Moving From Downtown Dallas During a Pandemic

Many of you might remember my decision to sell my house and turn in my Homeowner title for Apartment renter. I received many questions including “Are you going through a pre mid life crisis?”. I rented a beautiful apartment in the heart of Downtown Dallas with breathtaking views and amenities. Being the adventurer that I am, I decided that once my lease was up I’d try out another apartment. Not because I didn’t like my current accommodations, but because I just wanted to try something new. That’s the beauty of apartment life. You can easily bounce around to different parts of the city and try out different amenities.

Pros of Living Downtown

I want to debunk one common misunderstanding. People tend to think that staying downtown means dealing with tons of traffic all of the time. In actuality staying downtown means avoiding all of the traffic downtown visitors experience. Whether I’m traveling North or South when I’m leaving downtown the traffic is always in the opposite direction. The exit for my place was in a good spot to miss all traffic. Staying there I also learned how to navigate the streets when there are closures and other situations. When I started working from home I loved being able to leave my car parked for weeks at a time. I could walk to restaurants, parks, museums and even took my wagon to walk to the grocery store. Parking for guests can be another concern for those considering being a downtown resident. I found that there was a lot of street parking near my complex. It was free when I first moved, but they did put up meters as I was moving out. My complex validated parking in our garage on the weekends for guests. I tend to have get togethers on the weekend so that was perfect for me. My guests could find street parking or come park in our garage for free. I never got to experience our pool area. Thanks Rona! I did however make full use of the other amenities. We had a private full service bar downstairs that was for residents only. I loved that I could go downstairs and be social, drink to my hearts content and then just come upstairs. I could even bring a cocktail or two upstairs with me and start a tab. It kind of reminded me of hotel perks. I held my 35th birthday downstairs in the bar and our bartender came to serve my guests drinks. She even created 2 special craft cocktails to fit the theme. Upstairs there is a beautiful sky lounge with views of Dallas. The fitness room had wall to wall windows to enjoy that same 30th floor view of Dallas. We had concierge service and our people were amazing. Ms. Rita was like family. I remember one time I was sick (prior to Rona lol) and she would check on me and even offered to make me homemade soup. Ms. Rita is now at another complex unfortunately. Our facility also had 24 hour security in the building and parking garage. My building was a commercial building so we received commercial rates for our power and water. My combined power and water bill were no more than $60 the entire lease (and that price is on the high end). Our building was connected to the tunnel system downtown. There is a whole underground community downtown that I learned about when moving into the apartment complex. You can go through the underground tunnels to connect to other buildings around downtown without stepping foot outside. They have restaurants and convenience stores. Oftentimes when it was too cold or rainy to walk outside to nearby restaurants, I would go down to the tunnels and grab something to eat.

The Cons to Living Downtown

As much as I loved living downtown, and admittedly miss it, there were a few down sides. It wasn’t until the pandemic was first declared that I realized how much I need quick access to fresh air. When the stay at home orders were put into place I found myself inside of my apartment without leaving for a few weeks. The majority of the buildings downtown do not have balconies or windows that open. This means you have to exit the building to get any fresh air. This did however help me to limit my amount of times I cooked fried food. I didn’t want to have an apartment smelling like a fast food place. So I guess that is a pro and a con. Getting to and from my apartment and vehicle was a bit of an ordeal. I lived on the 17th floor and had to park my car in our parking garage that was joined by a sky bridge. Every time I needed to go to my car I had to wait for the elevator, go down to the skybridge level, walk across the skybridge, then get on another elevator to go up to the level where my car was parked and drive out of the parking garage. If I happened to leave something in my car, you might as well consider it left until I really needed to go to my car again.

ROU Locating Experience

I am an advocate for using free services like realtors and apartment locators. Yes, you can do the work on your own, but you might be shorting yourself in the process. These professionals have special relationships that allow exclusive discounts and deals for their clients. They also have access to listings you might not have otherwise been aware of. When I heard of ROU Locating I thought that it was an amazing opportunity. They are an apartment locating company, but also realtors for locating homes. The gist of their business model is that they will help you to locate an apartment. You then get credit for a year’s worth of rent that you have paid credited towards the purchase of your home if you use them to locate your home as well. You get all of the perks of an apartment locator and a big bonus when you’re ready to transition into homeownership. I worked with Janet who was really nice. I eventually found the apartment for me. I signed my contract to move into my apartment and then notified Janet. At that point you’re supposed to get your free move in gift and paperwork to verify your rent amount so that you get credited when you are ready to purchase a home. Well, Janet informed me that she was no longer working for ROU locating. This was a red flag to me, but she gave me the information of another locator who could assist me from there. I contacted him and he said he would get the documents and my free gift to me asap. Well, after no response I decided to reach back out to him. He informed me that he was also no longer working for the company and gave me the information of a manager to assist me. I contacted the manager who apologized for everything and promised to get me the free gift and paperwork. I moved into my apartment around January and have yet to get my Nespresso or the paperwork so that I can get credited for my rent towards the purchase of a house. At this point I’m very leery of ROU Locating. I do not recommend them at all. When two employees suddenly leave the company and then the manager is still no help it is a huge red flag. I have previously used SmartCity and would go back to them instead. Like I said earlier I do recommend using an apartment locator. Even if you find an apartment yourself, list an apartment locator anyway. They may be able to get you a special rate or offer you a concession like money towards your move, and you wouldn’t be able to do that on your own. Just find a locating company you trust before starting your search, so that as you are visiting apartments you can put their name down when they ask how you heard about their apartment complex. I would also use my locators to go look at apartments on my behalf because some places offer really good look and lease deals. After looking at the apartment you must sign within 24/48 hours. Knowing me, I’ll need longer to decide, so I let the locator go and give me a virtual walkthrough before I go myself.

I wanted to quickly mention that being 30, it is tough to ask friends and family to help you move. Our bodies just don’t work like they used to lol. It’s much easier to just hire a moving company. I used Mustang Movers. They were pretty efficient, but I did have several broken items. In the future I will personally move my fragile items and leave everything else to the moving company.

Well, I hope that I have covered all of the questions that I’ve been asked about my journey. As always, feel free to reach out to me if you have any other questions.