Moving & Shaking: Apartment Hunting & Moving Day

There are few things in life that I’m better at than apartment hunting and moving. I’m not sure what that says about me, but it’s the truth. I’ve hunted for apartments in four states and moved across the country renting apartments sight-unseen twice.  I’ve done both the “get rid of everything you own” and “just put it in the nearest box” moves. I’ve moved with family and friends helping and I’ve also moved with just me and the dog. I know the ropes and I’m going to share them with you here.

Apartment hunting and moving can be extremely frustrating – but it doesn’t have to be. Let me give you a few tips that’ll make the entire process a lot easier and in the end, a lot less work.

The Hunt

Most of us are going to use the internet to start our apartment search. And, if you’re old school like me, you’ll immediately think to head to apartments.com or forrent.com. Well, those places have been overrun by property management companies paying to circumvent the ranked search. This means that you might set up a very specific search and still be shown apartments that don’t fit your criteria – grrr, arg! This is highly problematic for those of us with pets. I’ve experienced falling in love with an apartment that was shown to me via the custom search, only to find that it wasn’t pet-friendly.

The absolutely best way to get around this is to use sites that aren’t specifically meant for apartment hunting – the best of which is Craigslist! I know, I know, Craigslist weirds you out. But, it’s like any other search engine, you use it as a jumping off point for your research, not your final resource. Craigslist makes apartment searching easy because you can create custom searches and then place that search on a map – A MAP! This is particularly useful for renting sight-unseen. Craigslist also gives you a wider variety of renting options. If you’re looking to rent a condo or a house, you can select those options as well. I found my current Redwood apartment via a Craigslist search – and the map feature is what made me come by to visit. I was also able to do a Street-level view via Google and it convinced me that it was worth a shot.

Craigslist isn’t the only resource, it’s just a great place to start. I’ve also taken to using Zillow, Trulia & Realtor.com for apartment searching. Again, these sites weren’t originally designed for apartment hunting, so they’re pretty great for apartment hunting. You also don’t want to forget about the best method of apartment hunting – your friends and family

The Move

If hunting for an apartment is frustrating, moving is maddening. But it doesn’t have to be. Once you’ve made your final apartment selection, there are a few key things that you can do that will save you some grey hairs and potential muscle strain.

First, overlap your move-in and move-out dates. Do not (and I repeat Do Not), schedule your apartment move-in on the same day that you have to move out of your previous apartment! This is a mistake that people perpetually make and it leaves them having to forfeit their security deposit. Negotiate with your new apartment to move in a few days in advance of when you have to be out of your old apartment. This will give you a buffer zone for cleaning and repairs to the old apartment. Allowing yourself just 24-48 hours between move-in and move-out will save you hundreds of dollars.

Second, hire movers – even if you have a ton of family or a gaggle of friends. You’re already going to save hundreds of dollars by getting your deposit back – use that money to save your friends and family the hassle of moving your crap! I promise, it’s not nearly as expensive as you think. You can get your own truck and hire movers to just assist you to get your belongings on and off the truck. Not only will movers save you the hassle of wrangling your family, they’ll also cut your moving time by hours. Professional movers can load a two bedroom apartment onto a truck in 45-60 minutes and have it unloaded in even less time! You could be done moving before lunch. Hiring movers requires that you be fully packed, but I’m going to assume that you would have done that for your family and friends as well.

Finally, if you’re moving across the country (or even just across state lines), consider a crate move. When I moved from Arizona to Missouri, I packed all of my things in boxes and had a shipping company come to my apartment and place it all on pallets and wrap it for a cross-country haul. They placed it on an 18 wheeler and two weeks later it was delivered to my door. In addition to not breaking a sweat, it was one of the cheapest moves I’ve had to date. What made it great was not having to drive a truck (or trust a moving company). My belongings were shipped like freight and were insured like freight and was delivered like freight. Easy peasy.

As much as I’ve moved in my life, I consider myself a professional. What I’ve just laid out here are my pro-tips for not driving yourself and your family crazy when it’s time to move. In addition to these tips, I’ll give you one last piece of advice. Find an apartment that you can love for years to come – like I love my Redwood apartment. If you love it, you’ll find more reasons to stay than to leave and when your lease comes up, you’ll find yourself renewing with glee.


*Written by Lindsay S., a proud writer and Redwood resident.