What Do You Value In an Apartment?

It’s been too long since I posted because I’ve been preoccupied. I am moving to yet another apartment and preparations are tedious and time consuming, however the topic of moving always makes for good blog fodder. I have lived in 6 apartments since I stopped living (regularly)with my family. I can honestly say that I’ve been disappointed by each one of them in one way or another, regardless of roommate issues (when I had roommates).

The older I get I think the more see the value of community amenities. When I was in college I couldn’t afford the fancy schmancy apartment communities that had pools, workout rooms, and game rooms. I always went for the best (cleanest, safest, newest) apartment I could afford and didn’t stop to worry about extras not knowing how they could’ve changed my experience for just a few dollars a month. Recently I’ve come to realize the value of community amenities and discounts.

The average gym membership is about $30-50 a month regardless of the length of the contract. The vast majority of gym contracts are impossible to break and usually end up costing people a lot more money than they intended to spend. I discovered that if you find a community with a workout room and a pool, hot tub, or sauna, you might pay 5-10 dollars more on rent per month but it is worth it for the convenience and the lack of an unbreakable never expiring contract.

I don’t have to get up get dressed in street clothes and drive to the gym to change into workout clothes and vice versa to come home. I also don’t have to use a public restroom populated by stinky and sweaty women of all ages when my apartment is a two minute walk away. I’ll be more inclined to get up and go to the gym at 5 or 6 in the morning because it won’t be a big production and require me to be awake enough to drive. This particular gym does not have free weights, so the chances that there will be a lot of men there is slim. The competition for the equipment will mostly be with other ladies which I’m used to at the gym anyway. I’m not seeing the downside to this yet. I guess I’ll have to report back on what it’s really like when I move in early next week.

Other amenities which I think should be in every rental community (if possible) are a dog park, a playground for kids, and picnic areas. My current rental community has no amenities. That means that parents let their kids run in the parking lot to play, there are doggie doodles at random places, and there is no sense of community because there is no hangout area (not that I am social or would socialize with some of the folk around here). It just makes for a very boring and depressing rental experience. There are other reasons that I am leaving, but I think that if the community had more to offer I would be more reluctant to leave.

I’ve visited friends who have spent exorbitant amounts of money to live in apartments the size of a closet to be closer to a city or a university campus. I never understood why anyone would do that to themselves, but everyone has different ideas about convenience. I am interested in finding out what you look for in an apartment community. What makes you love your apartment and what makes you hesitant to sign a lease?