Laura, our 31 year
old daughter moved from our house to an apartment on July 7, 2018. She and her male cat, Lennie, lived in one
apartment until 2014. She was laid off
her job and moved back with us, her parents, until this year. She now has a job where she believed she
makes enough money to support her and her cat while paying rent. This led to her decision in May to move to an
apartment.
The first step in
moving is to find an affordable apartment in a nice neighborhood in the Madison
area. The task sounds easy but is not. Apartment
vacancies in Madison and the surrounding areas are less than 5%. Having a major employer paying premium wages
in the area, EPIC Systems in Verona, and thus driving up apartment rents, make
it that much harder.
Laura and her
mother, Jean, started the apartment viewing in June. They toured two apartment complexes in one
day. The first apartment had a cheery
guy stating the apartments were clean, kept up, and some of the best in
Madison. A tour of one of these
apartments demonstrated the guy was either drunk, on drugs, or blind because
the apartment was dirty and disgusting.
The second apartment complex in Middleton was a large complex where the
person showing the apartments transported people in golf carts. The showing of this complex at first impressed
Laura but later, after visiting it again, made her reevaluate her initial
assessment.
I was added the
apartment finding contingent in the next round of apartment hunting. We first viewed a loft apartment in a smaller
building. I did not know what a loft was
but found out it was a no bedroom apartment with an upper story having a
bathroom and enough room for a bed. On
that same day, we viewed a brand new apartment complex. The cheapest apartment was an efficiency
meaning there was barely room to put a bed.
Although the efficiency was nice, the location was not and so that
apartment was removed from consideration.
The first decision
was then made to go with the loft apartment for a number of reasons. The apartment was located near work, the cat
was allowed to stay for no additional charge, it was located in a safe
neighborhood, a storage area was provided at no additional charge, and her car
was housed in underground parking under the apartment building. The apartment was also located about five
miles from our house so the move would not take long as far as distance.
The apartment needed
some work before she could move in. The
prior residents failed to pay rent and left in the cover of darkness. For some reason they left a large amount of food. The refrigerator contained steaks, eggs,
condiments, milk, etc. The cupboards
held two types of flour and sugar.
Despite the lease stating no smoking, there was a definite smoke
smell. One of the prior residents had
colored their hair red and the dye was located in the bathroom and an area of
the carpeting. The carpeting needed
shampooing and the whole apartment needed paint. Erin, the apartment manager, assured us the
food would be gone, the place painted, and the carpet shampooed by the end of
June because she had an outstanding maintenance guy. Erin was true to her word and the apartment
was ready for occupation on July 1st.
The next big move
decision was how to get Laura's belongings from our house to the
apartment. Jean and I toured our house
to assess what needed to be moved. Laura
had a large number of boxes in the basement, her bed and clothes in her
upstairs bedroom, and another series of boxes in a spare bedroom. We looked at the boxes in the basement which
had to be hauled up a flight of stairs in our house, her bed which had to be
hauled up a flight of stairs in her apartment, and decided we did not want to
climb up all of those steps. Because I
had a knee replaced in November 2017 and Jean was looking at a hip replacement
later this year, we decided our moving days were over and we would hire someone
to complete the move.
I then contacted
three moving companies in Madison: Above Average Movers, You Move Me, and
Badger Brothers Moving. I received
quotes from all three. The quotes were
similar in that the company would supply two movers and a truck. You supplied the movable items and the money
to pay for the move. Each of the three
companies had excellent credentials on the Internet and so it came down to a
matter of price. Badger Brothers Moving
was slightly cheaper and we decided to go with that company.
The move was
scheduled for July 7th. From June 29th
through July 7th, excluding July 4th, we worked at getting things organized at
home and the new apartment. On June
29th, Laura was notified by Erin the apartment was painted, the food left by
the former occupants was gone, and the carpets were cleaned. She handed Laura the keys and we began
getting the apartment ready for her occupancy.
The bathroom had to be cleaned, kitchen cupboards padded with contact
paper, and the carpeting recleaned because it still retained that cigarette
smoke odor. All of the tasks were
completed by July 6th. We were now ready
for July 7th.
Promptly at 8 a.m. a
large unmarked truck pulled up to our house.
The truck was too big to back into the driveway and so parked in the
street. The truck was large enough to
hold furniture for an entire house.
Rather than two
burly guys walking up to the house from the truck, there were two average
medium height guys. They walked into the
house and introduced themselves as Ben and Andrew. They then got to work. Ben hauled boxes to the truck while Andrew
carefully wrapped bubble wrap and blankets around furniture. After Andrew completed the wrapping then he
assisted Ben in loading boxes and furniture into the truck. Ben and Andrew worked steadily for two hours
and never took a break.
Ben and Andrew then
drove the truck to the apartment. The
apartment was on the second floor. The
loft required climbing another staircase.
Ben and Andrew worked steadily for two and a half hours. They moved the boxes and the furniture into
the apartment. They also set up the bed
in the loft.
After the four and a
half hours of lifting and climbing steps, Andrew and Ben admitted they were
slightly tired but after eating a meal they should be ready for the
evening. We marveled at how good a shape
each of them were. After paying the
Badger Brothers Moving fee and giving Andrew and Ben a tip, Ben and Andrew and the
large truck left.
We were then left to
unpack boxes, hang pictures, and get the cat organized. All of this work took
three days to complete.
Everything was
accomplished. Jean and I again are empty
nesters. Laura is in her apartment. The cat is happy as long as it gets fed twice
a day.
