Thanks everyone for your wonderful well wishing and personal story sharing. Amazingly enough this has been my first semi-negative experience with moving so it definitely threw me for a loop but I am finally able to clear my head a bit and see the good parts of my new abode.
Since the experience of finding housing in Long Beach differed from all my experiences and techniques in Northern California I thought I would share some of the things I learned
Tips on How to Move in Long Beach
Finding Listings – For this aspect of moving I would normally defer to my number one source Craigslist, but for this move it was not the best source. Instead, my car and my camera proved to be a better resource for expanding my search. Craigslist did have some listings but was also littered with scam posts about owning a house with $500 which although. I used Craigslist to help guide me to certain areas but in the end driving around and taking pictures of the “for rent” signs in the neighborhood not only increased my options but also gave me a better grasp of the LBC. I also noticed that the majority of listings are run through property companies in the area so googling “property management LBC” or something similar will get you even more locations to check out.
Bring your camera – Since I was doing all my apartment hunting by myself and was seeing quite a few at a time I needed someway to remember everything. My companion during my visits ended up being my camera. Between the still pictures and the video of each location I was able to revisit and share each apartment with friends who could weigh in on the experience. One mistake I made was relying more on the video than still pictures. Still pictures are still very necessary as the sometime fleeting view via video can leave you wanting a more static view to examine. I think I might have discovered some things about my current place had I had more still pictures.
Location. Location. LOCATION! – The LBC changes in character almost every street. You can easily find yourself in a bad area quick. Make sure to ask others that know the area and spend time looking around your new place. While I was at one place a neighbor came out to wash his car and was BLAIRING his music. It looked like he really loved that car and that this would be at least a weekly occurrence. That place quickly became a no-go
Make a checklist and FOLLOW IT. – I made a checklist of things that I wanted in an apartment and things to check out while visiting. I was diligent about following my list at first but fell off the wagon as my moving desperation started setting in. Next time I will not be so quick to compromise. I say this because I spend a LOT of time at home so my home truly is my castle.
