M.P.

There was a letter in my door last night, several letters in several doors, actually. "As you probably already know leases are up for renewal and you have already guessed I must take a increase due to the never ending increases of insurance and the very near future tax increase that is coming."

The increase of $75 a month takes the total rent amount to sixty five percent of one of my paychecks, or over thirty percent of my monthly bring home. I had expected an increase of $50, but that jump of $75 is gonna hurt a bit.

I have lived in the building for over seven years, and only one tenant has lived here longer than me. For a few years, I helped the former owners manage it. I'm glad for the new landlord, he's a nice guy and takes a lot of pride in the place.

But I think he has reached my tipping point. I have gone on line to the local paper, to Craig's list, and am reaching out to friends to begin a search of apartments in my area. While I am sure there are plenty of apartments in this price range, I have to think that some of them may offer slightly nicer amenities for this price. At the very least, my ignorance of market value of apartments in the area is a hinderance to me, and I'll be looking straight away.

My friend Red has given me the contact number for her former landlord, who had some quite nice apartments with more amenities. His office is closed on Saturday, but I'll ring him straight away Monday morning.

I don't really want to leave. I am a creature of habit, and I have ingrained habits in this place. In addition, it is in a very nice part of town, within walking distance of several great restaurants, and I only share one wall with another tenant. I like the size of it, just ten units, so there is no high rise feel.

But still, his prices have gone up steadily since he bought the place, and there's been no change to my apartment at all. He did add a wash room out back, but at a dollar a wash and a dollar a load, it's more of a convenience than an amenity.

Oh well, we'll see what we can find.