Found it!

Last Thursday, I was starting to get kind of worried about this whole finding a place to live thing. Despite having offered up what seemed like it would be a perfect option, my realtor was not returning my calls about actually seeing the place. Everything I'd looked at had fallen short of my expectations. Especially in the "quality of neighborhood" department. So finally, I went to the part of town I wanted to live in, and just started driving around looking for signs. I actually found one, and only one. You can imagine my surprise when the woman at the number on the sign said that the rent was actually in my price range. I set up a time to meet her and see the house on Saturday. J and I did our best to be charming and look like upstanding citizens who pay our bills on time and don't throw keggers, which is mostly true. We made sure to mention that he'll be parking his squad car in the driveway and that our current landlords will give excellent references. The woman kept saying how we looked like just the kind of couple they were looking for. We filled out an application, and she promised to call us on Monday after she'd checked our credit.

Now, we both know that we have excellent credit. The aforementioned realtor raved about my credit score after my last rental application. We've both bought cars in the last six months. Toyota was satisfied enough with each of our credit to give us each a five digit loan for really quite reasonable rates. Surely we're also qualified to rent a house. So there was really no reason to worry.

But I did. I was sure that something was going to go wrong. Like she'd get a better application before Monday, or a glitch would ruin our credit, or she'd suddenly decide that we weren't so charming as all that and we'd end up living in the ghettos of Cambridge forever. Last night on my way to jellytime, J called. I answered, and he said that the homeowner had called. I was sure something was wrong because we'd given her my number as our primary contact. Also, it wasn't Monday yet. But it was just a dialing error. She was calling to tell us that our credit was impressive and that she'd be happy to have us as tenants. I'm meeting her to put down a deposit on Wednesday, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Here are some stats and other impressive features:
3 bedrooms
1 bath
1 "family room" that we will call the "home office"
brand new appliances including:
washer and drier
refrigerator
stove/oven
DISHWASHER AND GARBAGE DISPOSAL
Basement with a seriously serious work bench
Covered carport (not a garage, but just as good in the snow)
Brand new shed
Riding lawnmower
~1/3 acre yard (I think. I'm sure it's bigger than my parents' 1/4 acre)
Really impressively large tree
DOCK on the creek that opens on to the river

It's like a house for real people.