Apartment Hunting

Apartment hunting.  You either hate it or love it - I have yet to make up my mind.

Now that the real world is starting in just over a month, I need to find a place to call home.  For the past 22 years my home has been various places around the Peoria area, so I have not done any apartment hunting.  I'm not really sure what I thought it was going to be like before starting the adventure a few weeks ago, but I am definitely realizing that it's no walk in the park.

It wouldn't be nearly as bad if I was moving across town and could easily visit an apartment at any time.  But instead I move across the state and there are so many choices!  The biggest (and probably most important) variable is cost.  A one bedroom apartment in the Northwest suburbs can vary by hundreds of dollars and it is hard to know what you get for your money.  Internet reviews make searching so much easier, but there are many locations with no reviews, so I am essentially walking in blind.

Due to the apartments being three hours away and school being busy until early May, I am going to Chicago this weekend to look for places.  My goal is to find a place and fill out an application (and hopefully sign a lease) this weekend.  I want to get something finalized so I can cross another thing of the list of activities I need to do before I move.  I also want to try to find a place before everyone else starts looking.

This weekend is going to be crazy going from apartment to apartment, but hopefully at the end of the day Sunday I can relax knowing that I have my new home.

Aaron Roecker