The Right Apartment: 4 Signs that This is “The One.”

By Lev Novak

The right apartment will feel like the right apartment when you walk in. Still, some of us- myself included- may have a fear of commitment, or a tendency to walk away from good things. Well, don’t be an idiot. Here are a few signs that this apartment is the right one for you.

1. Everyone Likes It

In a three or four person living situation, even amongst friends, apartment hunting can get tricky. Jake’s favorite apartment is in a bad area, and Sasha wants a great place…but it’s twenty minutes from campus. Especially in a four person group, there’s going to be somebody who doesn’t like the place you’re looking at, and when there isn’t, that’s the spot for you.

To summarize: everyone liking a place is more important than someone loving it.

2. Nothing Goes Wrong

Literally while writing this apartment, I found out that an apartment I was looking at decided to raise its asking rent by $300. I’m probably going to pass, because while I liked the apartment, I didn’t like the attitude of the land-lord, and that to me is indicative of more problems to come. Anyone trying to play you for more money now isn’t the type of person who’ll come through when you need them.

This sort of thing is annoyingly common: apartments are mis-advertised, or landlords have tiny “catches” that they tell you last minute. The perfect apartment won’t have these sorts of annoyances, and appreciating a place that doesn’t is part of knowing what’s good.

3. It Feels Right

The perfect apartment is just going to feel right when you walk in to look at it. If it doesn’t feel right, ignore all the things that seem “right” about it on paper- if you’re not feeling a place, you’re simply not feeling it. Don’t let a dryer in the basement force you into rationalizing a place that doesn’t feel right for you as the ideal spot. Similarly, don’t let a lack of something lead you astray from a place that feels right to you and your room-mates. Again, it isn’t about finding the “perfect” apartment, some mythical hybrid of a home and a party-plaza that’s both hip, safe, and convenient- it’s about finding a place you could live. It’ll get a little dirty, and it’ll be home– not a piece of real-estate.

4. You Have It

Ultimately, you’re the one that decides if an apartment is “right” and that’s a good thing. There isn’t just one “home-mate” out their for you- there are a bunch of great options, each with their own pros and cons. And, importantly, even the less awesome places can be made awesome. A Nintendo 64 and good speakers can make any apartment that much better, and the people you have over, and the times you have there will be a lot more important than the hard-wood floors (or the lack thereof.)

While it’s great to find the “right” apartment, and while many such “right” apartments do exist, sometimes, in a pinch, it’s enough to simply avoid taking the “wrong” apartment. The “okay” ones can be upgraded into the right ones easily enough.

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