Happy Friday!
I am so excited to share with you that I am moving apartments – tomorrow! We’re not going far, in fact we’re staying in the same complex, just to a different building. I am super happy with our complex, and what’s great is that they allow renters to move mid-lease to a different unit without a penalty of breaking the lease.
I wanted to move to a unit with sunlight – we seriously get no direct sunlight 80% of the year because our windows face (almost) due north. We get a tiny bit of evening rays in the summer, but that’s it.
I started looking for a new unit back in January, knowing that apartment prices are lower during the winter. I live in the Bay Area which is one of the most competitive housing markets in the country, and I think that’s true for rentals too. If you see a listing for an apartment you’re interested in, you better sign the lease the same day. I was looking at units every other day for the first few months of the year, and even then if I saw a new unit I liked, it would be gone by the time I got to the leasing office the next day. This happened three times. Then I got serious. I made a list of the floorplans I liked, scheduled a tour so I could see them all at once and if a unit with that floorplan opened up later, I was ready to sign the lease asap.
Finally, after 4 months of looking, I found a unit I liked and emailed all my documents to the leasing office the night I saw it. Seriously, I saw it at 11:30pm and by 12:30am I had filled out my paperwork and sent it in. Then in the morning, we brought our hold deposit as soon as the leasing office opened. They told me another person asked about that unit but we beat them to it, and the unit was on the website for less than 24 hours.
And after all that, all I have to share with you is an empty floorplan:
The new unit is slightly larger than our current apartment at 930 square feet, and has a den. The best part is that it’s on a corner and we’ll get morning and day sunlight all year! I’ll be writing and creating a ton of content and DIYs as I decorate the new place, starting with the entryway next week. Follow along this series for renter friendly decor and tips.
The spaces i’ll be designing and breaking down:
- Entryway
- Den
- Bathroom
- Kitchen
- Living
- Bedroom
- Patio/Balcony
Let me know which space you’re looking forward to seeing come together in the comments below!
Minted Bold 