Trimming the Fat: Our Apartment

We had lived in our apartment since September of 2007.  We loved our apartment and our lease was coming up for renewal, but we weren’t exactly sure what we should do.  With the economy in the gutter, we weren’t ready to buy a house (heck, our credit card debt would not allow it), but we started looking at other places to live.  First, we contacted our current landlords and they were not willing to reduce our rent.  They were offering deals to new tenants, but the old tenants were stuck with their rental rate and that was that.  From that point, we looked at the market, which was considerably less than what we were paying and we decided that it was time to move.  We started scouring Craigslist for apartments, especially those that did not carry a broker’s fee, and found a few.  We checked them out, but nothing really caught our eye.  We then decided to look at apartment buildings near our current apartment.  Although this meant that we would have to rent a moving truck for a short-distance move, we figured that we should explore all of our options.  Nothing in New York City was particularly attractive, as we had come to enjoy the finer amenities that we found in apartments outside of the City.  So, we found an apartment that was a few blocks from our old apartment, built by the same company that built our old building and the deals were intriguing.  We could get 2.5 months free rent, save $75 a month on parking, and live on the top floor of the building, avoiding the noise that we had come to hate in our old apartment.  If we signed the lease, we would have a small overlap with our old apartment, but that was a good thing because it gave us time to clean the old apartment and move in stages, as opposed to having to clean while we packed and move.  In the end, the rent deal was too good to pass up and we decided to stop looking.

In the end, based on the free rent, parking, and all of the other extras, we may have saved almost $10,000 after moving costs.  That is pretty awesome, if I say so myself.  Yes, I know this means that our rent is high and we could probably live in a cheaper apartment, but this is really our only big expense.  We have a washer/dryer, a dishwasher, and great air conditioning, which are a few things that we wanted in an apartment.  If that means we eat out a little less or cut a few more coupons, so be it.  We like the new place and will use the rent freebies to pay off some more debt.

Next up: Cable (or, is Fios really a better deal?)

- broke

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