Having a great place to live is crucial. You want something comfortable, safe, close to work, and in a community where you can feel proud to invite friends and family over to the neighborhood. Once you’ve hunted through all those apartment units for rent and found just the right one, though, what’s the secret to great apartment living?
A Great Landlord
A great landlord is crucial to a great apartment life: but how to do you get one? The secret isn’t so much finding an awesome landlord or landlady right from the outset; it’s cultivating a good relationship over time. Of course you want to meet the owner first and make sure you can get along, that the terms of the rental are fair, and that your personalities mesh. But don’t stop there.
Make sure you’re proactive in taking good care of the place, that you reach out occasionally to the owner to make sure everyone’s happy, that you pay rent on time, and that you promptly report any issues with the apartment. Don’t be a pushover, but don’t always be complaining, either. Stand up for your rights, but don’t be annoying, condescending, or forget that the land owner has feeling, needs, and rights, too. You might not be the only tenant in one of their apartment units for rent, either, so bear in mind that he or she might be dealing with a lot of questions and problems on a regular basis.
Upgrade Where You Can
When you’re looking at apartment units for rent, sometimes you have to consider location, owner, security, or other issues over aesthetics. This means that while you might love the light, the distance to work, the nearby coffee shop, and the low energy costs, you might be stuck with some older features you don’t love.
There are some things you can do to remedy the situation and make you feel better about the place without violating a contract or angering the owner. Removable hooks on the inside of cabinet doors can give you more space. New knobs on the cabinets can also make things look 100% better in the kitchen. A new toilet seat and a fresh shower head can make a lot of difference in the bathroom, as can some movable storage units that let you avoid clutter. Also remember that you can easily change out light switch covers, doorknobs, lampshades, and similar extraneous fixtures and then put them back when you move out.
Take Care of Noise
Nothing ruins apartment life faster than putting money down on great apartment units for rent and then finding out the rental next to you likes to play wall-rattling music at 2:00am. The worst thing you can do in this case is slip a passive aggressive, snippy note under their door; however much we all love to read those notes on the internet.
Instead, go directly to building management and talk to them. They have a lot more clout than you do and may be able to do something about it. If they won’t do anything, see what the noise ordinances are in your city and file a complaint if necessary. Whatever you do: just make sure that you’re not noisy neighbor everyone in the building hates.
Renting apartments can be a great way to live, but the secret to a great apartment life is cultivating a good relationship with your landlord, making your apartment a comfortable place to live, and cutting off noise and livability issues before they ruin your life. Whether you’re looking at luxury apartments, unfurnished apartments, or any other type of apartment units for rent, take charge now to make your life there a pleasant one.
