New decisions: Affordability vs. Comfort

Affordability and Comfort has been a balance on a thin line that only stays stable until something makes it kilter. That "something" can be increased rent, relocation, decrease in income and/or etc. Recently the affordability-comfort balance has become a debate for my household. Having to create the mental pros and cons related to staying where we are, moving to a more affordable apartment which equals downsizing, location, and various other reasons.

Over the last two years, the rent in our building has increased and the balance scale in my mind began to teeter and all of a sudden affordability had a little more value than the comfort of space despite my desire as they say "have my cake and eat it too" in regards to space and cost of rent.

I began a mental dialogue about a year ago and it subsided due to the conclusion that it was working out for us for the time being, but NOW the dialogue has become more of a priority in figuring what would be more beneficial for us and our future.

There were some criteria that we found that was important for us of course in no particular order:

  1. In our budget
  2. An area where we can walk around at night safely
  3. Parking (in garage if possible)
  4. Laundry on site (in unit if in budget)
  5. Decent size kitchen (because I like to cook)
  6. A/C (for summer heat)
  7. Lowest Floor or gym included

The apartment size was important due to possibly having a child within our future. Now within our budget, we did need to change some of our criteria from "required" to "optional", like gym and kitchen size, but I was calculating that we would need the space since we have had some changes in the last year which would require an extra room. 

Now the research begins:

  1. apartmentguide.com
  2. apartments.com
  3. westsiderentals.com
  4. rent.com
  5. radiokorea.com
  6. hotpad.com
  7. craigslist.com
  8. Other websites that offer information.

Apartments that we would like would be either the size of our apartment now, or larger. The ideal would be ones that include utilities where we pay our own utilities currently, but depending on the average utility costs in the city or area that we decide to move the utility bill would vary. 

The apartments that were rental by owner were competitive rental rates to the rental by property management. The condition of the apartment varied depending on location. The more metropolitan that the area was, the higher the rental rate.

Things to watch out for:

1. The ideal would have been to begin looking after we saved the deposit, last month's rent and emergency fund for survival in the first few months, but we're working on that as we look, so hopefully we'll be able to be ready by the time we find that ideal place for our future. 
2. Sites that assist in finding rentals like westsiderentals.com have posted rentals that are free, but you would need to pay a fee for the "special" listings. This is still a topic of discussion and have not made a decision when or if we will use these kind of services.
3. People will post renting out a room. As a seeking renter, I do not appreciate that. (There are websites for finding roommates)
4. There will be outdated posting which does not match the current rates of the particular apartment. It is disappointing when you find out that the rental rate on these search sites is off by $200, which is a big difference for those who would like to stay within a budget like my husband and I. 
5. Some locations do not have managers that speak English that would make it difficult to make requests or ask questions. I am bilingual, so it has not been an issue as of yet, but I can see it being frustrating for someone like my husband.

RESULTS: TO BE CONTINUED... I will be updating on our progress as we go along.

But until we meet again. Hope you can go my journey with me!

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