Hello,
I live in a high COL area (DC area). I finally have rounded it down to two apartments.
Apartment A:
- 12th floor with amazing view of a forest and great sunrise view in the morning. 300 square foot larger than apartment B. Tons of space and walk in closets and storage.
- Central air and in-unit washer/dryer
- 24 hours front desk, security guard patrol and dedicated parking spot. Basically, my packages will come to front desk.
Cons:
- 20 minute commute in traffic and bit more boring area where there are more families.
- Carpeted but older appliances/kitchen. Also, previous tenant seemed to be pretty dirty so I do have concerns if after shampoo/steaming how clean carpet will really be.
- $200 moving in fee, and $200 moving out. Plus I can only move in/out during normal business hours of 9AM-6PM thus I would have to take a day off from work where I only have 15 days of precious vacation.
Apartment B:
- 8 minute commute to work, plus everything is within 15 minutes including DC itself, bars, awesome restaurants, several metro(subway) stations.
- Hardwood floors, newer windows, newer bathroom/appliances/kitchen. Fresh paint. Inside looks much nicer and cleaner than A.
- Can move in any time including weekends.
- Plenty of free street parking, plus a biking path to get into the city.
Cons:
- No central air it has AC unit in window and radiator heat. Friend did say heat works great as it gets nice and hot in winter. Heating is free here as it is radiators or whatever it is that uses water. Outside looks bit ghetto as it is older building but area is definitely safe and in fact next street over is 800k+ homes.
- Since older building may be a little louder of neighbors although current tenant said it is real quiet and my friend lives in same building and vouches for the place. But that can change anytime if someone else moves in. A definitely has better construction and thicker walls since it is a Condo. Another friend lives in that and it is so dang quiet.
- Hard to get packages delivered here but I was thinking I can just ship stuff to parents house or a friends 15 minutes over or use Amazon Locker. Plus I plan to see parents 1-2/month so I can always do laundry there which is enough for me.
Apartment B saves me $2800/year when I did a rough calculation of the moving/moving out fee of first place and utilities and all. Did not calculate taking day off to move in for apartment A. I am leaning towards apartment B but a friend thinks I am cheap and that I should go with Apartment A due to in unit washer/dryer and central air and views.
What would you guys do? I am currently leaning towards B, because I was thinking in just 2 years that is $5600 saved which I could use towards certifications to make more money, or put into a business or even just travel/eat out more. Plus I am single now so apartment B would be closer to all the happening places when I am ready to go out to mingle again. Both places would be under 30% of my monthly take home after taxes/maxing 401k and HSA etc.
Would love to hear your thoughts. I have never lived on my own so finally doing so at 30. Not sure how much in-unit washer/dryer really makes a difference? Apartment B the washer/dryer is just 2 floors below and since I would get home from work at 3:30PM figured I should usually have access to laundry the few times I need to use it a month.
Submitted July 30, 2017 at 09:38PM by SlickTA http://ift.tt/2tPLI8V
