7 Things I Learned my First Time Apartment Shopping!

Apartment shopping can be the most exciting and stressful thing you will do as a young adult. It can easily be very overwhelming. Here are some tips I came up with based on my experience!

1. Some apartments out there still have everything included.

In my mind, the best case scenario was finding an apartment with heat and hot water included. Worst case scenario was living in a place where I had to pay for everything…on top of rent. Imagine my surprise when I heard there was an apartment in which everything was included. Yes, everything. Now I wouldn’t have to worry about shady apartment buildings that offered free heat, when in reality the heating was electric.

2. The best apartments might exist offline.

I am and will forever be an online shopper. I spent countless hours reading articles and Pinterest posts, not to mention how I poured myself over apartment listings on a weekly basis. No matter how I looked at it, my dream apartment was either too expensive or not in the area or condition I wanted it to be in. I found my dream apartment by chance, after the property manager suggested a more affordable option just two streets away. The listing hadn’t even made it online. In fact, I was the first and last person to ever view my little studio.

3. Keep an open mind.

When I first started shopping, I had my heart set on a one bedroom, ideally with a lot of space for storage. But the reality is that my dream neighborhood, in the historical part of town, was definitely pricey. This is where the studio comes in handy. Yes, it’s not the roomy unit I was dreaming about, but it allows me to live without stressing over money and it encourages me to be creative about storage. If a studio is simply not acceptable for you, consider living a little further from your target neighborhood or in a more affordable part of town altogether.

4. Know your target neighborhood.

We all have our dream neighborhood. You know, the ones where we see ourselves drinking our coffee and waving our neighbors hello, where we go to the farmer’s market on a weekly basis, and are on first name basis with at least ten people on the street. But the reality can be far different. Tour and observe the area both during the day and at night. Living off a major avenue means there’s cars driving constantly, plenty of foot traffic, and a fair amount of construction. Being a city girl, none of these things really bothered me.

5. Trust your gut.

Most apartments sound great…on paper. Seeing them is another thing altogether. Take my example; I was thrilled to discover there was a unit for rent in a building I had lived in as a little girl. Yes, the floor boards were always creaking and the windows froze on the inside, but it must have been updated at some point, right?

Wrong. The windows were the same, except they were stuck and left open, meaning swarms of gnats had taken residence of the apartment. The kitchen was a disaster, and there was still waste in the bathroom. Worst of all, the weird apartment layout made it so that the only windows I had were faced looking at another building maybe ten feet away. Something told me to be hesitant, and I was glad that I listened–because an hour later I was standing in my dream apartment.

6. Don’t start shopping if you’re not ready to pay up.

There’s nothing wrong with seeing what’s available in your target area, but you don’t want to tour an apartment, fall in love with it, and then realize you don’t have enough money to move in. It’s really discouraging to find something you love and have to let go of it because you can’t afford it quite yet. I recommend saving up at least three to four times your ideal rent before actively looking. That way, if your dream place pops up, you’ll have no issues putting your money where your mouth is.

7. There’s nothing wrong with love at first sight.

One piece of advice I always ran into was: always look at different apartments. And while I agree to an extent, there’s nothing wrong with stepping inside of a place and knowing it’s right for you immediately. As soon as I swung the door of my studio open, I knew it was the one. Even through the bathroom and kitchen were being renovated, it was a beautiful unit. An old fireplace made that had been painted white has me thinking of Christmas stockings. The many tall, wide windows make it so that a little studio feels a heck of a lot bigger, and the light hardwood floors matches my décor ideas perfectly. Once the lease is signed, the fun part begins. Decorating!