Thursday, Feb 18, 2016

We went and looked at another condo to potentially rent today. It was the “penthouse” but there are some important considerations before moving into a top floor unit of a building. The big one is whether or not the roof leaks.

The problem is this, if the maintenance is not kept up on the exterior of a building, including the roof, it will be the penthouse that suffers…at least from leaks. Lower level units are protected from this.

The unit we looked at had some recent peeling of the plaster on the ceiling. A few days ago we had rain and I assume there is moisture getting into the unit that caused this.

The balcony had a beautiful view looking toward the river and northward up the ocean. And balcony location creates another consideration: does the balcony and the interior of the unit face the breeze off the ocean or not. The balcony on this unit was on the back of the building from the ocean side.

The balcony is thus protected from the ocean breeze. In the winter I guess this is a plus because the air can have a chill that makes the balcony not very use-able if it’s ocean facing. Right now though, with the heat, chilly air is hard to imagine!

The bigger issue for me is that there is no way to create a breeze running through the unit because of its location on the back side of the building. This unit also did not have any AC, so it could get very hot.

Based on the potential for leaks and the lack of breeze, this unit will not work out for us, but I was happy to be able to see it and get a better idea of exactly what we want, need, and are looking for. I am a view guy, and I want a full on view of the ocean…so I am trusting one of these units will show up for us in a price range we are willing to pay.

We went over to Don and Donna’s and had a cooking lesson from Donna, “How to make hot pepper sauce”. Not that difficult, and having had Donna’s pepper sauce, I know how good it is! We can’t wait to make it.

She also made crab cakes and invited us for lunch with her and Don. So I was triple blessed today…good company, great food, and a fantastic view of the ocean!

Chao!