After spending over a month apartment shopping I’ve finally found a new home. I can’t decide if I’ve made a good choice or not. When my manager told me my rent was going up to $825 a month I hesitated, and decided to leave even though I love this apartment.
The apartment is a two bed/two bath, with two large living-room-size spaces, large kitchen, central air, and washer/dryer connections. It was remodeled about two years before I moved in with new appliances and wood laminate flooring. I park in front of my unit every day, and the trash and mail are a few steps away. I have windows and plenty of natural light. Water and cable are included. There isn’t a noise problem, except for the nightclub a block over and sometimes from the college kids in the unit behind mine. It’s really a dream as far as apartments go.
But I’m paying for a guest bedroom that sees guests maybe four times a year, and for a bathroom that hardly ever gets used. Assuming that’s about 30% of the apartment space, I’d be paying about $250 a month for unused space. That’s $3000. I can put my occasional guests up in a good hotel for that, and still save money.
My target rent was $628/month. At that price, the total annual rent + movers would be equal to what I’m paying now. $628 seemed low, however, so I was prepared to go up to $650. I didn’t think it would be difficult, in this college town, to find a one bedroom that met my short list of requirements — cute, decent neighborhood, ground floor, and washer/dryer connections.
I thought, with a late May move-out date, that there would be a ton of properties up for lease. Students would be graduating or moving home for the summer, right? Not so much, I discovered, unless I wanted to deal with a student-focused apartment complex. It seems the big rush in this town is in August. There are some apartments available in May, but not nearly as many as I expected. I also discovered, to my dismay, that one bedroom apartments are rare. I found a few in nice complexes, but they cost more than the $825 I was balking at paying!
All I could find were nice two bedrooms with high rent, or crappy two bedroom duplexes with low rent. Nothing in my sweet spot. After a month of looking I thought maybe I would just stay where I am, but of course the property management company managed to rent the space out while I was dithering.
I didn’t deal well with this uncertainty. For some people a bad apartment is a minor inconvenience, but for me would be highly stressful. Since my social life is nonexistent, It isn’t uncommon for me to come home Friday evening and not leave the apartment until Monday morning. All that time in one place can be difficult, so having a nice space is important.
The stress made me pessimistic and bitchy. It reduced me to tears on more than one occasion. I couldn’t decide what to pack, or what furniture to keep. I spent my evenings obsessively looking at leasings and fretting, imagining myself in a place I hated.
Slowly my list of requirements dwindled and my budget increased. I looked at ten properties, including a $500-a-month 368-square-foot stand-alone efficiency, on a residential lot with two other tiny homes. I could do a tiny home, right? After all I’m all about the latest trend. Thank gods the college kid who had been renting the place allowed it to get so filthy that it scared me off. (Honestly, who moves out, cuts the electric, and leaves food in the fridge?)
That tiny home, while not for me, was a tipping point. Considering that space forced me to re-imagine my life in a smaller apartment, without a washer/dryer or a proper kitchen. It helped me realize I could live without some of the things I thought I needed, which let me broaden my search.
I reexamined units I had rejected early in the search process, including an apartment complex down the street from me that I’ve admired from the outside for years. It’s 1940s or maybe early 50s, has great windows, beautiful brickwork . . . but it never had any vacancy signs outside, so I didn’t know anything about the interior. It also looked pretty run down, but recently I’ve seen signs of revival. Someone stated caring about the landscaping, and power washed the brick. A remodeled unit in the complex came up early in my search for $700/month, and while it was really cute I didn’t call to see the place because it was out of the price range I had at the time, looked like an efficiency, didn’t appear to have washer/dryer connections.
But with my choices dwindling and my move-out day approaching, I hunted down the management company and gave them a call. It turns out they’re remodeling the place, one apartment at a time. They had two units I could see, but they were not remodeled.
I went ahead and looked, mainly out of curiosity. What I found was a run-down space with a charming floor plan, original hardwood floors and light fixtures, and period built-ins. It was larger than I had anticipated, too, with an actual bedroom that didn’t make it into the photos. I liked the vibe of the apartments. The other residents in the complex had personalized the spaces, really making these run-down units into a home. In my unit, for example, a previous tenant had hand drawn a wood pattern on the kitchen cabinets, and affixed bright metal garden ornaments like sunflowers and butterflies to the cabinet doors. I also liked that the management isn’t forcing out the existing residents. They’re slowly remodeling as units become vacant.
The space had a few drawbacks, however, including window air conditioners and no washer/dryer connections. But I’m tired of looking and I like the space, so I’m taking the risky step of signing the lease on Monday, with the understanding that the place will be ready by my move-out date. I’m looking forward to this change!