Thursday, May 28, 2009

Moving On Ugh!

So, once again I have made the decision to move. My current place of two years is way too small and too far from my job at Newark Airport. So, I feel the desire to move and man is it frustrating and it's making me a bit depressed.

Now, two years ago when I moved to my teeny tiny apartment I was coming off a bitter end of a relationship which involved me losing most of my savings paying both shares of the rent the last four months of the lease that she co-signed.

So, I lost my relationship, can't afford to live in my then current apartment, and soon lost my job due to the stress. That's 3 for 4 on the great trauma list, thankfully no one close to me had died.

So, I was desperate when it came to apartment hunting. I was waiting for word on my current job but until then I had to find an affordable apartment that I found to be next to impossible.

I did find an apartment that I felt I could afford with my little savings left. I had gotten a part time job at UPS that with Unemployment Insurance would hold me for about half a year. I had to show my pay stubs to get the apartment, which I did with the pay stubs of the job I had just lost.

I got turned down. It was the cheapest apartment I could find on Rent.com. I was freaking out, desperately trying to find another job quickly enough to show new pay stubs. Meanwhile my ex is trying to get sympathy from me about our breakup that I didn't initiate. My brain nearly exploded.

Before it did, I finally decided to check Craigslist for apartments. I had used it to look for jobs and had been more successful in getting interviews. So I found one that were cheaper than the one I got turned down for, this was a good thing. However I was shown two apartments in the same building that were of different qualities. I was concerned for a bait and switch plus I was unsure of the neighborhood with my car. Plus they specifically wanted the W-2 form from the previous year, a year I was out of work for a few months.

The second place I saw was a tiny apartment in Atlantic Highlands in a nice neighborhood, walking distance to movie theaters and shopping. But the reason I took it was the landlord merely asked me where I worked, I said UPS and that was good enough. When the check of course cleared, I moved in.

I had only planned to be there a year but I had some other financial situations and had not seen any place that inspired me enough to move. Plus I like the shore in the summer and made great use of it.

But now, I look for a bigger place and man is it stressful. One problem is that after I finish a lease I gotta sign a new lease, I don't get the option to go month to month. This limits when I can look for a new apartment. Now, I look at Rent.com et al, where it seems they need about 3-6 months notice for an apartment to be available wheras Craigslist has more variety and less lead time. Meanwhile I had to give notice on my current place so he can put an ad in the paper. I dunno why I feel guilty about leaving but I do, Damn my Catholic upbringing.

One place I liked has an apartment I like not available until September. I want to move in August. The Craigslist apartments in Millburn which was so available for May is slim pickings now, and I gotta hope that I can get a good one in the coming month.

God I hate looking for apartments.

No comments: