Shopping for a new apartment is an important, but sometimes surprisingly painful, process. It’s difficult to know what is important and what isn’t, what prices are too high, and, ultimately, when to stop shopping and just sign on something. In this post, I will provide some useful tips and advice from my last apartment shopping experience that can hopefully reduce the stress of your next apartment shopping experience.
One of the most important things to do before you even start looking at apartments is to make a list of things you want in the ideal apartment broken down into needs and wants. These needs can range from really important things, such as price and location, to something as small as the color of the kitchen cabinets. Once you’ve written down things you’d like to have, then write down things you cannot deal with. For instance, you may hate living on the first floor because of noises from overhead neighbors. It is important to realize that this list is not the final say in what you want in a new apartment; it is more of a starting point. As you tour apartments and communities, you will find yourself fine tuning your list. For me, my list was complicated because I have many things I like and dislike but very few things that I had to have or could not deal with. This made it difficult to narrow down apartments because each had a few things I liked and a few things I did not like. My advice to you apartment shoppers is to just get out there and start to looking – try to take some time and narrow down your list to include one or two things that are “must haves” and a couple things that are “deal breakers.” When you start your search this will help narrow the scope of apartments you should tour.
Starting to look at apartments often begins as an exciting opportunity to live in a new place. Soon, however, you realize that the fun is short-lived, at least it was for me. After viewing the first few places, the apartment search quickly went from exciting to drawn out and tedious. The more places I visited, the more confused I got. Each apartment complex was only slightly different from the last one, and before I knew it, the pictures, the notes, and the memories of them blended together. Instead of just haphazardly going to dozens of apartments like me, you should think about how many apartments you expect to see, then after viewing maybe a third of that number sign on the first apartment that feels right. This way you have the time to get a feel for what type of apartment you like, but you do not burden yourself with tons of choices.
In the end, decisions like what apartment to choose often begin to seem like larger decisions than they actually are. You should pick an apartment that is within your means but that you will enjoy living in. Picking a cheap place that you will never get pleasure from is never a good idea, in my opinion. Always remember that leases are usually for a year or shorter time, which, in the long run, is really not that significant. As my Grandfather always says, you have to take a step back and think: Will it really matter in five years?
Financially Stephen grew up in a family that preached saving and living below your means. That, in part, translated to his interest in Economics, especially how economics can affect individuals’ financial lives. Through his financial markets class in the fall of 2011, he furthered this interest by analyzing macroeconomic events. Stephen believes that finance, personal finance in particular, is a subject severely left out when it comes to public schooling in this country, and it is a problem that has manifested itself and contributed to many of the problems seen today. He also believes that education is the key to improvement and hopes that through his writings he will be able help people learn about finance, macroeconomics, and how to be financially savvy for the future.
In his free time Stephen enjoys playing and watching sports, wakeboarding, sailing, and country music. At UNC he has participated in Strive for College, UNC Dance Marathon, and UNC Relay for Life.
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