Many of you know I have been traveling around a bit and could not seem to stay in one place for too long. Finally, it was time to find a new apartment or condo to settle into….even just temporarily, to create a home base. And do not be alarmed…I still do love to travel and explore all the bubbly wine countries and will absolutely continue to do so.
The Backstory
In case you don’t know the backstory, let me fill you in. At the end of 2018, I decided to do something drastic and sell everything that didn’t fit into my carry on suitcase. And yes, I do mean everything….including my car. At the time I had no clue where I was going, if I was going simply to a new city and find a new apartment or if I was going to travel about, but I knew that I didn’t want to get there by car, so it had to go.
After selling the bulk of my stuff and donating the rest, I closed on the house and off I went, just my carry on suitcase, my duffle bag and I. And I had a great time spending a few months in Maui, Hawaii, a few months in southern California, but at the end of a great 9 months, this adventure brought me back to the Midwest.
Born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, I had only lived in the Midwest (either Illinois or Wisconsin) until 2014, so it’s very familiar. And let’s face it, there are lots of great things about the Midwest….by the way, winter is not one of them.
My family is all here and a large group of my friends are, so it was logical to settle back here for a bit. Not to mention, I definitely had my share of cravings for Chicago deep dish pizza which is probably why I did a deep dish pizza pairing party on my first birthday back here.
And the city, I mean Chicago is a ton of fun to play in, of course with a great bubbly bar, Pops for Champagne, that I always managed to visit on my return trips in the past. And as much fun as Chicago is, I didn’t really want to live in the city, but I really did want easy access to it.
Finding a New Apartment
Now you can imagine how hard it is to move back, without a car and find a new apartment to live that is walking distance to all of the things you need in life: grocery store, gym, bars/restaurants, hair and nail salon, and of course a small wine shop that has a great selection of bubbly.
Moving back I really wanted to try and make it work without a car because you know me, I could pick up and go whenever, so I needed a whole lot of assistance to find a a new apartment or condo that was very walkable.
Stress-free Way to Apartment Hunt
Needless to say, with that criteria, it was essential to use a resource like Zumper which allowed me to stay on top of the rental market so that when I was ready to come back, I wasn’t scrambling.
Since I was in a different part of the country, I needed a way to be able to narrow my focus to find the perfect new apartment to settle in. And Zumper allowed me to select the areas I wanted to live in and my non negotiables like a balcony and washer and dryer in unit, the amount I wanted to pay in rent, a fun outdoor space and it showed me pictures of the perfect matches.
Now, I was lucky and I wasn’t stressed by a time crunch, but one of the coolest features was the real time reporting of inventory on new apartments and condos with notifications so I was the first to know when something new opened up in the area I was scoping out. This made it super easy to not have to spend endless hours searching a multitude of sites to find the perfect place.
And because I was doing all of this on the go, I loved that I could reserve the apartment online, submit a digital application and it was all handled right on the site.
Honestly, I can tell you that if I didn’t have a resource like Zumper where I could just hop on their website or their app, I would have been living in my sister’s basement, stressed out while I was trying to find a new apartment that was perfect for exactly what I needed for this time in my life.
Virtual Events in My Apartment
And if you joined the last happy hour or brunch, I of course, was hosting it from my new apartment that is bright and airy, and perfectly matched all of my criteria.
