Luxury apartments are a great place to call home. With outstanding amenities like stained concrete floors, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, concierge service and a private roof, these types of apartments are highly desirable. If you’re searching for a new apartment and desire something lavish and higher-end, luxury apartments may be a great option.

These types of living spaces can be found all over the country in cities big and small, and the specific amenities and extras depend on the apartment building. In New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, for example, it’s not uncommon for high-rise luxury apartments to offer a 24-hour doorman and concierge service. Some buildings even have in-house dry cleaning and trash service. Still, luxury apartments in smaller cities wow residents with DVD rentals, dog run areas, free cable and garages.

Higher Rent, But More for Your Money

While rent for luxury apartments may cost more, you have to keep in mind that you’re getting more. That private gym, the lush landscaping and the lap pool all come at a premium. Plus, there aren’t as many luxury apartments as “regular” apartments, so that also figures into the cost. When you’re searching for a luxury apartment, be sure and weigh the cost with the amenities you’ll be getting.

Renters who’d like their living space to be higher-end should definitely check out luxury apartments, since it’s not uncommon for them to offer unique floorplans, track lighting, crown molding and open kitchens with stainless steel appliances. While the standard wall color for apartments seems to be white or off-white, walls in luxury apartments may be beige or allow you to request accent walls be painted before your move-in day. Be sure to ask your apartment manager if this type of service is available.

Find Luxury Apartments

If you’d like to find luxury apartments, use our free apartment search tools. To help you find your next home, we suggest you make a list of amenities you’re looking for and use it to compare the apartments you view. Take into consideration location, lease terms, rent and what exactly is included with your rent, like access to the apartment gym or concierge service, for example.

Ideally, when your roommate moves out of your apartment it’s for mutually agreed-upon reasons and the two of you are still on good terms. Whether your roommate moves out for health reasons, a job opportunity or another reason, you’ll no doubt have to quickly adjust to living on your own — especially if he or she moves out without much notice. While the new privacy and extra space can be great, there’s still lots to square away like increased living costs from bills, food and rent. Here are a few things to remember when your roommate moves out of your apartment.

Decide if you’ll continue living alone or if you need to find a new roommate. This decision may be best made by taking a hard look at your income and your monthly expenses. Will you be able to pay for all of rent and all of your bills by yourself? If you need a roommate to help pay for these expenses, start looking as soon as you can.

Speaking of bills… are they in your name, or were they in your roommate’s name? Same with renter’s insurance: Be sure you have it.

Inform your apartment manager. Stop by your apartment office or call to give them a heads up that the living situation has changed. Many apartment landlords require this so that they know who is living in which units. And if you wind up getting a new roommate, let them know that too. If your roommate was the person who signed the apartment lease, you should ask what needs to be done.

Take inventory. If your roommate moved out and took most of the furniture, you may want to look at replacing some of that stuff so you have your own. Similarly, you can take this opportunity to organize and clean your apartment — it’ll help you be prepared if potential roommates come by to check out your apartment.

Keep your roommate’s mail in one place and communicate with them a time — maybe once per week — where they can come by and pick it up. If they moved far away, you might need to send them a package every so often with all their mail. Talk to your roommate about this to figure out the best way to handle it.

These are all just suggestions for what to do when your roommate moves out to help make the situation go a little more smoothly. If you’re moving out soon, be sure and use our free apartment search tools to find your next home.

Sharing an apartment with a friend can be a high-risk, high-reward situation.  You get the comfort of knowing many of your friend’s habits before you move into the apartment together, so unexpected surprises like suddenly discovering your friend has insomnia and a serious addiction to reality TV likely won’t occur.  You also know that you and your friend get along, which is likely why you’d decide to share an apartment together.

Living in an apartment with a friend can put stress on your relationship, so it’s important to take steps to ensure that you don’t lose your buddy when you gain a roomie. Here are some tips for doing just that:

Don’t Be Afraid to Talk

So your roommate leaves a mountain of dishes in the sink after dinner every night.  Think she’ll get the hint if you wash them?  Think again.  You’ll start feeling resentful doing double duty and your roommate will likely not even notice.  In situations like this, it’s much better to talk about it.  Don’t hesitate to establish some rules about things like cleanliness and quiet time.  You don’t have to do anything draconian, like write them up and post them everywhere, but talking about what your expectations are with your friend, especially before you two move in together, will make any future disputes much simpler to defuse.

Do Apartment-Oriented Tasks Together

This can really help alleviate the pain of things like chores and decoration, since both you and your friend are invested in getting the task done.  Not only does doing work together ensure that you’ll both be splitting the load, it also makes it easier to get done.  After all, you’re hanging out with your friend!  What’s not to like about that?

Compromise, Compromise, Compromise

Here lies the crux of any successful roommate pairing: You have to make sacrifices.  If you’re used to living in an ice box, while your friend’s more accustomed to sauna temperatures, you two will likely have to split the difference and keep the apartment at a middling temperature.  If you’re a neat freak and your friend’s a complete mess, you’ll need to become a little more lax with your standards, while your roommate will have to pick up after herself a bit more.  Obviously, you’d rather have everything exactly your way, but compromise is just part of being a good roommate, and you wouldn’t want to be anything less than that to your friend.

Have a roommate but need an apartment? Our apartment search tool makes it easy to find your next home.

Earthquakes have the potential to do a lot of damage — and they’re very frightening to experience. We’ve been talking a lot here recently about Apartment Disaster Preparedness, and if you live in a place that’s prone to earthquakes, you should definitely take the time to make sure you and your apartment are prepared. Having a plan and knowing what to do to stay safe can really help you should you ever — and we sure hope you don’t — experience an earthquake.

Get Renters Insurance

There’s a reason so many people stress the importance of buying renters insurance: When you need it, you’ll be so glad you have it. We’ve talked about renters insurance here before, and we’ll say it again: it’s something you should really have if you’re renting an apartment. While your landlord most likely has insurance, your possessions will not be covered should a disaster happen.

Be Prepared

Take time to prepare for an earthquake so you’ll know what to do if one ever happens. Here are some of the things FEMA recommends doing to protect your family, yourself and your property (to see the full list, visit their website):

• Use lower shelves to store large or heavy things, and fasten shelves, mirrors and large picture frames to your walls
• Use low shelves to store bottled foods, china, glass and other breakables. You could also store these things in cabinets that fasten shut
• Know where the safe spots are in your apartment: under a sturdy table, against an inside wall
• Hold earthquake drills

During an Earthquake

Part of being prepared is knowing what to do during an actual earthquake. Stay calm and stay safe. If you’re indoors, FEMA recommends that you “drop, cover and hold on.” Drop to the ground, take cover (get under a sturdy table or sturdy piece of furniture) and hold on until the shaking subsides. If you are unable to find a sturdy piece of furniture, crouch in an inside corner of the building and use your arms to cover your face and head. You should stay away from windows, glass, outside doors, outside walls and anything that could fall. Remember not to use elevators and stay inside until the shaking stops.

If you’re in bed when an earthquake happens, FEMA advises to stay there and cover your head with a pillow — but if there’s something like a light fixture that could fall on you, move to the closest safe place.

Just a reminder: If you’re looking for a new home, ApartmentSearch.com has great tools to help you search for apartments.

Living in an apartment can have significant advantages. For example, you often have maintenance staff that will help repair something in your living space if something goes wrong.  You also have flexibility: If you want to change locations, all you’ll have to do is wait for the lease to be up.  You don’t have to deal with trying to sell your house.  However, as opposed to living in a house, space can sometimes be limited, especially if you live in a small apartment. You will need to make the most of the area you have. To help you do this, we’ve put together these tips for maximizing the space in your apartment.

Give Things a “Life Expectancy” of Usefulness

Still attached to that extra-small argyle sweater you loved in eighth grade, even though you’re now a foot too tall for it?  We understand the sentiment, but still, that sweater is taking up valuable storage space.  Consider reselling or donating it — or maybe even making it an heirloom and gifting it to someone else in the family.  A good rule of thumb is, if it takes up space and you haven’t used it in over a year, strongly consider getting rid of it somehow.  And don’t stop with clothes.  Do you have any bulky and highly specialized kitchen equipment that you never use?  What about an exercise bike that’s been a drying rack for six years running?  It’s tough to be ruthless, but you’ll thank yourself with the extra cubic feet.

Think in Three Dimensions

Notice how we wrote “cubic feet” instead of the more common “square feet?” That’s because you need to start thinking of the space in your apartment in three dimensions.  Creativity is endless in this department, but things like putting a wine rack on the wall to store rolled-up towels or hanging a basket from the ceiling to put fruit in are helpful space savers that free up floor space. Installing shelves is also a good idea.

Reduce, Reuse, and Save

These tips are just a few that will help you in your quest to make your apartment roomier.  Don’t have a place of your own yet, or are you looking for a different one?  Use our apartment search tools to get where you need to be.

It’s all too common for people to live in an apartment for several months or years without ever actually taking the time to get to know their neighborhood. While you may be busy with work, school, friends, family and other commitments, taking the time to explore your neighborhood can help make your apartment feel more like home. Plus, it’s fun.

Take a Walk

Walking out of your apartment and around the neighborhood is one of the best ways you can really get to know where you’re living. You can move slowly enough to be able to take everything in, so you won’t miss the small stuff. Getting “lost” on a neighborhood walk helps you find your way around and see where useful places may be, like a community pool, post office, convenience store or 24-hour pharmacy. If you think you might actually get lost, bring a map.

Say Hello to Your Neighbors

Striking up a casual conversation with your neighbors, whether it’s the person who lives in the apartment below you or the person who owns the Mom ‘n’ Pop shop on the corner, is another great way to get to know the neighborhood. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions or recommendations for restaurants and stores. Their experience living in the area means they may be able to pass on some useful information, so take advantage of that!

Pick Up the Paper

Does your neighborhood have its own newspaper or other type of publication? Maybe its own website? Some residents may even have blogs. Ask your neighbors or your apartment manager if you have trouble finding these things on your own. And if you’re new to the whole city, be sure and pick up the local publications. All of these could be excellent sources for local events and news, restaurant openings, club meetings, store openings and more. If you’re looking for a job in the area, newspapers will likely have some job listings.

These are just a few ways to get to know your neighborhood after you move into an apartment. And if you’d like help with finding an apartment in a specific neighborhood, you should definitely utilize our site’s free apartment search tools, which allow you to search listings from all over the country. What’s more is that when you rent with us, we pay you up to $200 in renter rewards. No fee, no obligation, no strings.

The apartment fire question is a tough one, but one that needs to be asked: How prepared would you be if an apartment fire happened to you? While you may take care to prevent a fire — by unplugging irons after use, not leaving the oven or stove-top burners on unattended or for too long, et cetera — there’s always the possibility that your neighbors aren’t as cautious, or that an accident could happen. But no matter how an apartment fire starts, one thing is for sure: You need to be prepared. Here are some things to consider.

Get Renters Insurance

Many renters assume that should their property be destroyed or stolen, their landlord is responsible for replacing it all. This is not true — landlords are just responsible for the building. Buying renters insurance is a necessity, and it’s more affordable than you may think. While it may seem like a hassle and an added expense, you will be very glad you got it if something happens to your possessions.

Pack a Grab and Go Emergency Bag

It’s something that seems silly, but like renters insurance, you’ll be glad you had it if you ever need it. Pack a few days’ worth of clothes and maybe even a list of important phone numbers. Having this ready and in an easily accessible place means you’ll be less likely to want to run around and gather things before you vacate. In a fire, getting somewhere safe as soon as possible is extremely important.

Check Smoke Alarms and the Fire Extinguisher

When you first move into your apartment, you’ll want to check to make sure the smoke alarms and the fire extinguisher are working. If your apartment does not have these things, speak with your apartment manager immediately. Definitely be sure to check them regularly to make sure they are in working order. If they aren’t, put in a maintenance request to have them fixed. You may also want to learn how to properly use a fire extinguisher. These devices could wind up saving your life.

Make an Escape Plan

Perhaps the most important thing here, an escape plan will help you figure out the best and fastest way to get out of your apartment in a disaster situation. Know all the ways you can exit — at least two. If you don’t live on the ground floor, you may consider getting a fire escape ladder so that you could get out through a window. If you live in a building with elevators, know where the stairways are, as you should never take an elevator in a fire. You’ll want to not only make an escape plan, but try it out.

Of course, these are all just suggestions for safe living — there are many, many more ways you can and should prepare for an emergency. Every apartment is different. To get more information on how to best be prepared for an apartment fire, you can contact your local fire department or talk to your apartment manager.

And don’t forget — if you’re trying to find an apartment for rent, ApartmentSearch has free apartment search tools to help you locate the best apartment for your needs!

Need some refrigerator tips? Home appliances like the refrigerator are oh-so-essential — and they’re often overlooked as essential parts of an apartment. Though the refrigerator is probably not a deciding factor when it comes to renting an apartment, its importance is undeniable. To get the most out of your apartment refrigerator, check out our tips below.

Keep Your Apartment Refrigerator at the Right Temperature

Most people expect refrigerators to just do what they’re supposed to and keep foods at the right temperature. But the thing is, refrigerators aren’t always set up to do this correctly or efficiently. It’s likely that your apartment refrigerator could be set to keep food too cold, thus resulting in wasted energy and partially-frozen foods, or not cold enough, which could cause your food to spoil quickly, or, worse, make you sick.

So the priority, of course, is keeping food at a safe temperature. The FDA says that 41°F or less is the temperature at which refrigerators should stay. Keeping food at or below this temperature slows the growth of most bacteria — while it won’t kill bacteria, it will keep them from multiplying. As for the freezer, the FDA says to freeze at 0°F or less. They also recommend checking the temperature once per week.

Green Refrigerator Tips

Setting your fridge (and freezer) to the right temperature is one way to go green and not waste energy. The Green Guide suggests more ways you can save energy and save on your electric bill:

• Keep the top of your refrigerator clutter-free, as it can hamper the compressor’s proper air circulation
• Avoid evaporation by covering food and drink in the fridge
• Avoid frost build-ups of more than a quarter-inch, and defrost the freezer regularly

A Broken Apartment Refrigerator is Totally Uncool

Not all apartment refrigerators are perfect! The renters before you may not have taken the best care of it, or it could just be very old. Either way, if there’s a problem, be sure and put in a maintenance request at your apartment manager’s office. A broken refrigerator can leak, ruin food, be noisy or cause other headaches.

A Message Center

If you have a roommate, consider turning the fridge into a message center. If your refrigerator has a magnetic front or side, keep a few magnets and some paper on there, and it can be  your designated place to leave each other important notes and reminders.

Move-Out Reminder

When you eventually move out of your apartment, don’t forget to clean out the fridge! While you may have spent your last day there vacuuming, dusting and disinfecting every inch of space in order to try to get your deposit back, renters often forget about the refrigerator. Don’t leave anything in there and be sure to wipe it clean and leave it tidy.

Find an Apartment at ApartmentSearch.com

If you’d like a hand with something else apartment-related – specifically, finding a new apartment for rent – you should visit our site and check out our free apartment search tools. We’ve got listings all across the nation and we also pay you up to $200 in renter rewards when you rent with us. There’s no fee, no obligation, and no strings!

House guests can bring an apartment renter some real pride of place. One of the nicest things you can do for a friend or family member is offer them a place to stay at your apartment if they’re visiting from out of town, or if they’re just in need of a temporary place to crash. Hosting house guests can be a lot of fun — but what happens if they overstay their welcome?

There’s a famous Plautus quote: “No guest is so welcome in a friend’s house that he will not become a nuisance after three days.” While that may not exactly be true for everybody, Plautus is making a good point — having house guests over can go from good to bad in the blink of an eye, often because they’ve just simply stayed too long. That can make for a really awkward situation.

If you’re hosting some friends or family members at your apartment, here are some tips for making sure things go smoothly with your house guests:

• If you have roommates, you should absolutely check in with them first. Tell them there’s a possibility that guests will be staying over at your apartment. Ask if that would be okay, and if so, how long they may stay.
• Talk to your house guests before they arrive, or preferably, before they make final plans. Let them know how long they may stay with you and be upfront about your house rules.
• You may also want to fill them in on your apartment complex’s rules.
• Going off the previous tip, find out what your house guests’ expectations are. Will they expect you to pick them up from the airport? Do they want you to take them on a tour of the city? Will you be their only transportation? These are important things to know before they arrive so you can plan accordingly. If they will be relying on you for transportation and your work schedule doesn’t really allow it, be sure to give them a heads up.
• Be honest about your expectations, too. If you want your house guests to wash their own dishes and help around the house, you should tactfully mention that when you extend your invitation.
• Once plans are made, make sure you have a place for your house guests to sleep. If you have a small apartment and only have a couch to offer up for bed space, let your guests know so that they can make arrangements to bring an air mattress or a sleeping bag.
• Have clean towels ready for them.
• If you know of any of their favorite snacks or drinks (you can always ask them!), you could pick them up before your house guests arrive. They’ll appreciate your thoughtful gesture.

Laying out rules and being clear with your house guests before they even arrive can help make things go as smoothly as possible. After all, being a host should be enjoyable, not a source of frustration and stress.

If finding the right apartment for rent is what’s giving you stress, try out the free apartment search tools on our website! We’re a leading source for apartment listings nationwide, and you can also earn up to $200 in renter rewards just by finding a place with us.

Washing Machines Can Make Apartment Living Easy

If you’re lucky enough to live in an apartment that includes a washing machine, you know just how incredibly convenient it can be. No lugging baskets overflowing with clothes and heavy bottles of detergent down flights of stairs to the apartment complex laundry room or nearest laundromat only to find that the washers are all in use or are out of order. You can do laundry whenever you want without having to leave home. Now that’s the good life!

Washing Machine Hookups

While your apartment may not come with its own washing machine, it may have washer hookups available. Usually found in a utility closet, washer and dryer hookups make it possible for you to set up a washing machine and a dryer, since they require more than just a simple electrical outlet. Typically, an apartment complex will advertise their units or some of their units as having “washer and dryer hookups.” This may be a good thing to ask about before you sign the lease. Ask them for details about setting up a washing machine. You’ll also need to know if the hookups and space require the washing machine to be stackable. Many apartment complexes will rent you a washer and dryer if you don’t already have one. Be sure to ask your apartment manager about this option if you’re interested in leasing a washer and dryer.

Washer Tips

With a washing machine in your apartment, you’ve got serious convenience. It’s no doubt a great amenity. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your apartment’s washer:

• Be courteous of your neighbors. They may be able to hear your washing machine through the floor or wall when it’s running, so you may not want to do laundry late at night or very early in the morning.
• Never use more detergent than what’s recommended on the detergent bottle. Using too much can lead to a big, soapy, wet mess.
• Don’t leave your apartment while the washer is running. If it overflows or malfunctions, you need to be there to take care of the situation.
• To use your washer efficiently and avoid wasting water, it’s recommended that you only do laundry when you have enough for a full load. Washing just one T-shirt can be a huge waste of energy and water.
• If you have a roommate, don’t leave your clothes just sitting in the washer for too long after they’re done, as your roommate might also want to do laundry.
• Very large comforters, blankets and rugs can potentially damage a washing machine. You may want to consider taking these items to a laundromat where they have oversize washers available.
• If you suspect your washer is broken or not working correctly, put in a maintenance request at your apartment manager office. (Of course, if you own the washer, it’s your responsibility to keep it in working order.)
• Check your dryer’s lint filter regularly. Clogged lint filters cause your dryer to run much less efficiently – and are a leading cause of household fires.

Thanks for your interest in our apartment washing machine tips! And we have a hot tip for you on finding an apartment, too: try our free search tools at ApartmentSearch.com. If you find the best apartment for you on our site, you can earn up to $200 in renter rewards!