“What Renters Want” With Jessica Fiur

It’s Friday the 13th. Does this conjure up fears and bad omens and Jason (or Mrs. Voorhees, depending on your predilection. Uh, spoiler alert. Sorry) chopping up pretty teenagers with a machete? Of course not, right? We’re all mature adults with busy lives who don’t have time for all that superstitious nonsense. Or not. We apartment people are apparently a very superstitious bunch. Seriously, look at our high-rises. Are any built with a 13th floor? According to a blog post on MSN, Superstitions actually do shape a lot of our development projects. And not just in multifamily—remember when they were…

Every day, sitting in our office on the 21st floor, my coworkers and I listen to the cacophony of a lone protester, who is convinced he was treated unfairly. I’ve been at this job for a little more than two years, and I’ve heard this guy every morning. My coworkers who have been at the company longer say that they can’t even remember a time when the protesting guy wasn’t there. And it’s always this one guy. No one has joined his picket line. There’s never been any press coverage. People seem to still go into the store, which is obviously…

This weekend, my brother came to visit me and my husband at our apartment. In the elevator, he noticed an ad for a Labor Day party for residents, touting free snacks and goodies in the lounge. I had seen the ad all week, and while I wasn’t planning to attend myself because I usually find these things a little awkward and there were some sales I wanted to hit instead, I thought it was a nice gesture, and beyond that, hadn’t really given it much thought. “Are they trying to make this place like a dorm?” he asked. “Haha—shut up!”…

There are important things going on in the world today—war, a still-struggling economy and oh my god Ben Affleck is going to be the new Batman! In case you haven’t heard the news, the Oscar-winning actor, who’s played important roles in Good Will Hunting, Argo and Gigli, has been cast as Batman in the upcoming sequel to Man of Steel. (Don’t get me started on why a Superman sequel wouldn’t benefit from Batman. One is an alien with amazing super powers and the other is some bored rich guy who has a gift certificate to Brookstone. Clearly a perfect match.)…

Moving is super stressful. You have to officially change your address, and still worry that that birthday check from grandma is going to go to the old place. You have to pack up your entire life and start the painful process of getting rid of some of your things so that it’ll fit in the new place (and then after having a soul-searching conversation with yourself, decide that you do in fact still need that pair of jeans that you haven’t worn in 20 years because you are definitely getting back into shape, and what if ripped, faded Kurt Cobain-esque…

I’m having a bit of a crisis. I recently moved, and while I’m still procrastinating unpacking some boxes filled with non-essentials, I’m really excited about decorating. That’s where the crisis is coming in. I love the chevron pattern (that zig-zag pattern that you’ve totally seen absolutely everywhere lately). You can get chevron throw rugs, picture fames…it’s even a terrible nail art design. It’s fun, it’s stylish and it’s trendy. And there lies the problem. Should I decorate with something that everyone else is using? Sure, it’s a nice pattern, and it’s important to decorate to your own taste regardless of…

At my apartment community, there is a morning and afternoon shuttle that takes residents from the apartment to the bus stop and vice versa. The usual shuttle driver is friendly (but not overly chatty), remembers which building to drop people off on the way home and, most importantly, is prompt. He’s on vacation this week though. The sub is fine…but he wants everyone’s life story, and isn’t there right away when the bus comes. So we all wait outside. In 90-degree heat. I know, I know. Cry me a river, right? Why don’t I also complain about something of equal…

Did you see The Lone Ranger last weekend? Of course not, no one did. Why? Many movie goers aren’t flocking to see a reboot of a TV western from the ’50s. And superhero movies are currently the movie genre du jour (see: Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, etc.). Plus Johnny Depp already did the somehow-sexy-while-wearing-too-much-makeup thing years ago in Pirates of the Caribbean. It goes to show, you can throw tons of money at something that was popular years ago, but that doesn’t guarantee success. Tastes change. Same goes with amenities. The New York Times recently ran an article about how some amenities…

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s that handsome guy playing Superman in Man of Steel! (Just got whiplash on that one.) Nope, it’s a helicopter…parent. Loads of them, actually. And they’re everywhere. You’ve heard of them, right? It’s that new set of parents who love their babies so, so much and just want the best for them, even though little Sam and little Matilda are now in their 20s. Before, these parents would complain to schools over every little infraction. Then, they came to rel=”nofollow”job interviews with their kids. And what about when Sam and Matilda land that job…

It’s a tale as old as time: Boy meets girl. They fall in love, or at least fall in like enough that they’re together all the time and finish each other’s sentences and have their own language and are really irritating their friends. So they decide to move in together, because rent is expensive, their roommates are annoying and they spend all their time together anyway, and really, how different could living together be. Then it’s all cool for awhile until boy discovers that he can’t stand girl’s laugh anymore and girl is sick and tired of picking up boy’s…