Is This Apartment Community Right For You? 4 Factors to Consider

By Allie Mitchell on November 14, 2016

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The adventure of finding an apartment you like is like trying to find a college for you or trying to find a good group of friends. You have to test things out or look into them before making your decision. You have to narrow down your options to figure out what is best for you. And in the end you have to stand by your decision and make the best out of what you have chosen.

Whether you are apartment hunting by yourself or with the help of other people, the only true insights that matter are your own. Every apartment complex will have its own way of doing things and have its own original environment. Your goal is to find the one that speaks to your personality and the one you will be happy living in for the length of time that you sign your lease. There are no trial periods when it comes to renting an apartment — if you want to leave early then you will have to fork over some major cash to break your lease.

What you want in an apartment is up to you. You could want a renovated apartment or you could want washer and dryer connections, or something even more elaborate, so I cannot tell you what you will want in an apartment to make it better for you, but what I can tell you is how to know if where you are living is right for you. Not in the sense that it is exactly what you want, but just the general feelers of how to determine whether or not the apartment community is something to keep in the running when you are making your final decisions.

You will want what you want, but you also want to be smart about what you want. The idea of picking an apartment just because it is pretty or because they simply have a nice exterior will tell you nothing about what else is surrounding it. Or it won’t tell you what it’s like to live there.

Here are few tips on how to know if an apartment community is right for you.

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1. Neighboring surroundings: Take a look around the place first. See what is in the proximity. Say you like to go out to eat a lot, try to pick some place that has a lot of food options. If you have a child and want a good school to send them to, keep that in mind.

Also, while you are doing your hunting, pay attention to the neighbors you see as you are walking through the complex. Sometimes places can unfortunately be defined by the people that live there. And this reigns true about apartment complexes, most of the time.

2. Security: You want to feel safe where you live and without the right kind of security you might not feel that way. Make sure to ask about this when you are being shown around by a leasing agent. Your safety needs do not need to be looked over or disregarded.

If high security is something that will make it feel right to you, then make sure you look for that when you are apartment hunting. Sometimes a neighborhood watch just doesn’t cut it for people.

3. Management/maintenance: You are going to want to make sure the people that will be fixing your needs in the apartment are up to par or at least to your standards. Do they fix things in a timely manner? Are they polite and accommodating? Do they let you know when they are stopping by to look over things? Do they let you know things about the complex ahead of time?

This is when reviews on the internet may come into handy. No leasing agent is going to tell you that they have an issue with maintenance, but reviewers online will tell you straight up.

4. Too many compromises: Sometimes you have to forgo what you want a little to find a space that feels good to you. You may have to give up that breakfast nook for an extra storage space. But sometimes you tend to give up things you don’t have to.

Make sure that what you are picking is at least 80-90 percent what you want in the apartment. You want to feel comfortable and not like you gave up everything you had in mind. With that type of mindset you won’t be happy whatsoever and living like that for six months to a year will be utterly miserable.

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Apartments put freedom and stress in the same sentence, but finding the best one for you can take a bit of the stress off your shoulders. Keep what you want in mind, but also remember to keep an open mind, because sometimes you will find something you didn’t even know you wanted.

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