NewPlew

One of the first things I thought of when my wife broke the news to me was “where the heck are we gonna fit a baby in this place?” Our little apartment is barely large enough for Joanna, our cats, and me - where are we gonna fit Zee?

To compound the issue, we had just signed on for another year at our complex. It’s nice and clean, with only the occasional jackass on a Kawasaki disturbing the peace, so we figured - why not?

The why not came in the form of baby Zee. So - what to do? Creep out in the middle of the night a few months down the road, hoping to avoid the costly penalties of breaking our lease? Suck it up and write a check for two month’s rent and lose our deposit when we’re ready to move? I wasn’t sure.

This warranted a visit to the clubhouse to hash things out, so that’s where I went yesterday. I have to admit, they were much more accomodating than what I imagined. They offered to move us over to a two-bedroom unit in our building for a very reasonable price and offered to waive the $300 transfer fee they usually charge for switching apartments (although I wonder how many people actually wind up paying that fee - seems like a tenant retention tactic). I think that’s what we’ll end up doing; it’s definitely the easiest choice in the bunch and I won’t have to worry about getting a fixer-upper house amidst everything else.

A word to the wise - if you’re trying to have a baby, think of these things in advance. It wasn’t smart to sign a long-term contract for a too-small apartment with the prospect of newPlew popping in along the way. It worked out for us this time, but I think we were lucky.