Eureka! We found it!

Not really in Eureka, but San Mateo. We were a little depressed about what we saw as our options for peninsula apartments, but we decided to go out for one more day of viewing this weekend. We looked at a few places:

(1) 9:00AM: a very large, bright 2-story apartment with hardwood floors throughout, a big kitchen, and some tacky extras, such as mirrors glued to several walls as accent decor, cottage cheese ceilings, and 2 "bonus rooms" (patios that have been enclosed with walls and windows). This is a 2 bed/1.5 bath, totally clean with tons of storage space.
But more on the bonus rooms: the front is about 5'x10' and has very 70s golden-orange-brown carpeting. The back is about 4'x8' and is only screened in (the sliding glass door wasn't to code, so they took out the sliding part and left the screen glued in place) with very tasteful green astroturf.

(2) 10:30AM: a sketchy duplex on the train tracks, sharing its neighborhood with a six-plex whose "courtyard" was covered in trash and old toys. We missed our appointment here.

(3) 10:45AM: Lakeshore Landing - now, www.ApartmentRatings.com warned us against renting here, because of bad parking and worse management. We thought we knew better - after all, we were always treated very well by our guide, Hilary. This was our third visit to the complex, and her tune had definitely changed. She sighed heavily when she stood up to show us around, and she only told us about one available apartment in the complex. Just the week before, there were 5 or so in our price range. We thought, "Wow, this place rents fast!" Well, while we were sitting there trying to figure out what to do, Hilary's co-worker comes over and says, "But, what about that apartment with a partial water view?" And Hilary sounded irked but said, "Oh, that tenant JUST gave notice.." The shady part is that Hilary had already mentioned that same unit to us the week before, one of the 5 available in our price range. Long story short, we walked away feeling like we'd seen her true colors, and that ApartmentRatings.com is right, again. Post there, whether you had a positive or negative experience -- it will help people to make the right decision.

So at about noon, we went home and sat around, depressed, wondering if we should even go back to our next appointment, at 2:30pm. We went, and what we saw was...

(4) 2:30PM: a gorgeous apartment. Gorgeous. Two bedroom, 2 full bathrooms. Totally clean, all new appliances, vaulted ceiling in living room, stylish light fixture in dining area, lots of greenery outside the windows, pretty terra cotta-tiled balcony backing up to a hill (no loud neighbors in the back). Off the street (quiet), and across the residential, 2-lane street from a sweet shopping center (Safeway, Longs Pharmacy, vet hospital, bakery, etc.)...

So we had a lot to think about. Numbers (2) and (3) were out. Number (1) offered slightly cheaper rent, some utilities, and a reasonable security deposit, but with no views to speak of, and had those crazy bonus rooms which I might be embarassed to show to friends. Number (4) offered EVERYTHING, perfect, but had an extortionately high security deposit, and the manager couldn't confirm that the owner would allow pets (we'll have one cat).

By 8:00PM, we had decided to go with number (1), on the condition that the owner allow us to change the flooring in the front bonus room from carpet to tile. We went to see her Sunday morning, and she consented, so we applied and gave her our security deposit. She said she's 99% sure we'll have it, but she needs to run the credit check anyway, and will let us know Tuesday... which is today. I'll keep you posted!