Fresh Beginnings

For almost 8 years, Ramat Beit Shemesh has been my home. In that time the city has grown and changed a lot. Often for the better and sometimes, not so much. As much as I have enjoyed living here, it has been clear that our family needs a fresh start. 

For over a year, Peri and I have been actively searching for the best place for our family.  Our first choice was a community with a very limited rental market. That left us open to also considering some of the surrounding neighbourhoods.  We had a back up plan in case we could not find suitable home. 

For the past month we have been making multiple trips checking out apartments. A lot of the apartments were too small, re-emphasizing how lucky we are to be in a large apartment, even by the standards of this neighbourhood. 

One apartment I have started referring to as the Mafia building. The apartment was gorgeous. The 18 page lease was filled with clauses keeping the owner in full control of the apartment even though it was being rented. We negotiated most of them out of the lease. The clause that we should pay the structural insurance on the entire building as the deal breaker. We didn't even go as far as him wanting to have the insurance (including content insurance) to be with his insurance company with his name on the policy.  We decided not to enter a lease with an over-controlling, abusive owner.

Another one was a nice sized apartment that was not finished being built. It didn't have a bathtub or electricity. They hadn't applied for the Tofes 4 (building completion certificate) and it wasn't certain the electricity could be turned on before the move in date. The owners want to sell and were looking at renting as a possibility to eventually initiate a sale. The biggest selling point was the illegally built and walled in 120m of living space that could be opened up, upon purchase. In the end, there were too many variables in the air and it also fell through.

Yesterday, morning we signed a lease for our apartment in Kiryat Shumel. It is located in the flat part of Haifa, north of the city. The building is only 3 years old. One of the things that really impressed us, was how well thought out the apartment and the building was. It is going to be a great place for our family to get a fresh start. 

The keys to our future, without shlissel challah.

Every time I have been to Kiryat Shmuel I have fallen more and more in love with the community. I do have some fears about leaving the comforts of a community that has been really supportive over the years and ongoing. We need to be able to step outside of our comfort zones, if we want to grow and become better people. This move gives every single member of my family the best opportunity to grow and be the best that they can be. A fresh start is really exciting.