FOUND: Home Sweet Home!

Hooray! We found a great apartment and have rented starting July 7th. Today's paper indeed had many Marburg postings and we circled and called about many. Because we have a limited amount of funds to throw at rent, we widened our search area to the villages outside of Marburg.

We were able to set up an appointment with one down the street from the church first, so off we went. It was so great that afterwards we reviewed our list and said that anything better would have to be even closer to town and be nicer. Nothing on our list met the requirements, everything was further away or considerably more expensive.

There were so many positive things about this place: it actually has a yard - front and back- with tons of flowers, it has 2 balconies, a great view of the valley and castle, it's a very short bike ride/drive down the same street to the church, grocery store, city center, etc. The bus stop is 50ft. from the front door. We're also able to buy a nice, new, large, fridge from the previous owners (ok, large compared to the average German fridge), extra storage he built into the kitchen, and possibly a massive bookshelf that he'd had to send through one of the balconies when he moved in. The other tennents were nice, the basement has a storage locker for us and plenty of room for washer (and possibly a dryer?!), the exterior garage has ample storage space for any bikes we obtain, etc.

We decided to take it. The landlord and his wife met us at the apartment in the afternoon and we signed a preliminarly lease with him. Next week we will go to their house to sign the official lease documents and, as he put it, share a bottle of wine or so. They were vey nice and liked that Stefan had a job as a teacher; the landlord is also a teacher.

I think the thing that gave us the greatest assurance was that when we went to see it for the first time, we were being shown around by the current tennent. Sam is British and his wife is German - so right away we had a lot in common. I was particularly glad to have a lot of freedom in discussing things in English! As we toured the first room Stefan noticed an N.T. Wright book and, upon asking, made the discovery that this guy was studying at a local bible college just down the street. So we all had a LOT more in common that we realized and I think we've made some friends in the process. Sam is actually on rotation to preach a couple of times at the English service that we'll attending at Christustreff! Who knew?! (well, no need to answer that.. ;) All that to say that earned him a huge amount of credibility and he spoke frankly about everything - again, all in English, so it was really a super interaction!

So, we have 3 rooms, kitchen, bath. It's 68 square meters. To an American we have: a kitchen (tiny, but good storage, not eat-in), a living room, 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom. Our little bathroom was made into 2 rooms at some point, so we actually have a room with just a toilet and tiny sink, and another room with a sink and bathtub/shower. The two bedrooms are a good size, one for us, and one for Stefan's office and guest room. The third room will be the living room - it has a gorgeous view of the valley and castle and a balcony overlooking all the pretty backyards of the neighborhood. Our bedroom shares the same yard/castle views. The office also has a nice balcony overlooking the front yard and the street. It's 732 sq.ft.

For those of you who knew: yes, it comes with all the kitchen cabinets, and yes, we have a floor! and yes, we will have to get all new ceiling fixtures/lights. We are allowed to paint and do not have to change the German base-wallpaper, just make it white again before we leave. PHEW!

What a relief to have the housing done, and done so well! Our move in date is the first day of Stefan's summer holidays, also perfect!

We are planning on getting a second opinion on the car repairs....blah. At least the housing seems pretty infallible!