So why did we move? Long story. We had planned on staying in the last place for our 12 month lease and then just changing it to a month to month agreement. It's what we've always done in Washington.
No.
I was surprised to find the new rental prices taped to my door one day in June. They were raising the rent by $150 per month if we wanted to rent for another year. For absolutely nothing. No property improvements, no apartment improvements, one of the treadmills had been broken for three months, etc. They also listed the month to month pricing options. $1000 more PER MONTH. Wtf.
First, let's list my grievances that I was willing to overlook before a $150 rent hike:
- 25 minute drive from work
- Ceiling leaked in the middle of the night all over the floor and had to be taken down
- The washer/steam dryer combination built by the devil himself
- The toilet that wafted sewer pipe smells intermittently
- An incredible number of spiders
- Scorpions
- The shower that I had to duck down under to get my hair wet
- Lingerings of past dog (awful for Terry)
- A rat ATE MY CAR in their garages
Out of sheer spite, I made the instant decision to move and started searching. We spent one day visiting properties and signed a new lease. Before our other apartment knew we were moving, they sent us a "Cost of Moving" worksheet to attempt to deter us. It was an utter load of bullshit.
I won't break it down into specifics because the sheet is so goddamn stupid, but when I calculated my own cost, I spent less than $300 (including a UHaul). I got more money back from my security deposit.
So I packed up all of our stuff and moved it over to our new place in about three days.
Highlights:
- San Diego in late July is extremely hot.
- It took nine trips in the Corolla to move everything but the bed, bed frame, couch frame, kitchen table, fish tank stand, two bookshelves, tv stand, and bar.
- I "borrowed" a hand truck from work to load the car at the old place. After one trip I bought a second one and planted it at the new place because it was hot.
- My old neighbors stopped and I found them commenting on how much I can cram into my little car.
- You can drive not so comfortably by moving your driver's seat up about 4 clicks to make space.
- Toolboxes are really really heavy.
- Terry hides car parts under the bed and doesn't say anything until I find them.
- New neighbors started to offer me water out of pity.
After about three trips:
I couldn't find any dinner items or cooking utensils the first night and it was late, so I settled for some cookies. Poor me.
My "couch" for a week while I waited for Terry to help me with a UHaul on the weekend:
Special items:
- We were the first to move in after a "remodel". There were some issues.
- No internet for a week because there was some confusion about whether the connection had been plastered over.
- Bathroom not yet completed. I know some about shower installation now. All the parts were there so I improvised. (But OMG the shower is sooooo much better than our last one)
- Ceiling leaking in bathroom. I was pretty sure my death would occur from a toilet falling on me. Fun fact: the leak was upstairs toilet water. Nice. It's fixed now. Why do I attract ceiling leaks?
- Opened the first kitchen cabinet and it...fell off. Opened the second cabinet and it...also...fell off. Opened the bathroom vanity cabinet. Fell off. What the hell?!
Our cheapo remodeling contractor used the shortest, crappiest screws he could find to install the cabinetry. It was sad. We asked for the management to fix some of the worst ones and after a week a guy showed up with a slightly bigger screw and ended up stripping the holes. And then left.
I could be a better maintenance man than him.
I also now know a bit about how to fix these types of issues (glue, wooden dowels, longer screws that match the type of wood). The Home Depot dudes can be pretty helpful.
Here's Terry replacing every single piece of hardware in our kitchen:
Here's Terry drinking while replacing every single piece of hardware in our kitchen:
Old screws vs. the correct ones I picked up:
Overall, I'd call the move a win. I get great satisfaction out of paying less rent at our new place, the apartment (despite it's initial problems) is much better than the last one, and I'm only five miles away from work now. And we have a patio. And the landscapers help me take care of my outdoor plants.
