Need advice about apartments!
#197939 - 07/20/05 06:14 PM
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Kree
Reged: 10/08/03
Posts: 3748
Loc: Northern NY
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Hi everyone. I'm very frustrated and am just looking for some advice. My landlords have decided to raise my rent by $75 a month starting in September, but told me that the apt next door will be open for the same price I'm paying now starting next month. I probably could afford to stay here if I wanted to, but here's the thing. I love the size and layout of my apartment, but it desperately needs new rugs and a good paint job, which it should have gotten before I moved in if you ask me. My landlords, however, just redid the other apt I'm looking at, so they say they can't afford to do anything to mine at the current time. So here are the pluses and minuses as I see them:
Current apt: Larger, don't have to deal with the hassle of moving, but yucky rugs and walls and $75 more
Other apt: Smaller, not sure if all my furniture will fit, but beautiful new rugs, paint, and countertops, plus $75 cheaper
What do you think you would do?? I'm soooo torn, and I have to decide within the next couple of days. I'd be saving $900 a year at the other apt, but would also have to pay probably a couple 100 for movers (they're both 2nd floor apts and my large stuff is just too much). Any ideas? Do you think it's worth moving??
BTW, I wish I could just move to a place away from these landlords, but I forgot to mention that there's a huge housing deficit due to the nearby military base and there's absolutely nothing else available in my area. 
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"Anyone can exercise, but this kind of lethargy takes real discipline." -Garfield
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Well I'd go for the cheaper place and just pay a couple of mates a bit of cash for helping out move!  Paying extra for a yucky place sounds miserable IMHO.
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I say moving is a hassle, if it's worth the money to you, stay put. We'd probably have moved, but we're idiots who move all the time.  I think I have a disease or something... we have a lovely house and adore the city, but I'm already daydreaming about a new town and house...
Ok, enough about me. If you do decide to move, we used guys from emovers.com once. They have prices up per hour, and recommendations, and you pick. Our guys were pretty good for the price, and it was nice not to lug the super heavy stuff down the stairs ourselves.
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Moving is such a hassle...packing for days...cleaning...stress of worrying about things getting broken (which they have in every move I have ever made)  ...unpacking and setting up a new place...getting used to the new place and making it yours.
Plus you like the layout of your place now. That's important.
I'd just stay put. Moving is just too much work and stress in my opinion. One of the reasons I am still in my current horrible apartment is because the thought of packing up, hiring movers, etc, is too much right now.
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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Hmmm... moving IS a huge hassle, however moving next door is not that big a deal. I actually helped some of my friends do this in their building not that long ago and it wasn't bad at all. They got to do it over a few days, so they could basically move in/out at the same time, just carrying everything a few doors down (also, in that situtation and in yours you can avoid the elevator or stairs since you're on the same floor).
I think my vote would have to be for the smaller, cheaper place with nice rugs But then I'm terribly cheap when it comes right down to it, and the thought of saving $900 on rent every year would be VERY hard for me to pass up. Which do you think would be a better/nicer living environment - the one you have now, bigger but with older rugs/paint job, or the newer place, even though it's smaller? Really tough choice yeah, but I think my vote still has to go for move...
Good luck with whatever you choose!
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I'd move, unless the place is terribly cramped. If it is only next door you could carry a lot without packing (clothes on hangers, etc.). Have a moving party and invite all your friends.
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Carol
nós somos o que nós somos e o descanso é merda
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I'd take the smaller apt to save money and for the newer renovations.
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I'd stay because, unless you're really rattling around where you are now, moving into a smaller space is usually a bit of a shock. Also, if your furniture doesn't fit and you have to pay storage on it, that's going to cut into your lower rent. Plus, I just hate moving.
It sounds like you'd stay in the apartment where you are now with no question if your landlord would fix it up, so maybe you could get him to meet you partway. Would he be willing to pay to have the rugs cleaned (if that would help) and to pay for paint and supplies if you paint the place yourself? Then you could have a painting party instead of a moving party! (Although I'd have a prep party - invite friends over to move stuff away from the walls, lay down painter's tape, and put down tarps, then send them home and do the fun stuff - the actual painting - myself. )
It seems like you should have some leverage with the landlord, because if you move out, won't he have to at least paint the place before he rents it again?
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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I think I'd stay!! I've moved to smaller places before and I've always felt cramped after bigger places! Also, like someone else mentioned, if you did move, they'd have to fix the place up anyways before someone else would move in! Maybe make a deal with them that you will stay if they replace the rugs by September when your rent goes up and that they will either paint or buy the supplies by like the first of the year.
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Taking it one day at a time.....
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Thanks so much for the advice! I really need to let my landlord know today, and I still haven't decided for sure, but at this point I'm leaning more towards staying here. Moving would be such a hassle. Even though it's next door, this is a house and not an actual complex, so I would have to go all the way down and all the way back up again. And to make things worse, my stairway has a very tight turn, so when they brought my bed in they had to hoist it up over the 2nd story deck!! That's certainly not something I'd be able to do myself or with a couple of friends, so I'd pretty much have to hire movers at least for the largest items. The newly remodeled place is tempting, and if I didn't have another place to live I'd certainly go with it, but it's hot and I'm comfortable here, so moving just doesn't sound appealing at this point. I'll let you know what I decide in the end, though. Thanks again!
Oh, and I seriously doubt the landlord would do anything even if I did move out. There's such a housing crunch here I'm sure someone would take it as is. Anyway, they didn't do anything before I moved in. 
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"Anyone can exercise, but this kind of lethargy takes real discipline." -Garfield
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