Our Favorite Apartment-Hunting Apps Right Now

November 7, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

As you may have noticed, our website underwent a redesign to make it more mobile friendly. To mark the occasion, we thought we’d highlight some of the best apartment-hunting apps for your mobile device. While we touched on the subject earlier this year, the mobile world moves fast, so we felt it was worth highlighting…

October: The Best Time to Rent an Apartment

October 1, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

While we’ve covered the best times to rent an apartment before, it’s time to go into a little bit more depth on the subject. Particularly because October is absolutely, positively one of the very best months to be searching for a rental. Yes, that’s right, now is the time to be looking. In most locations,…

Should You Get Cable TV? Maybe Not

September 26, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

The golden era of cable television is probably over. From, oh, say 1985 to 2005, it filled a definite need: if you wanted to watch a variety of shows and movies, and weren’t interested in going to the video rental store all the time (remember those?), then you had to get cable. Or be stuck…

Apartment Hunter’s Checklist

September 18, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

Searching for an apartment is exhausting. There’s no question about that. By the time you’re actually looking at an apartment, you’re often already tired of the process. And, yet, this is the time when you most need to pay attention! Somehow, though, that’s not always what happens. Perhaps the property manager is rushing you through the viewing,…

Getting Your First Apartment: How Much Money Do You Need to Save to Move Out?

September 11, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

2017 Update: You can download our new Printable Apartment Budgeting Worksheet and use it to estimate your rent and budget for all your expenses. 2016 Update: Also check out our recent posts that help you calculate the maximum affordable rent on your salary: How Much Rent Can I Afford on My Hourly Pay and Affordable…

6 Rules for Talking to Your Roommate About a Problem

September 4, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

For most people, roommates are a simple fact of apartment living. Whether you source your roommate from friends you already have, or whether you conducted a laborious roommate interview to find someone suitable, you’re most likely stuck with your current roommate – at least until end of the lease. So what do you do if…

Should You Move Out? Pros and Cons of Living with Family

August 31, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

We get a lot of readers asking if they have the budget to move out of their parents’ (or other relatives) house. It makes sense: who doesn’t want to be living a fully independent lifestyle? In terms of sheer finances, we’ve covered topics from budgeting for rent to the cost of utilities to how much…

How to Get a Rental Without Meeting the Income Requirement

August 18, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

Not everyone is blessed with a salaried job that pays $80,000 a year. Yet in places like New York, Chicago, or Boston, for example, many landlords require that potential tenants earn somewhere between 40-50 times their monthly rent in annual salary. That means that if you earned $80,0000 per year (a hefty sum for someone…

How to Check Out Your Potential Landlord

July 29, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

A landlord can single-handedly make or break a living situation – and yet many people don’t bother to check out their landlord before signing a lease. Imagine if your apartment was broken into, and no one came by to put up a new door. Or if your refrigerator went kaput one month into the lease…

The Neighbor’s Loud Party: Some Advice

July 18, 2013 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

Sometimes neighbors are great. Sometimes neighbors stink. But the fact remains that you’re going to have to deal with them, one way or the other. Never is this more apparent than when your neighbor throws a loud party next door, on the very night you were planning on a quiet bath and some reading. Our…