Saved $7,000 on a new apartment!!

[Ratherboard]

This may not seem too crazy to some of the more experienced Frugal-ers, but for me, it was a big step in the right direction:

I was recently offered a job in Irvine, CA and while the prospect of leaving wonderful Longmont, CO is sad to me, the opportunity, work environment and most importantly the $$$ (new little green employees) I could add to my 'stash finally made the decision worth it. 

The crazy thing I did....

I wanted an apartment close to the office so I could start commuting by bike to work. (something else super crazy and new to me) So, I set a 10 mile radius in my search and started looking for my ideal apartment (1BR, 1BA, Laundry, Garage or covered space).  My search was frustrating as I simply could not find anything under $1600 that fit this criteria or that wasn't so sketchy that I feared for the safety of my bike, life and property.  My budget was $1500-1600 and having lived in Huntington Beach a few years back, I had a good idea of where to search and what I wanted.
Garage: want a secure place for my bike and trailer + I want to work on some project cars to resell them as a side hustle.
Laundry: I hate going to laundry mats and it's time consuming - I just prefer doing it at the complex or even better, in-house.

After looking at a ton of places and not finding what I wanted, I was about to expand my search (20 mile radius) when I drove by a place that appeared to be a fancy-pants place that I would never pay for.  Turns out, it was.  $1900 for a 1BR, 1BA, Laundry + Garage!!  Everything I wanted, but out of my price range.  I decided to tour it anyway because they were giving out free snacks and bottled water. Hey! Why not?

As we were touring, I noticed some scaffolding and construction going on.  I asked the manager what the deal was.  He said: "Oh yeah, the patios were poured wrong, so we are removing them and re-pouring the concrete." I said: "oh I'll bet the tenants are not happy" and he replied:"yeah, well, we gave them $500 off per month as compensation"
Wait! What? $500 off??  That would put your fancy-pants price back in my wheelhouse! So I pressed him for more info. 
He said: "well, if you don't mind noise from 9am-4pm M-F, I have several units you can have for that same deal"
Ding ding! yes, please!

I know, this doesn't work for everyone. However, I'm a single guy who plans to be at work from 7:30 - 6:00, M-F, so I can deal with the construction eyesore and potential, occasional noise for these significant savings! (Not something I would have done in my Pre-Mustachian days)

Here's the breakdown: $1,900 a month x 14 months lease = $26,600 (I plan to buy a condo in about 15-18 months)
-$500 discount for 12 months of the 14 month lease = -$6000 off.  (yes, I got this in writing)
-$1000 off first months rent (I researched the apartment website and found the offer and he agreed to tack it on)
-$0.00 deposit because I have good credit
$26,600 - $6,000 - $1,000 = $19,600/14 months = $1400/month under budget and everything I wanted.  Woohoo! 
(Note: I am aware that if I stay longer, that $500 extra is going to kick in, so that's my incentive to get my down payment and condo purchase on track ASAP)

The final kicker?  It's 3.2 Miles to my office each way - downhill going in and uphill coming home.  The perfect setup for a beginner bike commuter in my opinion. 

[nouveauRiche]

Wow.  Excellent work!  It pays to ask.  Literally.

[kelvin]

Booyeah! Great job.

[Laserjet3051]

Good job. I work in Irvine but cant afford to live there so I live much further south. Hopefully you can ride of the few awesome (safe) bike trails in Irvine that follow the watersheds (Harvard bike path, San Diego Creek bike path, etc). The streets are murder. Literally had a small handful of cyclists die right outside my workplace due to motor vehicle hits. Stay safe!

[Ratherboard]

The streets are murder. Literally had a small handful of cyclists die right outside my workplace due to motor vehicle hits. Stay safe!

Great advice! Thanks!  I was concerned about riding on the streets, even though there are dedicated bike lanes, it's the left hand turns that worry me the most.  I guess I can always go to the cross walk and use that to be safer.  It's only 3.1 miles each way, so not that bad and luckily, most of it cuts through UCI. 

Unfortunately, my moving truck (16ft loaded) was stolen the day I got here on Monday.  They got everything. Sooo now I am off to find a new bike, panniers, racks, locks, etc.  Arrghh!  so frustrating.  I really want to face punch those thieves a few hundred times.

Any recommendations on bike shops in Orange County?

[Laserjet3051]

Forget bike lanes if you can. Ride the dedicated bike paths that are paved but off road that follow the wateersheds. There are no cars, and if you structure your route right, almost no intersections or crosswalks to deal with. I am not so lucky however.

[nancy33]

Oh no!! Everything was stolen? Not a very pleasant welcome to CA! I'm so sorry!

[Ratherboard]

Oh no!! Everything was stolen? Not a very pleasant welcome to CA! I'm so sorry!

Yup! They took everything and dumped the truck in some random neighborhood in Santa Ana.  Police are looking but I doubt I'll ever see my stuff again.  Fighting with the insurance companies to get some of it covered, but they aren't budging.  Kind of gut wrenching. (Approx. $35K worth of stuff) but the priceless items such as pictures, memorabilia, etc.  No way to replace that.   
Feels weird buying stuff that I just purchased a couple of weeks ago.  Oh well, I'm sure Karma will even out at some point.  Gotta shrug it off and move on. 

[Thinkum]

Dang man, I am so sorry to read that! I hope you can recoup your stuff or some money from the insurance. As for bike shops, the only one I remember that I visited in OC was Performance Bike in Fountain Valley I think. Also check out CL, you can sometimes find good deals.

[Laserjet3051]

Dang man, I am so sorry to read that! I hope you can recoup your stuff or some money from the insurance. As for bike shops, the only one I remember that I visited in OC was Performance Bike in Fountain Valley I think. Also check out CL, you can sometimes find good deals.

As far as OC bike shops, it depends on what your looking for. For service, I tend do things myself. For parts, I tend to buy them online. Bikes for my daughters were purchased on CL. That said, I had a major MTB overhaul that had to be done recently and used JAX bikes. Good job, reasonable pricing. Over haul required replacement of most components so i used JAX. I do like Performance, but most of the time i use bike shops its just for a part I need IMMEDIATELY and cant wait (e.g. going riding in an hour).

The sales team in Rock N Road seem somewhat pretentious, though their service team are pretty cool. The prick that owns Celo Europa bicycles is total pretentious ex-racer Eurotrash that I wouldnt ever speak to again or walk in his shop.

[Mr. Green]

That is fantastic! What a win!

[Optimiser]

Oh no!! Everything was stolen? Not a very pleasant welcome to CA! I'm so sorry!

Yup! They took everything and dumped the truck in some random neighborhood in Santa Ana.  Police are looking but I doubt I'll ever see my stuff again.  Fighting with the insurance companies to get some of it covered, but they aren't budging.  Kind of gut wrenching. (Approx. $35K worth of stuff) but the priceless items such as pictures, memorabilia, etc.  No way to replace that.   
Feels weird buying stuff that I just purchased a couple of weeks ago.  Oh well, I'm sure Karma will even out at some point.  Gotta shrug it off and move on.

This is terrible! So sorry, and good luck with the insurance companies. Great job having a good attitude about it all.

[Ratherboard]

Dang man, I am so sorry to read that! I hope you can recoup your stuff or some money from the insurance. As for bike shops, the only one I remember that I visited in OC was Performance Bike in Fountain Valley I think. Also check out CL, you can sometimes find good deals.

As far as OC bike shops, it depends on what your looking for. For service, I tend do things myself. For parts, I tend to buy them online. Bikes for my daughters were purchased on CL. That said, I had a major MTB overhaul that had to be done recently and used JAX bikes. Good job, reasonable pricing. Over haul required replacement of most components so i used JAX. I do like Performance, but most of the time i use bike shops its just for a part I need IMMEDIATELY and cant wait (e.g. going riding in an hour).

The sales team in Rock N Road seem somewhat pretentious, though their service team are pretty cool. The prick that owns Celo Europa bicycles is total pretentious ex-racer Eurotrash that I wouldnt ever speak to again or walk in his shop.

Thanks for all of the advice. I like doing a lot of the work myself as well, but shops are great for trying things on and getting some local advice on trails, riding groups etc.  I actually bought a beach cruiser from Jax back in 2010 when I lived in HB.  I'll have to swing by and see what they have.  Thanks again for the info!  I gotta get out and ride!

This is terrible! So sorry, and good luck with the insurance companies. Great job having a good attitude about it all.

I appreciate it.  It sucks but hey, I guess I have a decent excuse to buy new things now, right?  When I walk through the store, my brain is already trained to say "no, you don't need that, you have a perfectly good one at home" - but then I realize that I actually don't have it...it's weird.

[esq]

Your attitude will get you far in life. Actually, it already has!

[Dicey]

What a roller coaster ride! Maybe keep an eye on CL and swap meets in the area where the truck was found? Place a couple of "ISO: No Questions Asked" blurbs on local CL and similar sites. Use your office address, of course. Talk to the LL and your neighbors; I suspect this has happened in the area before.

Finally, maybe you can use this as an excuse to go minimalist?

[With This Herring]

I'm sorry you lost all your stuff and are now suffering through the insurance company.  I hope that you get pretty well compensated.

For whatever is not covered by insurance, you should look into declaring the casualty loss for your 2017 taxes.  There are a few of thresholds to cross, but it may at least reduce your tax burden for the year a little.

IRS Tax Topic 515
IRS Publication 547

[MandalayVA]

What a roller coaster ride! Maybe keep an eye on CL and swap meets in the area where the truck was found? Place a couple of "ISO: No Questions Asked" blurbs on local CL and similar sites. Use your office address, of course. Talk to the LL and your neighbors; I suspect this has happened in the area before.

This.  I had a friend who had her stuff stolen out of a moving van also.  She posted a ISO No Questions Asked on CL, and within about two weeks she had 90% of her stuff back, minus electronics. 

[Ratherboard]

Finally, maybe you can use this as an excuse to go minimalist?

Yes, definitely!  Already being really picky on what I replace.  Only the bare necessities. 

For whatever is not covered by insurance, you should look into declaring the casualty loss for your 2017 taxes.  There are a few of thresholds to cross, but it may at least reduce your tax burden for the year a little.

I was wondering about the tax break.  Thanks!  By my count so far (and I keep thinking of new things) the list is at about $33,000 for the cost at "brand new" and I know the insurance company will depreciate everything as much as possible.  Looks like I might get $5k - $10k from insurance.  We'll see. 

This.  I had a friend who had her stuff stolen out of a moving van also.  She posted a ISO No Questions Asked on CL, and within about two weeks she had 90% of her stuff back, minus electronics.

I was considering doing this.  The cops think it was a group of professional thieves, but hey, it can't hurt to ask, right?

Thanks everyone for the advice!