On finding an apartment in 24 hours

Okay, maybe it was a little bit more than 24 hours. 28? Anyway, I found us a new apartment quick.

My husband had a meeting with his job on Friday and they told him that he would not, in fact, be going where we had originally been told. It's a good thing we had kind of predicted this (see previous post) and I had postponed going down to the original place Friday morning to sign a lease with our previously researched apartment. The new job assignment is at a better facility, and in a town we're more excited to be in, but instead of moving 86 miles away, we're moving 216 miles away. This change also means that instead of having about three months to find a place to live, which we had done already for the original destination, we have just over a week. Or I should say, had just over a week, because I already found the place! Go me!

I got the text message from my husband late Friday morning telling me that he'd met with HR and where he would be reassigned. I immediately got online and started checking things out, as I wasn't even sure exactly where it was. Then I did a little dance and showed the kids the map - it's near the beach! I posted to facebook to see if any friends were familiar with the area, and luckily got some quick feedback about which parts were better than others. I opened up rent.com and apartmentratings.com and started my new apartment search. One thing I had going for me is that I already knew what we wanted in a place and what price range we were working with. I think this may be where it gets messy for some people, if they are unsure what they're looking for or what they can afford (and not afford!). I knew we preferred 3 bedroom, the place needed to allow cats, and it had to have both a playground and a pool for the kids. This, combined with price and the fact that we needed immediate availability, really limited our choices. However, when you're trying to get something done quick without a lot of wishy-washiness, limited choices can be a good thing. I also limited the listings on Apartment Ratings to those with greater than 50% recommendation rate, but really wanted to stay with greater than 75%.

Based on the cost on rent.com and rating on Apartment Ratings, and not just the score but what they wrote, as some people have bogus reviews, I searched each apartment's website and read about it, and searched it on a map to see how far it was from my husband's job.

Once I had a list of a few places that had what we were looking for in our price range, some available immediately and some in the next 30 days, I made a quick table on Word listing them all out. Each place got a row, with columns noting the name, the address, the number of beds and baths, the price, the distance from work, and general notes.

Since family had planned to be helping us move this weekend, and then had random free time when we decided we weren't, they were able to watch the kids for me while my mom and I made a quick road trip down to check out the area. Despite not getting to bed until 2am the night before, I was up at 7:30am Saturday morning, double checking that I had everything I wanted to see on my list, and we were on the road by 9:30am. We got to the area around 1:30pm and started checking places out right away. The first apartment community was okay, and had immediate availability, but the neighborhood in front of it was comprised these random rows of blue shacks with forlorn looking people sitting around outside. We asked the leasing agent what the deal was with those and she started off with, "You know, I'm not really sure!" That pretty much eliminated that apartment as an option.

During my initial research on Friday I had made appointments with two other communities, which turned out to be a good thing since there were a lot of people out apartment hunting Saturday! We might not have gotten to see anything at all if we had come as walk-ins. But, by 4pm we had seen two more places with immediate availability, and driven past / around a couple with availability in the next 30 days. Ultimately, I went with a community with immediate 3-bedroom apartment availability, where I thought it would be best for the kids. I liked the layout of the interior of a different apartment better, but this was the only gated community and they offered a lot of community activities, in addition to the things I required of any place (pool, playground, etc). Rather than mess around and ponder on it, we went right back and completed an application and signed a lease. By 6pm, we had an apartment address. Again. And this time at the place we are really going.
Mom and I finally allowed a break to get something to eat around 7pm, and got back home at 10:30pm. What a day!

I'm sure there are people who do quick moves routinely, but this our first time living in an apartment, as well as first time moving any significant distance, and it is a pain. I think I did a few things right in that I:
-went knowing what I wanted and what didn't really matter (countertops in the hottest color? I don't care)
-made appointments with communities I really wanted to see
-had all paperwork and numbers in a folder and ready in case we needed them (social security, drivers license, car tag numbers, etc)
-was honest about our situation up front. Situation meaning how we had just found out about the job transfer, that we were coming from out of state and couldn't drive back and forth multiple times, and that my husband is even further out of state.
-had a more-or-less neutral third party with me to give her opinion of places and write notes as I was talking to the leasing agents. Plus, she talked to me to keep me awake on the way there and back. Thank you, Mom!

I also think I ended up making the right decision in selecting something with a higher recommendation rating that was more family and kid friendly, than taking a gamble on a cheaper place with mixed ratings or a questionable neighborhood. There are three hospitals very close by I'm told, so I may just have to check those out for some part-time hours.

Next thing, I have to figure out how I'm going to get us and all our stuff down there!