My First Apartment’s mission statement has always been, “When you are ready to move out on your own, we’ll help you step-by-step to make it happen.” We don’t always know if we have achieved our mission, but a few days ago we received a letter from Jon J that gave our entire team a thrill to learn how well our advice worked for him.
Jon J is a 25-year old software engineer living in Hawthorne, California. He just this year began making enough to support himself and he is thankful that all the pieces fell in line with his first apartment move.
With Jon J’s permission we are posting below his entire email that was headlined “Thank you MFA bloggers!”
“It was March 2015 as I was in the midst of talking to my grandmother about rent when I was not so subtly informed that Grandpa wanted me and my cousins out of the house by July.
It shouldn’t have shocked me as much as it did, but at 25 years old having never lived alone I was essentially lost and, to be honest, scared. Where do I even begin looking for apartments? What is a lease? Groceries? Non-family roommates?
I had so many questions and a 4-month time span between March and July to gain all the answers. Amidst my initial anxiety and desperately clinging for some source for direction I placed a simple Google search for” My First Apartment”.
Lo and behold there existed a website with info catering specifically to the young and unitiated like myself.
Over those next 4 months I went from anxious at the mere thought of moving to now celebrating my first weekend in my new spot. That is in large part due to the awesome work by several of your editors.
The website helped me decide Roommates are DEFINITELY not for me, that while having a pet would be awesome, I’ll save that possibility for my next place. Helped me find apartment hunting resources, create check lists of move in must-haves, and also come up with simple early moving meal-plans. Lastly, it helped me to understand and make sure I agreed to and read every word of my lease before signing it.
I just wanted to say thank you to all the awesome people who made the website such an invaluable resource for me as I have stepped forward and embraced having a place of my own. Whether I was reading posts on my phone at lunch, my iPad when I was anxious in the middle of the night, or even as I pulled up the 3- ingredient recipes as I sat in front of my stove preparing to cook, your website was instrumental in my move. Thank you so much MFA team.”
Aww!