Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

  • Home
  • About
  • We Recommend
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Powered by Genesis

How to Find an Affordable Apartment in a Big City

January 23, 2024 By MelissaB 6 Comments

Affordable Apartment

Moving to a large city from the suburbs or a more rural area can be a big shift. I’m not just talking about a little culture shock, but also a big financial change. I found that out first-hand when I moved to Chicago. One of the biggest challenges when moving to a new area, especially a large city, is finding an affordable apartment.

How to Find an Affordabe Apartment in a Big City

Cities like New York, LA and Chicago have reputations for having pretty expensive apartments. If you’re moving from an area where you get a lot of value for your money, the shift can be pretty intimidating. But with a little know-how and research, you can find some hidden jewels.

Here are some of my top tips for finding an affordable apartment in a big city!

1. Talk to Locals

Before actually making the move, I visited Chicago three times. With every visit, I talked to taxi cab and Uber drivers to learn more about the city and get their advice on the best areas.

What you’ll find in most large cities is that they’re broken down into distinct areas or neighborhoods, each with their own culture and vibe. Your first priority should be to narrow down a specific neighborhood or two you want to move to, then look for apartments you might like to rent.

When you run into people, ask them what neighborhood they live in and get a feel for how expensive it is. You don’t want to downright ask strangers how much they pay for rent, but ask how the area stacks up against other neighborhoods.

If you’re moving for a new job, be sure to talk with your soon-to-be coworkers. This was another good source of information for me. Someone from HR emailed me some of the affordable neighborhoods that I should consider checking out, which was a huge help.

2. Check Apartment Hunting Sites

Sites like Trulia and Zillow are extremely helpful for finding apartments in a new area that fit your budget. I spent countless hours browsing online listings to find apartments that were within the budget I felt comfortable with.

The good thing about these sites is they allow you to filter based on price, amenities location and other options to really help you find what you’re looking for.

Don’t just rely on the national apartment listing sites. I was recommended to check out a local apartment listing site specifically for Chicago. Zillow and Trulia tend to cater to large property management companies, whereas these niche city specific sites cater to individuals.

It’s all about real estate listings, I realized the importance of diligent research and strategic planning when navigating real estate listings to secure a budget-friendly yet desirable living space in a bustling metropolis.

Of course, you can also look at the local Craigslist. This is a good option if you want to save money by renting with a roommate. Getting a roommate will automatically cut your rent in half or even more depending on how many people you live with. Just keep in mind that sharing an apartment with a roommate comes with some potential risks as well.

One downside to Craigslist is that it can easily become a bait-and-switch game. I found that out quickly after calling some listings that had been posted the same day, only to be told “I don’t have that specific unit available anymore but I have some other options I can show you.” Those other options were generally at least a couple hundred dollars more.

3. Walk Around the Neighborhood

Affordable Apartment
Photo by Alicja Podstolska on Unsplash

Once you’ve decided on a specific neighborhood, don’t do all your research online. Hit the pavement and go walking around. Although you might think everyone lists their apartments for rent online, it’s not uncommon for condo owners or old school landlords to just put a “for rent” sign outside their building.

In larger cities, there’s so much foot traffic that just putting a “for rent” sign outside saves landlords the time and fees that come along with listing their property online. You can often find steals with these types of rentals because the landlord isn’t doing a ton of competitive research on what everyone else is charging. They’re just charging what they think they should, which is generally less than market value.

On one of my visits to Chicago, I walked around the main area I was interested in and noticed a lot of for rent signs. So when I went back home, I contacted a few of them to schedule a tour for my next visit.

4. Be Open to Compromise

There are probably some must-haves on your apartment checklist, but if you’re on a budget you have to be willing to compromise. Before moving, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get the same value and amenities I got from my previous apartment so I just accepted it.

I recommend making a list of must-haves and a separate list of things that would be good to have, but you could live without. For instance, an in-unit washer/dryer could be a must-have, but a community gym might be something that you could live without.

In most cases, the cost for all those extra amenities comes out in the costs of added fees or higher rent. You might be surprised by how quickly your needs can change once you see how much more the rent is for an apartment with a pool, doorman and business center.

The key is to compromise, not sacrifice.

5. Consider Living Further From Downtown

The closer you live to the downtown area, the higher your rent will be. When I first started looking, I thought about how great it would be to live close to the downtown area, but I quickly changed my mind after seeing how much the rent was.

Affordable Apartment
Photo by Sawyer Bengtson on Unsplash

My main reasoning for wanting to live closer to downtown was to make my work commute shorter. But it’s well worth spending an extra 10-20 minutes on the train to save hundreds of dollars on rent each month.

Do research and find neighborhoods a little further out that still provide a lot of the amenities you’d get downtown like restaurants, fun activities and shops.

6. Get a Broker

I’ll be honest. I didn’t even know that rental brokers were a thing until I started looking for an apartment in the city. After all my research, I eventually decided to use a broker to find my apartment.

Rental brokers are like real estate agents for renters. You tell them your budget, amenities you’d like and the areas/neighborhoods you’re interested in, and they’ll find a place for you. They’ll even drive you around to the different apartments, which is super convenient when you’re searching in the city. Some will charge you a commission, and others get paid from the property management companies they work with.

In larger cities, there are tons of options available, and there is no single location to see them all. Using a broker makes your search a lot easier and quicker.

7. Look for Up-And-Coming Neighborhoods

This tip saved me a lot of money. When you’re moving to a big city, there’s a lot of temptation to move to one of the trendy, established neighborhoods. However, consider choosing an up-and-coming neighborhood that isn’t quite as well known.  You can get a lot more bang for your buck.

A lot of people associate up-and-coming neighborhoods with being dangerous. However, that’s not necessarily the case. Often times these are neighborhoods that weren’t the most well kept in the past, but over time new homeowners and businesses start to move in to revitalize the area.

The period of time right before a neighborhood becomes mainstream and trendy is the perfect time to rent because you’ll be able to snag a great location before the prices inevitably go up.

Find up-and-coming neighborhoods by talking to people like I mentioned earlier, or just searching Google. There are plenty of blogs that are on top of what’s going on in the city.  They usually put together lists of burgeoning neighborhoods to look out for.

One thing to keep in mind is you always want to make sure you’re moving to a safe neighborhood. While up-and-coming areas aren’t ripe with crime, they are still developing. I used Walk Score to look at the safety rating for the neighborhood I moved into before signing the lease. It’s a great way to check how crime in the neighborhood compares to the rest of the city.

Saving money is great, but you don’t want to risk your safety to save a couple bucks.

Final Thoughts

Putting all these tips into action will allow you get a great apartment in a large city without needing to live off Ramen noodles and bologna.

Read More

How To Pack Your Clothes For Moving

Living Costs to Calculate Before You Sign a Lease

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: Frugality, Saving, ShareMe Tagged With: affordable apartment, apartment, frugal

How We Saved Money on Our First Camping Trip    

August 7, 2023 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

Three tents together at night

The last time my husband and I last went camping was 22 years ago. We weren’t fans of the experience, so we never made camping a priority. However, several of our friends decided to go camping with their families this summer, and we somewhat hesitantly agreed to join. Even though we had no camping supplies, we saved money on our first camping trip using several different techniques. By the way, we didn’t mind camping this time, especially since our kids enjoyed it so much. We have another trip planned in October.

How We Saved Money on Our First Camping Trip

We didn’t want to buy a lot of items in case we decided (again) that camping wasn’t for us. We only purchased the following:

A Tent

We bought a 9-person tent from Amazon that was $149.99. However, we bought it on sale for $99.99. In hindsight, I should have bought it in person. I didn’t realize that the tent had large mesh openings that didn’t have flaps inside to close them. Instead, there’s a rain flap that goes over the whole tent. While the design is acceptable for summer camping, I think we’ll get cold when we go in October because we can’t close off the mesh openings.

Sleeping Bags

We had one sleeping bag at home, so we bought three more. I also purchased these on Amazon during a sale. Each sleeping bag was $22.99. After our first camping trip, our daughter’s sleeping bag already had a hole. We weren’t happy with that.

Camping Cooking Utensil Set

We bought a camping cooking utensil set for $24.99, which included a sharp knife and roasting sticks. Because we didn’t want to spend any more money on cooking gear, we cooked all our food on a stick over the fire—hot dogs, s’mores, breakfast sausage. We called it stick cooking. Anything that we couldn’t cook on a stick we ate cold.

Wood

On the day of the camping trip, we bought wood for $7.99. We went through that wood in one day, so we’ll need to buy a larger quantity when we go in October.

We spent $202 on the abovementioned necessities for our first camping trip.

What I’d Like to Buy in the Future

If we continue to camp, there are a few other items we’d like to make the experience more enjoyable:

Inflatable Mattresses

My husband and I aren’t young anymore, so we’d prefer sleeping on an air mattress rather than on the ground.

A Grill Grate

While cooking with a stick was fine for the first trip, it might get old on the second trip. If we camp more often, we’d like to buy a grill grate to put over the fire and hold a pan to cook eggs and other foods.

A Better Tent

Our tent is fine for warm weather, but if we continue to camp in the fall and spring, we’d like one that does a better job keeping us warm.

Final Thoughts

We spent $202 on our original outlay of camping supplies. We’ll likely wait until we’ve had another camping trip or two to see if we need to buy more. Meanwhile, each camping trip we take helps reduce the price of our initial outlay of supplies.

Do you camp regularly? If so, which supplies do you find essential?

Read More

Do Fitness and Frugality Go Together?

3 Benefits of Budgeting One Month Ahead

How Getting Ahead Saves Me Time, Money, and Mental Energy

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: frugal living Tagged With: camping, Family activities, family vacation, frugal

How We’re Saving on Entertainment Costs

February 6, 2023 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

Saving on Entertainment

While we’ve weathered the recent bout of inflation fairly well, lately, we’ve encountered a situation that many other Americans have. Each month, we end up a bit short with more expenses than income. To compensate, we’ve had to dip into our emergency fund. I’ve resolved to stop that trend and tighten our budget. One of the easiest ways to tighten up is saving on entertainment costs.

How We’re Saving on Entertainment Costs

Even though we’re trying to save in this budget category, we still want to have fun with our kids and build memories. So, we’re trying to do that as frugally as possible while recognizing that sometimes we have to spend money to save. Here are the strategies we’re employing.

Buying a Museum Pass with Reciprocal Privileges

We bought an annual membership to our local science museum for $90. This museum participates in the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) Travel Passport Program, which means we can visit any of the 350 museums that participate nationwide for free or at a discount. We’ve already visited another museum 90 miles away, so in two visits (including one to our local museum), the membership has paid for itself. Any other museums we visit this year that participate in the program will not cost us anything.

Combine Frugality with Fun Activities

Saving on Entertainment

We plan to visit farms in the spring and summer to pick blueberries and strawberries. The kids enjoy picking the fruit, probably because they like eating the fruit fresh off the tree.

We also live in an area that frequently has festivals, so we plan to attend some.

Finally, our area also shows free movies outside during the summer, so we will attend several of those.

Utilize Our Library Card

Yes, you read that right. Our library card can help us save money on entertainment. Sure, the library offers us free books, movies, music, and presentations, but it does even more than that. Our library card offers discounts or free admission to 19 different area attractions. For example, with one purchased admission to our local art museum, we get one free entry for another family member. Of course, we first check what our library perks offer whenever we want to visit a local attraction.

Hiking

Recently, our family has been hiking every weekend. We did have to invest in hiking boots for all of us, but since then, we’ve not had to pay anything to hike local trails. This is an activity the kids enjoy and that we plan to continue year-round.

Final Thoughts

With a bit of research, we’ve discovered saving on entertainment costs for our family isn’t difficult. Of course, we need to be flexible with our plans and our activities, but this year we should cut our entertainment costs while still making memories with the kids. They grow up so quickly, and we only have a few years left before they go to college, so even on a budget, we still want to have fun with them.

Read More

Do Fitness and Frugality Go Together?

Find Your Frugal Tribe and Save Even More Money

8 Fun, Frugal Activities to Enjoy This Fall

Editors note: This article was made possible by Rebate Fanatic.  Rebate Fanatic is founded on the vision that users need a centralized location for the best coupons and deals online.  Visit Rebate Fanatic and start saving today.

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: Children, Married Money Tagged With: entertainment, Family activities, frugal, frugal fun

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 20
  • Next Page »
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Improve Your Credit Score

Money Blogs

  • Celebrating Financial Freedom
  • Christian PF
  • Dual Income No Kids
  • Financial Panther
  • Gajizmo.com
  • Lazy Man and Money
  • Make Money Your Way
  • Money Talks News
  • My Personal Finance Journey
  • Personal Profitability
  • PF Blogs
  • Reach Financial Independence
  • So Over Debt
  • The Savvy Scot
  • Yes, I am Cheap

Categories

Disclaimer

Please note that Beating Broke has financial relationships with some of the merchants mentioned here. Beating Broke may be compensated if consumers choose to utilize the links located throughout the content on this site and generate sales for the said merchant.

Visit Our Advertisers

Need to change careers? Consider an Accounting Certificate Program from WTI.