A Guide for Transitioning from Apartment Living to Your First House

In my rental history, I had never had the joys of renting a house. Once I lived in a duplex, which was quite horrible but for two hundred dollars a month, why not? Then I rented an efficiency apartment that was small and cozy. After two years in the mini apartment, the landlord offered me a spacious one bedroom, full sized apartment. Naturally I accepted and moved in. I had been cramped up in a four hundred square foot apartment for too long!

When I needed space, I upgraded to a luxurious two bedroom apartment that could have been on MTV's Cribs. The fifteen month lease left me spent, I was frustrated with a twelve hundred dollar per month rent payment, and I reluctantly entered into a shared living situation with two 'dear' friends and my boyfriend. They had a huge house that they couldn't afford, and I could not afford my place either. I moved in with them. I felt so awkward and uncomfortable living in someone else's house. The shared living situation had a dramatic and terrible effect on me. The politics of a shared living situation are stressful, as is your lack of privacy. It didn't take very long until I had found a house of my own. I rented it immediately, as I fell in love with the spacious and charming house.

I have learned a lot about renting and living in a house. First of all, do two, or even three people need sixteen rooms, eighteen doors, and twenty two windows? Are nine closets really necessary? I have had to vacuum four times this week, that is a lot of space to keep clean!

Additionally furnishing sixteen rooms... What was I thinking? My house is so empty that the echo could drive you mad, the central air is not all its cracked up to be in a house of this size, it works great on the first two floors, but after that it is non existent. The third floor is unaffected and there for always hot, the attic is always hot as hell... I can hardly wait for the heating bills this winter. Thats something to look forward to.

However the hard wood floors and fireplaces are to die for, what house is complete without a widows walk? And finally the reading room makes the house perfect.

If you are transitioning from apartment living into your first house, be prepared to do a lot of cleaning. On average I clean my massive house for at least ten hours each week, and I could devote more time to the effort if I had the extra time. Furnishing the house will be less expensive if you utilize yard sales and flea market and finally, be sure to weatherize all doors and windows.