If you’ve ever gone apartment hunting before, you can attest: It’s pretty much the worst thing ever. Trying to find an apartment within your price range, in the right location, without creepy neighbors, in a safe building, close to public transit– and the list goes on– is like trying to find a unicorn. Or the holy grail.
Even lowering your standards doesn’t always make the process that much easier, either. I mean, who wants to pay $100 more a month for an apartment that’s a 20-minute walk to the nearest train station?
Unfortunately, like disappointing birthday presents and rush hour traffic, apartment hunting is something that everybody must face at one point or another. Because this is such a universal scenario, Rent. recently surveyed 1,000 millennial renters between the ages of 18 and 34 to see how they felt about it.
Survey says? Nobody likes it. Nearly 45% of respondents rated it as extremely difficult, while just 6% don’t think it’s particularly painful at all. The general consensus is that apartment hunting is more difficult than almost anything else, including all of these:
… Falling in Love
I don’t think anyone thinks falling in love or finding a significant other is easy (no matter how many Tinder dates you go on), but millennials still ranked it as less painful than apartment hunting. The two processes are actually pretty similar– you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you can find the right apartment. Wait … that’s not how that saying goes.
Interestingly, 46% of men surveyed ranked falling in love or finding a significant other as more difficult than apartment hunting, whereas just 36% of women felt that way.
… Buying a Car
The Rent. survey respondents also felt that apartment hunting was more difficult than buying a car– no easy feat itself. Between researching Kelley Blue Book ratings and practicing haggling in the mirror, getting a new car takes quite a bit of time and effort.
But at least when you find one you like you can give it a test drive first. Maybe landlords should start letting renters stay in an apartment for the night before committing to it?
… Making Friends
Remember in elementary school when you discovered you had the same birthday as one of your classmates or the same Lisa Frank notebooks? From that point on it was “best friends forever.”
Making new friends gets more and more difficult as you grow older, and once you’re out of college it seems almost impossible. Not quite as impossible as apartment hunting, though, which renters agree is a much more painful undertaking.
… Going to the Department of Motor Vehicles
Surprisingly, even going to the DMV was ranked as less painful than apartment hunting by nearly a third of the renters surveyed. Apparently, enduring the hours-long wait times and apathetic DMV employees is still a better option than going to six apartment viewings in one day.
… Cleaning and Grocery Shopping
Some of the millennials surveyed (30%) said searching for an apartment was worse than both cleaning and grocery shopping.
Come on, guys, you just take out your vacuum, make a shopping list, and go crazy. Compared to apartment hunting, cleaning and buying groceries are like a picnic. With Santa Claus.
… Going to the Gyno
Here’s a would you rather for you: Apartment hunting or gynecologist? Let’s see, search endlessly for a dream apartment while stressing about the fact that I’m supposed to be moving in three weeks or go to the lady doctor who likes to invade my privacy in every way possible? Gynecological visits are still better than apartment hunting, according to one in five of the women surveyed.
… Giving Birth
Who said giving birth was the most painful experience? Incredibly, 10% of respondents felt that searching for an apartment was worse than giving birth. And there are no gender differences – that’s 10% of men and 11% of women surveyed! Is it just that they haven’t given birth?
But Not: Finding a Job
So what’s the only thing that everyone agrees is more painful than apartment hunting? Job hunting. Most of the millennials surveyed ranked finding a job as a more difficult process than finding a new place to live. I shudder to imagine what it’s like to do both at the same time …
Making Apartment Hunting Easier
Remember that there are plenty of ways you can make apartment hunting a little bit less painful for yourself. Start researching neighborhoods and looking up apartment listings a few months early– don’t procrastinate or the process will only be more stressful.
Also, don’t forget that your budget must be realistic for the neighborhoods you’re interested in living in– look into up-and-coming areas in your city to see if you can snag a good deal. Good luck!
According to a Rent. survey of 1,000 U.S. Renters ages 18-34.
