Yay! I’m less of a freak than I thought I was!
I have generally required far less sleep than my friends, and it has baffled many. My natural sleep pattern, when left to my own devices and without obligations, is from about 2am until 8am. I wake up energized and find that I can be fully productive within about 2-3 minutes. I don’t really nap during the day unless I’ve had a very physically strenuous or psychologically stressful day, and I have generally seemed to have more energy in general than most folks. When I was in middle school, I went for about a 6 month period only sleeping from midnight until 2 or 3am. In high school I used to sleep from about midnight until 4am.
I’m glad to see that this is not entirely unusual. It’s rare, but at least I now know that I’m not utterly destroying my health as so many people have suggested that I am, over the years. It’s not insomnia – believe me, there are nights when I have had that, and it’s different – it’s just that I naturally wake up after a shorter period of sleep than most people, and am more energized when I do.
For those of you who have wondered how I live a life where my average daily to-do list contains 18 items (recently I had one with 42 items on it), this should shed a little bit of light on the answer.
A few weeks ago I helped my best friend and her boyfriend with apartment hunting, as they are moving to our area. It was quite an ordeal, but we found them a place and I found a new place as well (in the same building!). Apartment hunting is always a form of torture (even though I love seeing floorplans) and afterward, I started brainstorming about writing up a post to help people with this process. For sake of organization, I’ve broken it down into various stages:
The Hunt
So you have decided to move – congrats! Moving is often rewarding and refreshing, but it is also a ginormous task. The biggest, in many ways, is the first step: Finding a place.
Priorities
The first things you need to think about when moving to a new place are your priorities. If you don’t have a list, make one now. Make sure your list of priorities is itself in order of priority. Some things may be non-negotiable, but others might be a strong preference that could be set aside if you found a place without it that was otherwise awesome. For example, I’ll give you my friends’ list:
- Close to a metro stop. Must-have.
- 1bdrm under $1600 after all fees. Must have.
- Allows medium-sized dogs. Strong preference.
- Quiet area. Preference
Since my friends only have one car, it was absolutely necessary that they be within a walkable distance or short (5min or less) bus ride of a metro stop. This one is non-negotiable, as it would affect their livelihoods. Also necessary was the rent price – one of them is a grad student, the other is a public school teacher, so affordable rent is also crucial, otherwise things could be tighter than they’d prefer. My friends also hope to get a dog, so they really were looking for a place that would allow something of moderate size. They also are quiet folks, so they were looking for something with more of a neighborhood/residential feel than a city-style place.
This list of priorities ended up coming in handy for many reasons. For one, it allowed them to quickly and easily eliminate potential apartments if they lacked either of the first two items or more than one of the second two. It also allowed them to see that not everything was as important as the others. For example, they ended up choosing an apartment that did not allow dogs but that offered them a 2bdrm place for $1550 in a quiet area only half a mile from a metro stop, with good management. They were disappointed about not being able to get a dog, but decided that the other positives of their chosen site outweighed their desire for a dog.
There are many things to consider when thinking about what you’re looking for in a place to live, so if you need some help brainstorming your list of priorities, here are a few things you may want to think about:
- Public Transportation: Do you need your place to be close to the bus/subway/train? Will you or your partner be using public transportation daily, occasionally, or rarely? If you need to use the subway daily, do you need to be within walking distance or can you deal with a bus ride to the station?
- Rent: There should be two numbers here – one is the rent that you’re looking for, and the other is the slightly higher number that is the maximum you might be willing to pay for a really great place. Having this second number will keep you from being pressured into agreeing to an awesome place that is actually out of your price range. Don’t forget to figure in fees like pet rent, parking, etc. They add up fast.
- Proximity: How close are restaurants, parks, major thoroughfares, schools, or bars? If you have a long drive to work, you will want to be near a road that will get you there, if you have a kid you should look at what schools or daycares are nearby, if you like the outdoors you should look into local parks.
- City vs. Suburb vs. Country: What kind of environment do you want to live in? Do you want to be able to walk out your door and have shops and clubs right outside your door, or would you rather live a little further out in exchange for a lower crime rate, a more quiet environment, and more trees? If you already work in the suburbs, think about living even further out – the countryside can often offer good apartments at a fraction of the cost that a place in the city or suburbs would be. That said, if you’re going to have to commute into the city every day, you might want to look into just moving there – it will save you money and stress.
- Apartment Type: Do you want to live in a highrise? A loft? A garden apartment? Somebody’s house? Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. Highrises are often nicer than garden-style (two-story complexes with ground-level patios) places, but they don’t typically allow pets, and you will have to lug your groceries from your car to the elevator, which can be annoying. Lofts can be hip, but they’re also expensive and typically have disproportionately large heating and cooling bills and are typically (though not always) found only in downtown areas. Garden-style apartments often offer a little more privacy (since you have your own entrance) and a more “neighborhood” feel due to the increased greenspace, as well as typically being the style that allows pets, but they are generally found only in the suburbs or countryside. Don’t overlook renting out an apartment in someone’s house (basement units, attic units, detached houses, etc) – it can often be cheaper and more flexible than a managed apartment, and you can find them pretty much anywhere.
- Complex Type: Do you want to live in a big complex with hundreds of units or somewhere smaller? Larger sites will offer more amenities (large pools, tennis courts, etc) but smaller sites will have a more homey feel and likely better response time to maintenance requests.
- If you’re a student or otherwise low-earner, you might want to look into rent controlled/”affordable housing” apartments. These usually have income restrictions that place a top limit on the amount of income you make. Often these are not quite as nice as your average apartment complex, but they’re often fine, and sometimes they can even be really excellent – in some cities, a percentage of all new apartments built must be set aside as “affordable housing”, so you may be able to snag a fancy loft place for half the price your neighbors pay, if you’re savvy. You may also be able to make your rent really affordable if you have a low-paying job now but know that you will have a higher-paying one in the future. Most places don’t ask for statements of income any time other than on your application, so as long as you qualify at the time you sign the lease, you’re golden – you can get a job two weeks later that pays twice what you currently earn and you’d still be paying your low rent.
- Demographics: Who do you want to be your neighbors? Different areas have different demographics, which in turn affects the “feel” of your apartment. Do you want to be surrounded by families? Young professionals? Students? Older adults? When it comes time to visit prospective places, be sure to look around and/or ask about the type of people who live there.
- Floorplans: What do you value when it comes to your space? Do you need a lot of closet space? Do you want a large kitchen? What about a balcony? If you use your bedroom only for sleeping, you may want to look at a place with a large living room but smaller bedroom. If you cook, make sure the kitchen has enough counter space. If you’re in a 1 bedroom place but you want/need a home office, look for floorplans with extra corners or alcoves you could use. Don’t forget about windows – light is very important in an apartment!
- Amenities: Will you go crazy without a gas stove? Do you need to swim daily? Could you save money if your building had a gym? Are you obsessed with granite countertops? I cook a lot and our small, dysfunctional stove drives me insane. Small things can make a big difference in your level of satisfaction with your chosen home.
It’s a lot to think about, isn’t it? Well, after you have your list of priorities, it’s time to start looking!
Where do I look?
In the days before the internet, the only way to search for apartments was to drive around and visit them all, or find out about good places from your friends and family. Thankfully, the internet has taken a lot of the pavement-pounding out of apartment hunting. There are tons of apartment-hunting sites out there, and some are better than others, and what you’re looking for will determine which ones you should use. If you’re looking for something in a large complex or highrise, sites like rent.com and apartments.com are the most likely to have what you’re looking for. If you’re looking to sublet or get a place in a smaller complex or house, you should probably be doing the majority of your searching on craigslist.
Don’t underestimate the value of hitting the streets. No one site has every apartment listing, and some places have for some reason opted to not be listed anywhere. If you’ve hit a wall or are just simply so tired of staring at endless listings that they have all started to blend together, then it’s time to get in the car and take a drive. Get in your car and drive around the neighborhood where you’d like to live, keeping your eyes open for apartment buildings and ”For Rent” signs. You will likely find at least one or two places that you haven’t seen listed anywhere else. If you see something that looks promising, pop into the leasing office and at the very least go over the dealbreakers on that priorities list you made earlier. My friends spent countless hours searching for places online and visiting ones they followed up on over the phone, but they ended up going with a place they stopped into at random while driving around.
Things To Look Out For:
While the internet has made apartment hunting easier, there are a few pitfalls you need to look out for.
First of all, take rent rates that are listed on sites with a large grain of salt. For that matter, take amenities and other facts with a degree of skepticism as well. Some apartments will list false information on their profiles so that they turn up in more searches, so that awesome-looking place that says it allows pets may in fact not. If you see somewhere promising, give them a quick call to confirm facts that are important to you.
Review sites are great, but you need to be mindful of a few things. The first is to check the dates on reviews. If you see a cluster of positive or negative reviews, check to see when they were posted. Apartment complexes change hands more frequently than most folks realize, and negative reviews may have been the result of former management. Check to try and find the most recent reviews. The other thing you need to watch out for is the same thing you need to take into account in voluntary surveys: the only people who generally provide feedback are those who either love or hate something. Apartment reviews are generally so overwhelmingly negative that my friends and I now joke that any apartment that has a 50% rating must secretly be Shangri-la. People rarely write about apartments they love, because they take their good fortune for granted and are too busy enjoying their lives, but folks who have to suffer through a bad apartment will gladly rant about it when given the chance, so most apartment reviews are negative in nature. Read them carefully to look for trends (lots of references to similar problems) but do take reviews with a grain of salt.
The Visit
Once you have found a list of places you like, go and visit them. This can often be tense, because you will be under a lot of pressure from the leasing staff to choose them, and choose them now. Choose a day for visiting apartments, and make sure to get a good night’s sleep beforehand, and have a good breakfast. If you’re out with your partner, the last thing you want is to get argumentative and bitchy because you’re tired and hungry. Also bring a notebook and writing implement to write down info about each place you visit.
Ask Questions:
When you’re visiting an apartment, there’s a lot of information you need to get, and it’s hard to remember it all when you’re being bombarded with facts and statistics from an over-enthusiastic realtor hoping to make a sale. Here’s a list of some of the things you need to ask about:
- Do they offer any sort of rent guarantee? Do they guarantee your rent will remain the same if the complex changes hands? Do they guarantee against rent raises for more than a year?
- If the management changes, are you allowed to break your lease without a penalty?
- What modifications, if any, are allowed? Can you paint the walls? Can you remove the doors from the cabinets? Can you put screws in the walls? (believe it or not, our current place allows nothing larger than a pushpin to be in the wall)
- If they allow pets, is there pet rent? Is there a fee or deposit? Is the pet rent per pet or per apartment?
- What utilities are covered? Of those that are not, how is usage determined? (for some places it is a flat fee per resident)
- What facilities are available? Will they accept packages? How much of the year is the pool open? If there is a common area, can it be reserved? Is there a freight elevator?
- What are their maintenance policies? Do they guarantee that work will be completed within a certain timeframe? Some complexes, including the one we’re moving to, will subtract your rent on a per diem basis if work isn’t completed within 24 hours. Are appliances covered?
- Do they offer any discounts? Some apartments may give discounts to students, teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other people deemed to serve the community.
- If you have to take over the lease early, will they pro-rate your rent for that month or can you only be charged for the whole month?
- Do they have a shuttle to anywhere? If not, what is their public transport accessibility like?
- Do they have on-site laundry? If so, how is it paid for? Do they have a dry cleaner on site?
Don’t Get Bullied:
At virtually every location you visit, you will be told the same thing by leasing agents: ”We only have one left – it could disappear this afternoon!”, “If you sign up today, you can take advantage of X discount – it will outweigh the extra month’s rent!”, or “We’ve had a lot of people look at this unit – you should act fast!”. While they often do have a grain of truth, you should largely ignore these. Leasing agents are often either paid by commission or given bonuses for selling the most, so they rather quickly find ways to convince prospective renters to choose them, and choose them now. Don’t let them stress you out, and tell them that you have a few more appointments you need to visit before you make your decision. If you genuinely are interested in a location, ask and find out if they can hold a place for you for 24 hours without a fee. There may be a fee, but if you make a show of being interested in the unit but “don’t have your checkbook” or “can’t afford a holding deposit”, they may waive it for you. Even though it may at times seem otherwise, you are the one holding all the cards when you’re apartment hunting, so use your power.
In the end, while all the steps and effort involved in finding a new place can be overwhelming, moving to a new place can really be a great thing. Many people don’t realize how much their living space affects their mood until they move into a new place and are miraculously less depressed and stressed. If you’re in a relationship and one of you moved in with the other, moving to a new place together can help you both feel ownership in your living situation and can really help to strengthen the relationship. Now, I’m biased, because I love moving – I’ve moved 20 times in the last 8 years – but I do think that it can be a really surprising breath of fresh air, once it’s all said and done.
I hope this post was helpful, and as always, if there’s a subject you’d like advice on, feel free to ask. I will do my best.
