Making the Most of Your Apartment Search
Let’s face it: searching for an apartment can be an extremely laborious process, even more so now with COVID and social distancing keeping us from touring places in person. I’ll be the first to admit that relying on just the information presented online to make a decision as big as where you’ll be living is difficult.
If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that Matt and I recently graduated from Virginia Tech and made the move up to Alexandria, Virginia to start our careers. Read about out journey (part 1, part 2). A ton of you guys have messaged me on Instagram asking if I had any tips for finding a new apartment. I had WAY too many tips to put into a DM response, so I decided to round up my tips below. I hope these tips are helpful during your quarantine move!
Determine Your Budget
The first and most important thing to consider is your budget. Matt created a pretty intense spreadsheet to model our budget from our savings and income. Be sure to not only consider costs like rent, groceries, and utilities but also items like renter’s insurance, parking, moving-related expenses (moving truck, gas, additional fees).
Create Your Checklist
Once our budget was established, Matt and I created a checklist of the features, amenities, etc. we’d like to have in our new apartment.
Our List:
In-unit washer and dryer
Affordable parking
Easy access to the metro
Good reviews
Safe neighborhood
An area large enough that I can work from home comfortably
There were a few additional items on my list that I marked as being nice to have, but not deal breakers (i.e. garbage disposal, interior entrance, walking distance to a grocery store.) There are a ton of factors that go into choosing an apartment, so I highly recommend outlining your apartment must-haves, especially if you’re living with your significant other.
Location, Location, Location
How long will the commute to work take?
Where is the nearest grocery store?
Where is the nearest metro stop?
To answer all these questions, I plugged Matt and my work locations into Google Maps and scrolled around the area. Any apartments I found that were within our predetermined budget went into a separate spreadsheet with the complex name, website, rent, and any notes. After I had built up a list of 10-12 places, Matt and I sorted through each one-by-one and gave each ranking based on our checklist. Each apartment received a color: green meant we wanted to tour, yellow meant it was fine but not great, and red meant it was a no-go.
Making a Decision
Before we made a decision to sign a lease, we plugged in the cost of living for each apartment and talked through the pros and cons. All of the above tips and tricks led to us signing a lease at our current apartment complex. It was the option that made the most financial sense while also offering everything on our checklist.
Tips & Tricks for Moving to D.C.
While this post was meant to be generic for anyone moving post-graduation, I do have a handful of tips and tricks for moving to the NoVa or D.C. area.
The closer you live to a metro line, or D.C. itself, the more rent and cost of living skyrockets. Matt and I live about 10 minutes away from the yellow line, but our apartment complex offers complimentary shuttle services to and from the metro. I highly recommend checking out complexes that offer complimentary shuttle services; there were more than I had expected that offer this service.
Reviews are everything. Prior to signing a lease at our current apartment, I was ready to sign a lease at another apartment complex. It checked all of our boxes, was in our price range, and was within walking distance to the blue line. However, the complex only had 3/5 stars and some pretty iffy reviews. Some of the reviews had to do with the safety and cleanliness of the complex and definitely not issues I wanted to deal with.
Good luck with your apartment search!