I'll always remember 2010 as the year of moves. I lived in three different apartments throughout the city of Chicago. From a crowded pricey high rise to a bug infested budget apartment — I've seen it all. Thank goodness I eventually landed on a near-perfect abode. Throughout my trials and tribulations I've acquired a lot of advice for the everyday apartment hunter.
My first apartment was located in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. A traditionally ritzy and expensive part of town. I moved into this two bedroom with my boyfriend and another couple. That totaled four people living in a 1,000 square foot apartment. Space was cramped and tensions were high. My boyfriend and I built a bunker in our bedroom and really never left the room. The photographed living room was well put together, but soon became trashed and full of overnight guests.
Advice: Think long and hard before setting up camp with roommates. Even if they're your best friends (like mine were), you never know what will come out until you're 6 months into a lease. Also, think about what is more important to you — neighborhood convenience or price?
See more of apartment #1 in Making the Most of a Small Space for Couples
We moved into our second apartment as soon as our lease was up. Excited to finally have a place of our own, we were too anxious to care about specifics. We jumped on a ridiculously cheap apartment in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. We were so jazzed about the low price and the convenient location! However, a week after our move we noticed the horrible centipede infestation. After an extermination, nothing improved! Our generous landlord allowed us to break our lease and we were out after only three months.
Advice: When apartment shopping, be thorough! We jumped the gun because of exciting incentives like convenience and price. Make sure to look at a lot of apartments before making a final decision. It helps to make a checklist of qualities that are important to you as you're shopping for apartments.
See more of apartment #2 in Meg's Eclectic & Affordable and Exposed Brick Walls: Good or Bad?
After our horrific experience, we made sure to be extremely thorough in our next apartment search. Lucky for us it payed off! After weeks of searching we were able to find the perfect apartment. Per my advice above I made a checklist that helped us narrow down each apartment until we found the right one. I can happily say that we've hit the jackpot. This apartment is in Chicago's Wrigleyville neighborhood and has all of the qualities we were looking for. Unfortunately we are paying more than we'd like, but we decided it would be worth it in the long run.
Advice: Find an apartment with an amazing landlord. We are so lucky to finally have a fantastic guy managing our place. It's made all the difference. Being able to call him and get anything fixed ASAP is extremely helpful.
See more of apartment #3 in Meg & Brad's Student Sanctuary and How To Create a Visual Display on a Low Budget
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I like your daybed/sofa.
Your place looks beautiful.
I agree completely on the landlord part -- my super is fantastic and it's been really great not having to worry about things breaking. I could find a cheaper apartment, but it wouldn't be as nice; living in a pleasant space is more important to me than having the extra cash.
Having a responsive landlord comes at a price, but in my experience, it's worth it in the long run.
Do you think there would have been a way to know about the centipede infestation before moving in?
Typo: "payed off" should be "paid off"
Helpful advice! It's true- a checklist is a great idea. Don't forget to investigate certain sound issues..aka upstairs neighbors.
Being from Chicago, I loooooved reading this! Also, you should share your checklist!
Excellent. I love how you chronicled this. Why is it always the places with exposed brick that have the bug problems?
Im on my four places since August 2010- you know who your great friends are when they move you that many times, but a responsive landlord is worth its weight in gold. At the last place, our dinning room flooded with 7" water and our landlord did not get back to us for 2 weeks......
*fourth place. ek sorry.
Where'd you get the bike wall rack/hanger?
... mine currently resides awkwardly half between our dining room table and a wall and half in the dining room :/
Never move in with your friends! I did this once and we are no longer friends. Better to keep the two things seperate and I would rather live in a smaller place alone/with my partner, then with a bunch of other people. But I guess everyone might feel different about that.
So right about landlords and neighbours! We shopped around HARD before we found our place - I must have seen 20 or 30 places before deciding on the right apartment. Our lovely landlady gets maintenance done pronto (even at weekends), lives locally and never hassles us - and we have quiet neighbours who don't mind us having the odd party as long as we warn them. A real contrast from our old flat, with the screaming kids downstairs, the elusive landlord and the agents who took a month to NOT fix a broken boiler. The two flats are one street away. And the difference in price? £50. Awesome.
Gosh! I thought everyone knew that the day before you move you should get every type of bug spray and bomb and NAPALM your new place. :) In fact if you had bugs and you just moved to get rid of them you brought them to your new place for your new neighbors.
gway, all you need is one of those big metal hooks you buy at the hardware store, the ones that are dipped in the rubbery stuff. You put that in the wall, then put the front tire in it; brace the bike against the wall and you're all set.
I recently made the shocking realization that apartment hunting is NOT about me helping someone find a renter, but finding the right place for me. Instead of being patient, I compromised what I wanted with that guilt, and thinking that maybe that's all the market had to offer. Once I made that profound (for me) paradigm shift, I practically stumbled into the perfect studio, which has MORE than my apartment needs list (pool, *gated* parking *with storage unit*)!! Woot!
I like seeing some of your same pieces in different settings. That's always the fun part of moving into a new place! Glad you finally got a good one.
The best apartment experience I had was when the landlords (a couple) and I sized each other up carefully and agreed that it would be mutually beneficial. I wanted a reasonably long term residence, they wanted a stable tenent. I wanted the rent to not rise sharply (as it had at the previous place), they wanted someone mature and responsible. We worked it out that I would make some improvements (with their approval) and deduct the materials costs (with receipts) from my rent. It was great -- and they raised the rent by $250 the minute I moved out! Mutual respect works wonders!
I love your orange/turquoise/yellow rug. Where did you find it? Is it vintage?
Centipede infestation?!?! I did not realize that centipedes infested anything, but I cannot think of anything worse! I have a fear of things crawling into my ears when I'm sleeping...I'm shivering just thinking about it!
House centipedes feed on spiders, bedbugs, termites, cockroaches, silverfish, ants, and other household arthropods... I'd rather have the centipedes.