Thanks all.
Yea, sounds like I should just suck it up and buy the appliances if we move into another place. But even now we're struggling to decide whether we should do that. Right now we're paying around $2035 for our small 2/1 apartment. We have a 10x15 storage unit that we pay $192 for keeping all the stuff from our condo that we couldn't fit here... it's a lot of stuff. Price are subject to go up on the storage unit every 6 months; prior we were paying $175 for it as an introductory fee. At the time, our plan was to buy with 6-12months but with everything that has happened, I doubt that's going to happen. So we have a few choices... we can:
A) stay put and continue paying relatively close to what we're paying now with whatever increases that come our way, and keeping our storage unit.
B) move into something slightly bigger (extra bathroom and single port garage space) for a few hundred bucks more, moving some stuff out of storage but still needing to keep storage (this could mean downsizing the storage unit).
C) move into something a little bigger (3 bed 2 bath) for $600-700 more that we could get *most* of the stuff out of storage into but still need storage (maybe a smaller unit though or we just sell or drive it up to my in-laws')
D) move into something way bigger for probably at least $1500 more where we might be able to get everything out of storage into and have a 2-car garage to park our cars so they both aren't getting weather beaten being outside 100% of the time.
The cost of hiring movers to go from A to B (in addition to the time and stress of moving, both from apartment to apartment but also changing storage units, in general) seems like it may not be worth the trouble.
The places we checked out for B are also further away from our son's school, whereas right now the current place is pretty close. The mistake we made was just not moving into a slightly bigger place to begin with, but we were really anticipating not being in this situation for more than a year.
There is a real scarcity of apartments in the immediate area too, which doesn't help. Heck, there was an upstairs 3/2 or 3/3 condo unit with a single port garage that was renting for $3500 (and is already off-market) that would have probably rented for $3000-3200 max last year. At least around here, the market doesn't just suck for buyers. It sucks for renters too. The last two apartment complexes we visited even confirmed that 3 bed places are the scarcest to find, and so even the apartments are renting for $3000-3300 over a 2/2 which may run for $2500-2600 *max*. The best options, it seems, are with privately owned condos/townhomes (option C) but in that case you don't get the full garage. We've found two in these categories so far and one is a $2600 end-unit 3/1.5 townhome with a covered carport and uncovered space (this one is a little further from the school but still in a relatively central location). The other is a $2795 3/2 upstairs condo unit with one single port garage and one uncovered space (this one is a lot closer to the school area)
Edit: I should also mention that we're on the fence with trying for a 3rd. If we do and get pregnant, then moving into a 3 is a definite must