Renting

Acquaintances know Janett and I are now engaged in seeking a new apartment. We've been very happy in the current premises, the second floor of a very large house, complete with a ten by twelve roofed porch where we could enjoy a pretty day, chat and drink coffee. Janett is somewhat agorophobic and sometimes has anxiety attacks, so the porch was an easy way to get out of the house without having to deal with people, and she enjoyed tending a garden of potted plants.
Our landlord, (like our previous landlord) apparently overextended himself in the boom days, and ran into trouble. He probably hasn't made a mortgage payment in a year and the building is on the the sherriff's auction block. Janett, while saddened, is accepting, suggesting that this is God's way of helping us cut our rental expense before we start relying on social security for most of our income in January.
We'd like to rent a two bedroom for under $900 per month. That may sound unrealistic but remember we live in Elgin where such things are possible. So far we've considered three options, having looked at 5 or six other options that were unsuitable due to lack of space, a ban on pets, or some other reason. The three options priced out at roughly $700, $800, and $900. I think yesterday we eliminated the middle option, an apartment in a four flat, nice building, nice neighborhood, nice landlord, but not overly spacious, priced a little below market due to the time of year. Janett had an anxiety attack while looking at the apartment which suggests she felt a little crowded.
The upper rent place is right around the corner from our current address, newly renovated, not quite as commodious as our place here, but on the first floor. We sent the landlord an application and expect to hear back any day now.
We're not hounding him because we haven't yet been able to arrange a visit to the third and lowest priced option, the second floor of an older home on the other side of the river. The building appears well kept, but is not as large as the more expensive unit. We've driven by a couple times and Janett says she likes the neighborhood well enough, and has a good feeling about it. The realtor says the former tenant has not turned in the keys, and she's arranging for a locksmith to come out and change the locks so she can show the place. I told her we had another application pending and would appreciate her calling to let us know as soon as the unit is available for viewing, which she said she would do.
I think we'd be happy enough with the premises around the corner, and it would be less expensive than our current residence since here we pay all utilities, and there would pay only for electricity, but it would be nice to feel sure we'd made the best choice. I guess we're a little nervous and unsettled, but not really stressed out yet over the search. One small concern is that the utilities here might soon be shut off since the landlord has stopped asking us for our payments and presumably has stopped paying the bills.:o(
We hope a few close friends and relatives will be feeling the need on Nov 1 to work off the snickers bars, and I suspect they would vote that we move to the first floor around the corner.

PS. The around the corner rental features a little room across the hallway from our front door, which would serve nicely as a home office should we want to spend an extra 50 or 60 dollars per month. Hmmmm?