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The 2-Year Apartment Rule

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Re: The 2-Year Apartment Rule

#11

Post by bartvk »

tasuki wrote: post #9

> Things start off fine, but then mold starts growing in the bathroom, and a recurring leak springs up in the living room, and then roaches start appearing in the kitchen. When I started reading the article, I thought the whole point was gonna be that the author doesn't take care of the apartment. The recurring leak might not be the author's fault, but the mold in the bathroom and roaches in the kitchen definitely ar…

My first thought. I also encountered this problem and learned to clean the kitchen every night, never leave anything edible on countertop and floot, and store everything in good food containers.

Re: The 2-Year Apartment Rule

#13

Post by giorgioz »

I think apartments needs maintenance and it's hard to communicate to the landlord there is a problem or fix or find someone to fix it. The mold is very common. The mold is very easy to remove when it's small but it becomes exponentially bigger growing. Go on Amazon search for anti-mold cleaning product and a spatula. When you see a mold 1cm large get on a chair spray and scrape. It will take 5 minute. If you wait 3 months thinking you should tell the landlord and then the landlord will call someone then the mold will have become 100 square cm, it will be a 100 minutes to clean.

The roaches too if they are in your kitchen call a exterminator. Don't leave food out at night, clean all crumbs.

If you don't take care of those things even in a a new building they will appear on their own after 2 years.

Re: The 2-Year Apartment Rule

#15

Post by vova_hn2 »

Let's imagine that every rental property goes through a cycle when the owner sees that they are unable to find tenants willing to pay enough money, so they decide to invest money into improving the property, then for some time they think "meh, it's good enough" so it slowly degrades.

When you are looking for a new apartment you are always trying to find the best place that fits your budget, so you will always find it near the peak of the cycle and see it going downhill in front of your eyes.

Just a theory.

Re: The 2-Year Apartment Rule

#16

Post by kreco »

I know it's just a blog post, but I wish I knew what "level" of mold and roaches we are talking about.

Seeing mold in joints is not unusual depending on the conditions, but it's also easily fixable.

For cockroaches either there is none in your area, either get one in a year "by mistake", but if it's a recurring events the problem is likely food or garbage that sits longer than it should.

Re: The 2-Year Apartment Rule

#17

Post by itake »

tasuki wrote: post #9

> Things start off fine, but then mold starts growing in the bathroom, and a recurring leak springs up in the living room, and then roaches start appearing in the kitchen. When I started reading the article, I thought the whole point was gonna be that the author doesn't take care of the apartment. The recurring leak might not be the author's fault, but the mold in the bathroom and roaches in the kitchen definitely ar…

> roaches in the kitchen

roaches need to come from somewhere. Even if your apartment is spotless, someone else in the building might not be...

Re: The 2-Year Apartment Rule

#18

Post by cam_l »

tasuki wrote: post #9

> Things start off fine, but then mold starts growing in the bathroom, and a recurring leak springs up in the living room, and then roaches start appearing in the kitchen. When I started reading the article, I thought the whole point was gonna be that the author doesn't take care of the apartment. The recurring leak might not be the author's fault, but the mold in the bathroom and roaches in the kitchen definitely ar…

Fwiw, most mould is caused by buildings. Poor ventilation, leaks, no waterproofing, substandard building materials.

Yes, you can avoid mould in older buildings by carefully airing out rooms and keeping things dry and away from walls. But not if the previous three tenants had a mould issue and the landlord just painted over it.

Re: The 2-Year Apartment Rule

#20

Post by stevage »

I had a very similar experience with jobs.

The first few months, you're so impressed how smart everyone is, how competent, what a great organisation it is. By 18 months in, you've decided everyone is an idiot, the organisation is utterly hopeless, and at 2 years you quit.

Never experienced anything like this with apartments though - lived in my last one for 9 years and loved it.

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