Move Your Apartment Yourself - Save a Little Money!

One good strategy to spend less money is to keep from using a moving company. Depending on the overall size of your apartment, a moving company can charge anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars. Despite the fact that you probably can't keep from renting a moving truck, you can certainly pack your stuff and load and unload yourself. Here are a handful of tips on how to pack when you are moving to a new apartment.

The correct way to Pack Household furniture:

Take apart household furniture if possible and cover
Cover table legs separately
Lay out padding between your pieces of furniture and the floor of the moving truck
Position tables together with legs assembled top down on floor with legs up
Stack chairs seat to seat

Packing Dishes:

Work with special "dishpak" packing containers
Cover plates, saucers, and bowls separately using several sheets of paper each
Begin from the corner, wrapping diagonally, continually tucking in tips
After covering individually, encapsulate 4-6 items in a pack with a dual covering of newspapers
Place extra padding material inside bottom of carton
Position level, larger pieces such as platters, plates on bottom
Place bundled pieces in a carton in a strip on border.
Encompass every bundle with crushed paper, being careful to leave no unfilled spots.
Cups and glasses should be wrapped in a double covering of papers and inserted upside down on rims in a row on an upper layer inside the container with all the handles facing the same direction.

Packing Garments:

Shoes can be left in shoe boxes and inserted into sizeable packages.
Or, wrap each shoe individually, then in pairs.
Shoes ought to be cushioned to prevent damage occurring to high heals or decorations.
Don't pack weighty items on footwear.
Clothes may be left on hangers and moved inside clothes cartons.
Light and portable garments such as hose, lingerie and sweaters can remain inside dresser drawers.

Lamps:

Take out the light bulb.
Wrap the base, harp and bulb separately in newspaper, and place alongside one another in a box, filling up spaces with crushed paper.
Do not ever wrap the lamp shade in newspaper.
Diligently wrap each shade in 3-4 sheets of fresh tissue papers, a pillow case or large lightweight soft towel.

Pictures and Glass:

Make use of a standard picture box or protect both sides of the picture with card board.
Place packaging paper along the side panels and edges of the photograph to stop it from moving inside the box.
Insert not more than 3 or 4 photographs in one container.
Keep the box right side up all the time.

What NOT to Pack:

Warmth from sunshine can raise temperatures inside a closed moving van to more than 150 degrees. Even in the middle of cold months, heat accumulates inside. A lot of common products, such as aerosol hair spray or cleaning solutions, can set off an explosion or fire that could destroy your possessions when packed inside a van.
For your personal safety, make certain that no member of your household packs these products in a box to be moved in the back of the moving truck. Replacing a can of hair spray is less difficult than replacing all of your possessions.
We want you to have a gratifying move. For the safety of your possessions, evaluate the list below and get rid of all hazardous items before packing:

Hairspray
Cleaning solutions
Shaving cream
Spray starch
Deodorants
Insecticides
Spray paint
Oil-based paints
Bleach
Gasoline
Muriatic acid
Oil
Auto batteries
Naptha
Gas in tanks*
Tar cleaner
Oxygen in tanks
Paint thinners
Lighting fluid
Turpentine
Matches
Lacquer cleaner
Ammunition
Mineral spirits
Chlorine granules or powder
Any other type of combustible

Renting with Pets: Guidelines

It's likely you have already figured this out: Landlords tend not to appreciate pets. If you have man's best friend, your hunt for a new apartment will be more challenging, but certainly not hopeless. Generally speaking, the more restrictive the apartment market gets, the more picky property owners can become, showing favoritism for tenants who don't have house animals, particularly agressive dogs.

Below are a few good tricks for renting with pets:

1) Most apartments accept pets to some degree. Restrictions generally center around the number of house animals you've got, aggressive breed dogs, or big pets.

2) Start by looking for pet-friendly rentals. Apartment complexes with dog-parks, or that offer various units with small yards, will probably accept more breeds or large pets.

3) Find some good references for your pet. Former landlords or building managers are best. Sometimes your vet might make a good reference. The point is for it to be crystal clear that you don't have a problem pet.

4) A lot of the opposition to dogs is a fear they'll bark often (particularly when the tenant is not home), disturbing other tenants. When your dog is not of the barking variety, make sure you point out that when applying for an apartment.

5) Some cat-friendly landlords will probably accept little dogs.

6) Pet cats have a much better possibility of being accepted if they are de-clawed, neutered and guaranteed to be housebroken.

7) Homes are more likely to take your pet, because they often have yards, so you may need to focus on that route.

Defining the Austin Loft

When looking for an apartment or condo, quite often you will hear the word “loft” used to identify a rental you’re checking out. Most people think they understand what a “loft” is, then again will this specific expression always have a similar meaning? The short response is No, precisely what Austin apartments refer to as a loft can have an incredibly different appearance and feeling than what Seattle apartments label a loft and so forth.
In the most technical terms the expression “loft” is classified:

Loft: -Noun: 

1. An top floor of a business building, storage place, or manufacturing plant, typically made up of wide open, non partitioned floor area.

2. A terrace or platform erected over a great room and utilized particularly for sleeping.
Based on which area of the country you're living in, or even which part of the world, you probably identify a loft with the first definition. The idea that comes to mind in this example may be the movie “Ghost”, which depicts a Chicago-style loft which seems like a warehouse, with open-exposed supports, brick rooms, towering ceilings and plenty of windows. With this thought in your mind you might be greatly disappointed when you arrive at the apartment to find that the majority of lofts don’t resemble that in any way.
Austin, Tx apartments just don't typically tend towards the Chicago-style lofts. There are merely a few, typically in close proximity to downtown, they are harder to get and will definitely cost a renter more than $2.00 per sq. ft .
The typical Austin, Texas rental loft space is effectively a floor plan type, similar to description #2. Most commonly it is two stories and traditionally, the bedroom or an office/entertainment space is located on the second floor. That floor is separated off from the space or room beneath by either a half wall or railing overlooking the living room space.
About the only thing this loft could have that is similar to the loft a lot of people imagine is the high ceilings necessary to accommodate the 2nd story. While it still has an open floor plan which usually feels very big, you will not find most of the other warehouse style features like exposed brick, exposed ceiling beams, elaborate columns or widespread windows.
The main things to think about when leasing a loft are utility bills and the level of privacy. The more elevated the roof, the more area to cool, and the larger your utilities. This is valid in winter also as warmth rises and it'll take much more to warm your area. Level of privacy might be a concern if you are considering the loft as your bedroom, or even as a secondary bedroom. If the loft is a single bedroom unit and you are considering using the loft as a second bedroom, there will normally be one restroom, which is often found in the main bedroom.

Lofts can be a fantastic method to achieve extra living space and an appealing architectural characteristic. Whether you prefer the Chicago-style or perhaps the simpler lofts, there is an apartment that can meet your needs.


Natalie Young in the manager at A Plus Apartments in Austin, Texas, specializing in locating the perfect Austin Apartments.

Rental Locators and Apartment Finders Save You Time and Dollars!

View this article on the Austin Apartment Specialists Slideshare account!

Whenever your start an apartment search, your first reaction is probably “Whoa!” At this time there are honestly thousands and thousands of apartment listings online, in lease guides, on services like Craigslist and even in the newspaper. No surprise its tricky to know where exactly to start off! To complicate things, let's suppose you and your family are moving to a new city and you don’t even know the area?

Almost all apartment searches are conducted blind. ‘Blind’ meaning that you are not 100% sure of your choices, just what exactly you meet the criteria for, in some cases even what exactly you actually desire - I mean is it really better to make your home near where you work or where you play? There’s quite a bit to take into consideration whenever you commit to a rental!

Apartment finders are proficient in the hunt for a fresh new property, and understand what steps help you to find the best apartment as swiftly as possible not skipping any of the fundamental questions, verifications and documentation that guarantee that you find yourself in a apartment you really want. Very few people today really fully grasp the benefits an apartment locator brings to the table, especially bearing in mind the assistance is 100 % free to you. Here’s the way in which apartment finding works:

1) Contact the apartment finding company. There are lots of considerations that will help you determine which apartment locator to use. Web-based sites including Yelp and CitySearch include rankings and user testimonials, referrals from your close friends, family members and coworkers, the level of quality of their webpage and place of work, additionally the longevity of the apartment finder can enable you to make your mind up who the suitable apartment locator is for you. Several questions you might ask of a prospective apartment locator:

-How much time have you performed apartment locating in this location?
-Which area of the area do you focus on?
-Would you usually send me listings or escort me to the apartments?
-Can you drive me and my family to the properties (if you are coming in from out of town)?
-Have you been successful with my circumstances before?

2) Visit your apartment locator in the office. Your apartment finder can determine your basic desires from a conversation on the phone or information sent in on a form, but each and every set of circumstances is different, and the mission of the apartment locator, the portion that will save you your time, cash and complications, is to sift out as many non-qualifying properties as they can BEFORE you leave the office. It really means they may have a whole lot of questions and often times will be tweaking their apartment search as they go. When you are in the business office with your locator, they can do this significantly faster and easier.

Striving to measure you up for the apartments and the rentals regarding you. Right here is when the greater part of the labour enters in. It still amazes me that far more people don’t work with locators simply because they do all of this for you, for free. After you and your apartment locator have narrowed down your apartment options to those that satisfy your primary needs like specific location, beds / baths, rent payments, pets, etc … NOW the apartment hunter is able to:

-Contact property management to confirm accurate unit availability of not simply the floor plan, but additionally the area within the apartment community, the floor level, the view, move-in date, whether or not a garage, storage unit or assigned parking comes with the rental and much, much more.
-Validate the qualification criteria for the apartment community: credit ranking, leasing history, public record, salary, etc. to make certain that you aren't wasting your precious time or application costs.
-Examine the apartment property rental policies concerning any special conditions like pets, visitors, parking, bicycle storage, etc. that may be related to your situation.
- Find out if there are any applicable special offers which would lower your rent, deposit or administration fees,  if any bills are incorporated into in the rent payments, as well as whether there are additional service fees you may not be taking into consideration, like a vehicle parking fee or animal fee.
If any of the properties do not complement your present situation, your apartment hunter will help you decide whether to clear them from your list or make an exception. Taking the time to visit apartment communities that don’t fit your needs, don’t have available apartment units when you need them or rentals you won't meet the criteria for, can cost you tons of energy and money! A good locator can save you from a lot of of the most commonplace leasing mistakes and oversights.

3) Take you to the Proper apartment communities and rental properties. As soon as you and your apartment locator have established your finalized list, its time to visit the apartment properties! Your locator will often escort you to the communities so they can guarantee that all your questions get addressed and that you have a chance to check into them! They may help you with the necessary documents if you decide to apply. This is definitely helpful if you are relocating from another city. Whatever the case its still good not to use your own gas money driving around the town!

You're kidding!” you say? Not really; this is what they do for a living and they are incredibly good at it! This Cost-free service is a real gem in so lots of scenarios. If you are just extremely busy, you are moving to a new town or you merely aren't sure where to begin, try an apartment finder. Lots of people consider their service is the biggest value in leasing!