Apartment Blog

Has that couch in your living room-which doubles as a guest bedroom-seen better days? Tired of watching American Idol on a black and white TV? Does your apartment furniture scream FRAT house? Or has your couch seen better days (specifically those from the 70’s)? ForRent.com can change all that. The apartment web site is giving away $10,000 in its “If Only Your Apartment Furniture Could Talk…” video contest which begins May 1st at www.WinApartmentFurniture.com.

If your apartment furniture could tell your story, what would it say? Creatively tell ForRent.com through the eyes and voice of your apartment furniture why you should win $10,000 towards new furniture. Visit the contest site to see the Official Rules and submit your video by June 15^th, 2008. Rather watch videos than create them? Vote for your favorite videos and share them with friends to help select the Top Ten Finalists and the Grand Prize Winner.

When relocating to a new area there are many difficult obstacles to overcome, like finding a new place to live, finding a date, finding your way around town and most importantly finding a job. With the economy threatening a recession and the unemployment rate escalating in many cities, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a job. Luckily, ForRent.com is making it easier for you to search for jobs in your area. If you visit the Relocation Center you can rummage through multiple job listing sites for openings and apply to ones that meet your skill set. So while the idea of moving to a new area is still scary, ForRent.com can help make the process a little bit easier. Visit ForRent.com and look for a new job today!

If you’re renting an apartment with a pet, you realize some of the financial obligations you are faced with such as pet deposits, monthly pet fees, etc. But what you may not have taken into consideration is having a pet at the end of your lease could cost you a lot more if you aren’t careful. When most people put down a security deposit on their apartment, they usually expect to receive the full deposit at the end. However, pet owners need to be more proactive when it comes to caring for their apartment even before move-out if they want their full deposit back! Here are some tips for pet owners to getting your full security deposit back:

Tip 1:

Document everything. Prior to move in, or on the first day, have a checklist and go through the entire apartment for any problems. This would include the carpet, the walls, counters, etc. If the leasing office hasn’t given you a check list, bring your own. You need to inspect the apartment thoroughly and have documented proof of any incidents. This will help you prove your case should there be any discrepancies at the end of your lease, while also helping you remember the original state of the apartment. Also feel free to take digital photos and keep those for your records.

Tip 2:

Clean up spills/accidents IMMEDIATELY! Obviously if you’re not home when an accident happens you can’t clean it up as quickly, but as soon as you become aware of the mistake you need to clean it up. Use Pet Stain Remover and clean the area thoroughly. Remember that cleaning ‘accident’ spots only cleans the carpet, not the material. Get a vacuum pet powder and use it prior to vacuuming your carpets to help eliminate odor. Cat urine is absolutely the worst smell! I would recommend shampooing your carpet a couple times a year. It’ll add life back to your carpet!

Tip 3:

Be thorough! When you do your initial inspection you should catch any areas in the carpet where threads are loose or fraying. However, while you were moving or vacuuming, some may have ‘popped’ up. You need to inspect your apartment often for these problems as they could potentially be a larger problem if your animal, particularly dogs, find it. If there are any trouble spots in your carpet, purchase a rug to deter your animal’s attention or some object so that it won’t make the problem worse.

Tip 4:

Be proactive! You know your animal better than anyone else. If your dog likes to go after blinds, be sure and pull them up or replace them for curtains (just be sure to keep the blinds for when you move out as you don’t want to be charged for a new set). Or if your cat likes to use the sofa as a scratching post and transfers that habit to a wall; make efforts to block access to that wall or have your cat declawed.

In an apartment rental, you are responsible for damage your pet creates. To get your full security deposit back, you need to go above and beyond to restore the apartment back to its original condition! Do you have any more tips for getting your security deposit back with a pet? Let us know! We animal lovers can use all the help we can get!

As everyone knows the favorite tradition of Easter is receiving Easter baskets filled with candy. You’d wake up in the morning to discover that the Easter bunny had come and dropped off the basket full of goodies for you! Before or after breakfast you started diving into the yummy treats, right? What we at For Rent want to know is what your favorite Easter treat is??

I took a quick poll at our office and found out the number 1 favorite Easter candy is Reese’s Eggs!! These yummy treats combine all the goodness of traditional peanut butter cups in an Easter egg shape! I love them! They are my weakness for sure!  The candies that followed, in order, were: Cadbury eggs, Whopper eggs, jelly beans and sweet tarts!  Surprisingly no mention of peeps! :-)  I know a good friend of mine loves Peeps, so I need to include those in this list as I’m sure many of our readers enjoy them as well!

So let us know….what’s your favorite Easter treat? The one you remember waking up to wanting to eat first? Or the one you see in the stores and can’t help but grab a bag of? We want to know!!

Most adults and older teens think that participating in an Easter egg hunt may be a little too childish. Well, we’ve come up with an Easter egg hunt for kids and adults alike to enjoy this Easter!

Hide eggs around your apartment community for kids to find. Place them in fairly obvious spots so the children can easily locate them. So what makes this hunt any different from any other? Well, here is where adults and older teens can participate. Have everyone split into teams; one adult/older teen per child. Everyone starts in one place, like the apartment community center, and the adults/older teens get a list of clues. Each clue lets the team know where to find an egg. Clues like ‘You’ll really break a sweat in here…’ (Answer: sauna/fitness center) or ‘You won’t be at FAULT if you hit it in the NET here…’ (Answer: tennis courts). Creating a thinking game for the older ones will make it fun while also allowing the children to collect the prize and candy!

Another idea I saw that I liked was having a checklist egg hunt. Have eggs that are different colors and give the adults/older teens a checklist of how many their teams need to accumulate to win. For example, 2 blue eggs, 1 orange egg, 4 yellow eggs, etc. For the younger children, they are able to collect eggs as they learn math and colors.

These are just a few ideas to help you come up with some creative Easter egg hunts in your apartment community. Do you have any you’ve done that you suggest for others? Let us know. I’m sure all our friends would like to hear!

Source: www.celebrating-easter.com