My journey to Finding the Perfect Apartment

Upon graduating and securing a job in the Bay Area, I had to find an apartment. This was the beginning of my adulting journey; I was finding myself a place for years to come. Before moving to California, I shared my upcoming relocation with my friends. A few days later, a friend called to inform me that our mutual friend was also moving to the Bay Area. My friend suggested we be roommates, to which I happily agreed. Like me, my potential roommate was an immigrant. We are both from Zimbabwe and came to America through the same USAP scholarship initiative. I liked that I would live with someone whom I shared culture with. We had a similar upbringing; we both spoke Shona (the language spoken in Zimbabwe) and liked similar food, for example, Sadza (Zimbabwean staple food). These attributes would bring a piece of Zimbabwe to the Bay Area.  

I moved to the Bay Area in June and lived in corporate housing for six(6) weeks. While in corporate housing, my roommate and I aligned on our criteria for picking an apartment. Our criteria included the following: 

• Rent (we didn’t want to spend more than 33% of our salaries on rent, especially given the Bay Area is expensive). For rent, we included utilities, security deposit, application fees, move-in fees, amenities prices, etc. Under utilities, we considered water, electricity and gas, heating/cooling, cable/internet, and trash.
•  Two bedroom and two bathroom apartment to each have our personal space. We shared the kitchen and living room. 
•  An in-unit laundry was a must.
•  Free garage parking since I had a car and didn’t want to park on the street. Parking on the road means moving the vehicle each time there is street cleaning. An indoor parking spot means safety for the car as well. 
•  Location was significant, with a preference to be closer to work, grocery stores, restaurants, public transit, San Francisco, etc. I wanted optionality since I intended to take the shuttle to work or occasionally drive. In both instances, a short commute was my goal. My roommate took public transport, and he needed to be closer to his office. Additionally, my company at the time offered a bonus for staying within 10 miles of work, another incentive to live closer to work. Free money is great, right?
•  Safety and security: we wanted a secure place with smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, and we didn’t want to worry about personal safety. 
•  Condition of the apartment: i.e., preferred new or renovated apartment with good lighting and air conditioning.
•  Amenities: we wanted the option to work out and swim, so an apartment with a gym, pool, and hot tub was preferred. 

After agreeing on apartment criteria, we partnered with a relocation agent to help find us a home. The agent found us ten apartments across Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Redwood City, San Mateo, Foster City, etc. We set a date and attempted to view all ten(10) apartments in a single day. I hate shopping, including apartment hunting; hence I wanted to get this done quickly. Our first apartment tour was in the complex we stayed at as part of corporate housing. After that, we proceeded to Redwood City, San Mateo, and then Foster City. When we went to our fifth apartment in Foster City, we realized that we liked the apartment we had toured in San Mateo and decided to select that place. With a decision made, we cut short our apartment-hunting trip without seeing the rest of the apartments. When the decision happened, my roommate and I viewed a Foster City apartment. We both turned, looked at each other, and asked if we wanted to continue apartment hunting or were happy with the San Mateo apartment we had seen earlier. After seeing five apartments, we were exhausted and bored of apartment hunting. 

We returned to the San Mateo apartment and let the leasing officer know our intention to get the apartment. To secure the apartment, we had to submit our IDs and pay stubs and pay the application fee. The apartment management company ran a background check, and we got approved the next day. Immediately, we got the lease and read all the details focusing on the fine print. We noted rules like the lease length, termination fees, noise policy(lol), parking, etc. We negotiated the rent, and once we were happy, we signed the lease, paid the security deposit, and prorated rent for the remainder of the month. We collected the keys to our new apartment and were ready to move in. 

When we started work, we were both on F-1 visa status, which doesn’t guarantee a long-term stay in the US. We set up the internet and cable beforehand to ensure that on the move-in date, we were set and everything worked from the first day. Before we moved in, we got rental insurance, and my roommate and I listed all the items we wanted for the apartment. Some things included individual beds, mattresses, headboards, dressers, nightstands, couches, coffee tables, kitchen utensils, laundry, cleaning items, etc. As immigrants, while drafting our furniture list, top of mind was being cheap and getting basic furniture. Since we weren’t guaranteed to get the H1B visa sponsorship, we wanted to be able to sell quickly or be okay with throwing furniture away if we had to leave the country at any point. We bought cheap and second-hand furniture from Facebook, colleagues, and a few things from Ikea furniture. 

After getting all the items we wanted, we eventually moved in. When moving, we had two options, i.e., use movers or not. Since we didn’t own much stuff, we rented a Uhaul and moved alone. After moving, it took us a few days to unpack, arrange and minimally decorate our apartment. We settled into our apartment and lived there for five years before moving again. Please visit this link to learn more about how I got my technology full-time role, which led to my Bay Area move.