it and did it).  We can’t use our second bedroom after 9:00pm as the crazy old lady complains.  We can’t watch TV too loud, or play music too loud.  We can’t have a washer and dryer – nor will they allow us to use their unit in the garage.

Needless to say, after six years, it’s getting old.  But because of the crazy old lady and all the crap they put us through in the early years, our rent is quite cheap for the market.  So we stay.  We stay and hope that the crazy lady finally passes (as I’m sure her daughter and son-in-law, our landlords do as well), so we can maybe look into buying the place, having been told that they want to sell once she’s gone.  We stay knowing that we’re saving money each month and can save more to buy a home.  We stay hoping the current housing crisis continues (as do many, many Los Angelinos who hope to someday buy a home).

We stay because I hate moving with a passion.

But basically, apartment living kind of sucks.  No matter how nice the area is and how affordable the rent can be.