New real estate reporter tries to find an apartment in San Diego.
I didn’t cry while searching for a San Diego apartment , but I came close. Moving to the city on a Sunday night, I had a five-day reservation at a Motel 6 and needed to find an apartment fast . I also had my 6-year-old tabby cat with me and a new job as real estate reporter for the San Diego Union -Tribune to start the next day. I was fairly confident I’d find a place quickly because in the last decade I had managed to get apartments in London, Chicago, San Francisco, New York City, rural New Jersey, Northeast Pennsylvania and, most recently, Monterey. Not only did San Diego turn out to be the most difficult, it made me change nearly everything I thought I wanted. My criteria was a one- bedroom apartment near the beach that allows cats, a rent of no more than $1,200 and was fairly close to work. To say the least, I stayed at the Motel 6 longer than expected. Ignorance of what neighborhood I was in most of the time was exacerbated only by a rental market that has seen prices increase...