Share your experience about moving out to a person who is about to so

[gmaximin]

To add on what has been said, I'd suggest to choose a place with window you can open and enough daylight... (facing south in north hemisphere, or two side ideally, without another building or wall obstructing). This is very important in the long run, never seeing the sun or feel wind can really affect mood...

And be careful about pollution (air, light, noise...), so like @rajillustration, not above a bar, you get all three! Avoid busy street too, you're likely better on the quiet side street a block away. And if window doesn't have thick curtain or effective shutters, get thick light blocking curtains... they follow me everywhere now (I moved countless time).

For location, consider a place easy for commuting. I always choose a place around 15min of where I need to go everyday, so I have a buffer road to ramp up / relax my mood. Might it be car, bus, subway, bike, walk... 15min~20min door-to-door works wonder for me.

Last but not least, beware traces of mold on wall... it can be really bad for your health...

[drcharlotterodricks]

Bookmarked this for reasons unknown to me
Anyway when I moved out to stay on campus, even though it was a hostel, the loneliness was real. So I made the room to be as similar as my own back home. Check with your landlord/landlady what modifications you can/cannot do to your room. STOCK UP ON DRY SNACKS. You have no idea how handy it is .Make a list of things you need the day you move on and try to buy it all that day, or else the next day.
I'm very organized so I always have shelves for specific things. Also my room had a balcony wherein I grew chillies, tomatoes and ladyfingers and an assortment of flowers.

[shfra13]

I moved out temporarily to, like, a share house for college; so I'm not really "expert" in moving out. The first thing I consider is the area surrounding my new place. Grocery store, bank/ATM, public transports, and some food stalls are the ones I consider a must have. Some furniture that needs to be prioritized are bed and cupboard (just anything that can keep your stuffs). If affording kitchen utensils isn't your priority, consider a rice cooker instead. I live off of my rice cooker most of the time ngl. Though it does cost electricity. If you don't have air conditioner, consider a place where the windows don't directly look at the sun (idk how to explain this lol, but, I mean like, if your room's window looks directly at the sun, more sun and heat enters and get trapped in the room, resulting to the room being hot even at night). Don't forget to know your landlord!

Also, I've read this tip somewhere: if you're moving in, take photos of the room condition before you move in, so your landlord can't charge you of any damage that you don't cause.

[skicoak]

As someone who has moved many times and also worked as a maintenance man at various apartments complexes, I have some general tips from experience and observation...

• Make sure you make substantially more than just the rent. Some places won't even approve your application unless you make 3 to 4 times the monthly rent. Things just unexpectedly add up in ways you can't always predict.

• Get renters insurance. You might be the most cautious person in the world but you're about to be connected to a bunch of other people who are statistically NOT.

• Stairs suck but you know who really hates stairs....theives and other criminals. Crime rates drop exponentially the more flights of stairs you are from the ground. This is backed up by years of statistical analysis. I worked on one property for ten plus years... Third story apartments were only broken into four times and two of those were exes caught by the police.

• I cosign checking an area out during the night and day... But if possible, check it out on weekends also. You never know what the parking situation is like until everyone is home. Even if you get assigned parking, there's likely not enough guest parking or it's located in inconvenient areas.

Just a few things to consider.

[sushy00]

I only moved out once and with another person, so I am not sure if I have that much advice.
It was a lot of changing adresses lol
Oh how I wish I would have checked this area more when I started living here. But yeah I was desperate to get out so I guess I couldn't be too picky...

[Shanny8]

Last but not least, beware traces of mold on wall... it can be really bad for your health...

THIS. Last place I was at, the mold was really BAD. I think it was one of the factors that kept affecting my health throughout the winter season after I "gotten over" con crud in October 2016. I had to go to a lung/breathing specialist in 2017 coz it was like my asthma just wouldnt turn off.

You never know what the parking situation is like until everyone is home. Even if you get assigned parking, there's likely not enough guest parking or it's located in inconvenient areas.

Ugh. I'm dealing with this now; Monday thru Thursday, there's a always a ton of unknown cars in the parking spots close to my apartment when I get home in the evening...but on the weekends, these MFers are nowhere to be found and I can park closer to my place.

Another factor in the reason why I want to move. Also this community have been letting a lot of younger folks move in over the pandemic and they're doing stuff like being loud at night(especially on weekends- after midnight to 3 or 4 in the morning) & leaving trash right outside their front door(buddy has a bag that has currently been sitting outside his door since Monday) instead of carrying their trash to the dumpster.

[DeleteThisAccountFag]

Thanks so much for all the advice guys. I'll definitely read everyone's posts. This is all really helpful.

And it also reminded me to tell you about myself. I guess I didn't mention because I didn't thought of it but perhaps knowing about my situation may help.

I live in Los Angeles and don't plan on leaving because I don't want to get into the hassle of finding a new job. My job is located in Downtown, so I'm hoping I can find a place nearby, but that might not happen due to the cost of living in this city and I only make like minimum wage ($14 an hour). I'll probably end up living in a district near Downtown. I'm not against having a roommate but I'm sick of living with others and really want a place for myself. I have no car, only a bike.

So far, what I've read, has been helpful so thanks guys for sharing your stories. I really hope I can do this.

[DeleteThisAccountFag]

Well, beggars can't be choosers. I'm limited in where I can live so chances are it's not going to be the most ideal, but I thank you for the small anecdote you provided. Any little thing helps.

[Jen-Jen]

The first time I moved out, it was into a house right off campus. I shared the house with three roommates. On move-in day, I sat down at the table to eat dinner, only to notice my neighbors, seven or eight of the thirty people that would regularly frequent their house, openly watching me eat. They sat on their front porch, made friendly conversation with me, and wouldn't stop staring at me when I asked them to. If I didn't speak to them, then they wouldn't speak at all, which severely creeped me out. Eventually, I shut the blinds, which they were pissed about, shouting at me, calling me rude and a b*tch, and I don't know what else.
That was my first hint that something was wrong with that house, but I didn't take it. Be careful when you're choosing a place. Listen to your instincts, and if you don't like a place even after you've signed a lease, remember that you can leave immediately. Whether or not you have to pay that month's rent, you don't have to be there just because you're paying for it.

Edit: Wow, I see there are only a couple of stories here, rather than just advice. Makes this kind of awkward. But you asked for stories! So, here we are.

[sushy00]

Yeah LA is a difficult area for housing (here it is crazy as well, I want to move to a less populated area but even there everything is expensive). I guess you could make a list of priorities which you find most important (commute to work, living with others or not, space, area, neighbours etc).

[drcharlotterodricks]

I'm interested in the rest of this story though..as in how it played out

[drcharlotterodricks]

You've got this!!!!!

[Jen-Jen]

It's kind of long and off topic, so I could pm you?

[CosmicLeon]

first off, look for nearby stores like food. it helps if you don't live far from a grocery store. (especially if you don't have a car, and walking is cheap so i highly suggest it)

second, what can you afford. This might sound like a no-brainer but you need to make sure you know who much money you spend on food and life stuff (utilities) in addition to your rent. (Typically i spend $200 on food, but my average is $300 just for life stuff)

try to see the place you are looking at in person if you can. The place I live is a bit smaller than i thought (because trying to move during covid is a nightmare) pictures can be deceiving sometimes.

check everything to see if something is broken or dinged up. write it down like you are writing a novel (maybe that is a bit extreme but you get the point) because some land lords will Nickle-and-dime you. unforutnally you will miss a few things, but a few things you should check is your stove top. make sure all the burners turn on. How well your drains work, and lights. also check your how well you windows open. (that might seem strange one but were i currently life, we can only open 2 windows and one of them is stuck open XD)

when moving, see what time move in/ move out is. as each place is a bit different. for example, move out for my last place was noon, but move in for my current place was 3pm. You may be driving your uhaul around, or just park and wait. if you have the option to move in early, it makes it a bit less stressful rather than the day of.

moving is always stressful. you can't really get around it, so make sure to take a nice break after you move all your stuff. it usually takes me a week to unpack, and organize the house, so it's ok to chill out after you move in. (just set up a bed or something to sleep in)

[CosmicLeon]

I feel your pain. Me and my boyfriend when to buy food, and his finger tips went numb for two weeks because of those plastic bags cutting into you hand, (was not a fun trip that day) so use a backpack or something like a cloth bag. much better on your body. and who care if you get weird looks, its better than hurting yourself and makes the experience 1000% better.

[cherrystark]

Truth! After that trip, I did opt for backpacks or waiting until a friend went to the store so we could carpool. That trip was supposed to be a quick trip for a flu shot and like 2 things, so it shouldn't have been a big deal. Somehow, I decided to go on the day the pharmacy was giving away a free bag of groceries for anyone who got a flu shot. Being a starving college student at the time, I wasn't going to turn away free food.

[drcharlotterodricks]

That works ^-^
.................

[SopaWalker]

Dude I've straight lived inside of moldy theatre walls (phantom of the opera style) with rats to survive in Los Angeles. Room mates definitely make or break a situation. Best to go at it alone and keep it simple. one plate, one fork, one cup, and a toothbrush.

https://tapas.io/series/Souper-Kaiju

[thedude3445]

I moved in September, basically on impulse because I had no idea that my job supervisor would be immediately forcing the decision on me once I said "yeah I'll probably do it." I moved into teacher housing which reduced my rent by 2/3 and gave me a bigger place with a garage to boot. All amazing except the absolutely hellish moving process. It went by incredibly quickly, just under three weeks from "Get ready" to "OK you're moved in." Packing and cleaning wasn't THAT bad, only 2-3 days of work for my small apartment, but all the paperwork and bureaucracy stuff was unbearable. (However I live in Japan, a country famous for its bureaucratic nightmares, so it won't be the same for most people.)

The hardest part for me was actually after I moved in. First off, there were spiders and spider eggs and dead bugs EVERYWHERE and I had to clean all of that up all by myself (I killed so many animals that day). After that I had to wait three weeks for my internet to be installed, so I couldn't do any writing that involved my main application Scrivener and have it sync to my laptop at work (my PC has no wifi card sadly). Then I found that I had all this extra space, and all this junk that I had accumulated over the years in weird places could finally be useful--I built an entire home office-esque setup, made some bookshelves, and arranged everything for maximum comfort. But it was really expensive and took several weeks to do it all!

The whole move cost me a LOT of money. For all the money I save on rent, I won't see a "net profit" for another few months at least. But it was honestly a really valuable experience because it's the first time I moved out of a place all on my own; every other time I either lived in student housing on campus, or I had roommates who stayed behind, or I moved along with family members. This was the first time I took 100% of my belongings and moved 100% of them to a new location all at once, and I imagine I will do that plenty more times in the future so I'm glad I got to do it with a very helpful supervisor guiding the annoying parts along.

[Shredder]

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned but DOCUMENT and PHOTOGRAPH everything.

The owner might be nice at first but he could easily sell it to someone else with you still renting, as well as a bunch of other variables. So before you move in, make sure any and all damages are already known to the owner and follow up immediately if you find something that he didn't mention when you ask him if there are any damages as well.

Document everything, keep all your bill receipts, and etc.