We've been debating on moving for a while and since our lease ends in 3 months, it's time to start looking. Our two main reasons for moving are cost and lack of storage. We currently pay $889 a month for our apartment. We also currently use our guest bedroom as a storage unit.
Well, I went to go check out this apartment complex today. It's only about 5 minutes from our current place, so it's not far at all. It's a gated community in a very nice neighborhood. The downside is that the entrance is off a major highway, so it makes it a pain to get out off.
Let me go ahead and show you floor plans so you have something to compare with.
Here's the floor plan of our current apartment. The apartment is 1141 square feet.
Here's the floor plan for the apartment we're looking at moving into. The apartment is 1173 square feet.
The apartment I went to look at today (from here on out, I'm going to refer to it as the new apartment) would be $865 for rent, which would save us around $25 a month. In one year, that would be about $300 a year, which would could put directly into savings.
The floor plan of the new apartment seems more homey to me than the one we're currently in. The floor plan of our current apartment has the central living area and the two bedrooms and baths off to each side, so it makes it feel more like a place for roommates. I like that there is a hallway when you enter instead of entering straight into the living room. Also, there is a bathroom that is outside of a bedroom, so guests don't have to go through one of the bedrooms to use a restroom. There is also a designated master bedroom.
There is definitely a lot more storage in the new apartment. There is an actual laundry room instead of a laundry closet. It would make doing laundry a lot more quieter (we currently have to turn the TV way up when we're doing laundry) and it would give me plenty of room to keep the dirty laundry in there. Plus, I could store the vacuum as well as cleaning supplies in there.
There is a pantry in the new apartment as well. The kitchen in the new apartment is A LOT smaller and has less counter space, but it has a lot more storage, which would be wonderful. I don't think the less counter space would make too big of a problem since I could store a lot of the counter stuff instead of keeping it out.
The closets are huge! Plus, the master has a linen closet. I feel we would definitely have enough room to store our stuff. I'm kind of giddy about the garden tub in the master bathroom as well.
I'm absolutely in love with the new apartment. I feel that there would definitely be enough storage space in the apartment to house all the stuff we have. I also think that it would feel more like a home to us.
J hasn't seen the new apartment yet, but I can't wait to take him to tour it. I think he's going to love it just as much as I do. We'll see though.
I don't have any pictures of the inside of the apartment (I'll try to get some when I take J to tour), but here's some pictures of the community that I stole from their website.
So, what do you think? Would you move?
It's always fun to look for a new place - and a garden tub sounds awesome!! Honestly though, $25 a month isn't much. Especially if you factor in costs of moving and deposits, etc. So for this new apartment, if you want it for reasons other than the cost, I would go for it, but if you're looking for cheaper I think you could do better! Just my two cents:)
ReplyDeleteAngie,
ReplyDeleteYea, I know $25 a month isn't much, but sadly anything drastically cheaper than our current place is going to be near campus and we really don't want to do that.
Thankfully moving costs aren't much and we'd make that up within the first year of living in the new place. We have to pay $65 to get the carpet in our current apartment cleaned, $150 security deposit at the new place, and the less than $50 to rent a truck.
I know it's not that big of a price difference, but it's bigger and nicer, so I think I'm happy with saving $25 a month.
I definitely appreciate your opinion because I thought about all that stuff as well. It's hard to decide whether it's worth it to move or just stay where you are.
Thanks,
Ashley
The money seems a wash (moving costs v. savings) BUT you can't put a price on happiness! I've moved about 12+ times since starting college and I always appreciate the change. (Army brat anyone?)
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm not an apartment complex fan (out here they're all either college living or high priced/far from campus) I appreciate storage space and room. Our current house (we rent) is 1300 sq feet with 3 bedrooms (1 bath - ugh), tons of storage, a huge kitchen and a yard for Tebow! We moved from a 900 sq foot townhome for the same rent/month and only 3 blocks away (on the same street!) - it was totally worth the moving costs for our happiness :)
Oh I would kill to be able to find a townhome or house to rent, but I haven't been able to find any with rent under $1000! It's absolutely ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI figured if we stayed in the place for more than a year (which we most likely will because J will hopefully be starting med school soon), then we would actually start saving some money.
I'm glad someone else does as much moving as me! The place J and I are currently in is the longest I've ever actually lived in one place (I've moved throughout my entire childhood).