Domesticated with Geeklings : Moving Adventure
Everyday we use apps and sites to access information. When you decide to move, that information can be crucial in making a good decision for yourself and your family. Throughout the process of moving three times in the last seven years, we’ve used several sources in gathering knowledge.
– This resource was invaluable and here’s why: When you’re young and have no children, you don’t really think about the quality of the schools surrounding you. You really just care about the crime rate, the rent payment being easy to make, and how many Chinese delivery places are closest to you. (Okay, maybe that was just my husband.) This website hasn’t been wrong yet in the quality of education that my children receive from their school district – which ranks in the top ten of the state of Minnesota.
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/
– I may be naïve, but I know for me, this has been a great tool of a website. A little clunky, but it gets you the information – even down to the street – for which you’re looking.
http://www.familywatchdog.us/search.asp
– Finding sex offenders near the potential property – especially when you live alone and/or have children is a big deal. We always check with either this site, or the http://www.homefacts.com/ site to be sure. Granted, some offenders and predators have walked away, never to check in with law enforcement again, but it’s a good idea to at least be aware of what’s around you.
Still looking for a place to live? We’ve used http://www.padmapper.com/ and http://renterswarehouse.com/ as well as Craigslist (which seems funny when you realize that Padmapper has many of the same listings as Craigslist as a mashup with other sites – but I digress). To be truthful, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of sites that come up when you put in “looking for rental in <zip code>”. The important thing is to know where you’re looking, and what you’re looking for size-wise.
Whenever possible, know what you’re getting yourself into. If you rent an apartment in a community, make sure you know how and where to contact management for the issues – leaking ceiling, running toilet, parking space psychos, etc.
Issues that may damage the physical integrity of the property should be addressed immediately; and as such there should always be a 24 hour phone number that you can contact for emergency situations such as the aforementioned leaking ceiling.
If you are renting a townhouse or single family dwelling make sure the residence is zoned as a rental property with the local Housing Authority. The landlord (usually an individual) will pay a yearly license fee for the home to be properly labeled as a rental. In Shoreview, the Housing Authority does a bi-yearly check on rental properties – houses mostly – to ensure that all smoke detectors are working, there are no safety issues, and yes, the grass isn’t three feet high among other things.
If you are renting from a property management company, most things – if not all – should be streamlined. Most PMCs allow you to pay your rent online through their secure portal, have several reliable people to contact for maintenance issues, and are happy to have you as a valuable renter. Plus, if you befriend the maintenance folks, you usually get some primo stuff when people get evicted, or move out (so says my brother).
Landlords and Tenants: Rights and Responsibilities is a must read here: http://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/Handbooks/LT/default.asp You can also download the PDF of the booklet. It’s another great resource that we ended up using late last year for our own benefit. If you are not in the state of Minnesota, you can find information simply by doing a search for tenants rights and identifying your state in the search bar.
So yes, we’re moving and it really, really sucks; our family of five, in all our Geektastic glory, are moving in early May. We’ll finally have a fourth bedroom, which we’ve needed for a while. Our youngest child, our son, still puts toys in his mouth, and our youngest daughter has Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle weapons and Lalaloopsy doll accoutrements sprawled across the floor. Walking in their room right now is hazardous.
However, we are armed with the knowledge of more than 15 moves between us. With the above information, we’ve been able to avoid bad crime areas, find great areas with fantastic schools for the kids, and search out the kind of property size we’ve needed.
And so, as people move, they pack. They pack and pack and pack and pack… until they reach the stage where they just throw everything into that garbage bag – no matter how thin it is, you couldn’t care less – and tell yourself that if it’s meant to stay in one piece, it’ll survive the trip to the next residence intact. In a garbage bag. Without padding or paper.
Did I mention it’s probably something breakable? Yeah. We’ve already reached that stage and we have another month to go.
I think we’ve all been there.
