Apartment hunting can be a fun and exciting experience, especially if it's your first one. But there's so much to look for and so many questions to ask when touring different communities that it can be difficult to keep track of it all. Lucky for you, we've put together a checklist of what to do before and during your tour at each place. Bring a notepad with you, or enter all of the information into your phone or tablet--you'll be glad you did. And you're already off to a good start if you're reading this; it means you've looked into one of the best apartment communities in Baltimore!
Bring a camera and flashlight or use them on your smart phone. Take photos to remind yourself about the place and to document any issues. And if you end up signing a lease, your photos will document the rental's conditions before you moved in.
If possible, visit the building and spend time in the neighborhood both day and night. It might be much noisier at night than during the workday, and you'll want to be sure you feel safe and comfortable with the area.
Ask if the building is submetered, meaning the individual tenants receive bills from each utility (electricity, natural gas, water). If so, ask to see recent bills to get an estimate of costs.
Read reviews of the buildings online. Look for reviewers who provide pros and cons, not just a rant.
Walk through the actual unit you'll be renting, not just a model, especially if the building is not brand new. You'll want to make sure there are no lingering scents of pets or smoke.
Last, but certainly not least, ask to see the lease. Then don't just look it, read it - even the fine print. If there's something you don't like or understand, talk about it with the leasing specialist or property manager.
520 Park Avenue
Living in such a fast-paced, exciting urban area, it's easy to get carried away with experiencing everything it has to offer, especially the restaurants. But dining out every meal can burn a large hole in your pocket, fast, and can put you in a compromising position with your health & weight. Some argue cooking at home is inconvenient, time-consuming and soaks up what little space you have in your city side apartment. Luckily there are ways to hack the system and cenare all-interno (dine inside) on little money, with no fancy gadgets necessary, and save yourself some calories to boot. Here are some genius at-home cooking tips from the experts at Food & Wine . Breakfast: Poaching the perfect egg is easier than it looks. The secret is starting with a simple household ingredient: distilled white vinegar. First, soak your eggs in the vinegar for about five minutes. Crack our egg into a small dish or bowl, making sure not to break the yolk. With a pan of simmering water on the stove, slide your egg from the dish into the water. You'll notice it immediately begin to cook; use a spoon to move it around the water to cook evenly. After about four minutes, remove it from the water with your spoon and your egg is perfectly poached and ready to eat. Fresh, homemade pancakes are delicious and fun to make, but they often leave a big mess in your kitchen that you won't enjoy cleaning up later. Make it mess free by throwing your ingredients in a zip-lock bag and mix your batter either with a whisk or kneading it by hand. Gather the batter into one corner so it resembles a cake-icing bag and cut the tip. This provides you with the ability to make perfectly round pancakes, just the size you want, or even create other shapes like hearts, diamonds, or whatever you come up with! Lunch: Deviled eggs are a summertime staple and a beloved treat among folks of all ages. But the only thing worse than having bits of shell stuck to your hard-boiled egg, is mangling the egg whites while trying to make your precious picnic favorite. Using a simple household teaspoon will help you effortlessly peel your hard-boiled egg and make your life simpler. Take the cooked egg and hit the bottom of it (the widest part) on your counter or hard surface. Gently peel away only a small portion of the shell. Take the teaspoon and slide it under the thin layer of skin that sits between shell and egg. Carefully move the spoon around the egg to remove the skin and shell. Voila! The hardest part about eating kiwi is cutting off the tough skin and wasting most of your fruit in the process. Similar to the hard-boiled egg, cut off the stem-end of the kiwi, only about 1/8 of an inch. Then take your teaspoon and slide it under the skin, moving it around the whole thing until it lifts away. You can gauge your progress by using your thumb and feeling for the spoon underneath the skin, careful not to press it into the fruit. Pinch the kiwi out of its skin and there you have it, effortless fresh fruit. Sandwiches always taste better on a fresh baguette from the local bakery. But if you've had your loaf long enough that it begins to sag and the ends are hard, it's no longer fresh and appetizing. Or is it? Next time your baguette has gone stale, run some water over the loaf to lightly coat it. Throw it in the oven at 450 degrees for 5-7 minutes. When it comes out, the exterior should crackle and crunch when you press it, and the inside should be soft and fluffy. Dinner: Oyster Bars do all the work for you, and for good reason--it's hard to shuck an oyster shell. However, you can save money by eating the delicate meat at home, and with this tip you won't kill yourself trying to pry it open. If a stubborn one is giving you trouble, pop it in the microwave for about twenty seconds. The heat will help expand the oyster shell and make it easier for you to crack it open. Then, using a knife, insert it at the hinge, where the top and bottom shell meet. Once the knife is partially in, use a turning motion of the wrist to open it the rest of the way, almost as if you were turning a door knob. But you'll want to make sure your wrist does not bend, and that your whole arm is creating this motion. If that still doesn't work, though, throw in the towel and head over to Ryleigh's before you hurt yourself. Dinner parties aren't complete without decadent gourmet cheeses as an appetizer. But cutting these soft cheeses smoothly and cleanly is sometimes difficult and can mangle your expensive Brie. Using simple unflavored dental floss will solve that issue. Just as you would floss your teeth, wrap the ends around your fingers so the string is taut, and slide it down the roll of cheese until it breaks through the other side, a clean cut. For triangular cuts, place the floss at the ends of the triangle, long-ways. Criss-cross the two ends as the string moves along the cheese smoothly. And there you have it, clean cut cheese for your party platter. Poaching salmon is one of the healthiest ways to prepare this delicious fish. An easy and mess-free way to poach salmon is by placing the filets in a zip-lock bag (add seasonings and lemons, if desired) and lowering them into a boiling pan of water. After a few minutes, remove the bag from the water with tongs, and pinch the ends of the salmon while still in the bag. If it begins to flake away, the filet is cooked and is ready to serve medium rare. For medium or medium well, place the bag back in the water for a few more minutes. Now that you have a few cooking hacks under your belt, you can skip the pricey plated dinner and host your own gourmet meal right in your 520 Park Avenue apartment home.
As with most recurring payments, using Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) to take care of your monthly rent can make things convenient and simple. Think about it. All it takes is the one-time task of signing our form. But is it a good idea for everyone? Of course it is! Here's a look at the benefits of EFT. EFT can save you time Not only is it convenient, but it also can give you peace of mind that your bill is getting paid, all without you having to lift a finger. Plus, it can give you a few extra moments of free time since there's no need for stamps or pesky trips to the mailbox. There's no risk of forgetting your rent EFT ensures that your rent is always paid on time each and every month. A history of on-time payments may improve your credit score, but conversely, late and/or missing payments could really hurt your score. With EFT payments, there's nothing left to chance. Whether you're swamped with a big deadline for work or you're off on vacation, there's no risk of you forgetting to pay on time. Secure payments can give you peace of mind With EFT, you're paying from our secured 520 Park Avenue site designed for this type of activity and with the appropriate security to give you peace of mind. IT'S FREE! Some companies charge a fee to utilize automatic bill pay, but not us! By signing up for EFT, your rent will be taken automatically each month with no hidden fees! In summation, using automatic EFT could help protect your credit score, provide convenience and give you peace of mind without all the hassle of remembering to pay your rent. Just be sure to keep track of the dates and the amounts paid in order to stay on top of your finances.
As most of the modern world knows, Uber is the latest and greatest trend in transportation that has swept the nation the last three years (yep, it's been that long) with its convenience, simplicity and affordability. For those of you rock-dwellers unfamiliar with Uber, it's a smartphone app that lets you hail a cab (or Uber) with just the tap of your finger. After you've provided your credit card information on the app, it searches your location for the closest Uber driver and sends them a request for pick-up. Once the driver drops you off, you say thanks and hop out. That's it. The charges go straight to the card you put on file. No cash, no fuss, no problem. Or is it? With great success, comes great controversy. In the last year or so, the taxi companies and even the government have wagered their opinions on this ultra-contemporary take on the new mode of transportation. They claim Uber is unreliable, unsafe, and exploits innocent passengers for an overpriced service already provided by seasoned taxi drivers. You can find plenty of information on the case of Uber vs. The World, but we want to hear your opinion. Do you love it? Do you hate it? Tell us in the comments below. If you're curious, here's why we at 520 Park Avenue LOVE IT :
You simply click your phone to summon a car. No need to walk to a busy intersection to try and flag down a taxi. Or worse, call for a cab and wait fifteen minutes (at least) for the driver to show up.
No need to handle the payment or tipping stuff at the end of the ride. Simply gather your personal stuff and leave! Thanking the driver is actually optional. Want to share the cost of the ride with another Uber customer? That's easy too! Just click, click and it's done.
You can get an estimate of the cost just by tapping a few buttons on your phone.
If you have a complaint, it is easy to contact Uber. I complained once, and got exactly what I asked for: a 70% refund.
The drivers and riders are rated by each other. The drivers need to keep up their ratings in order to continue getting riders.
After your ride, you will get a map of your ride and a receipt emailed to you.
If you leave anything in the Uber car, you (and Uber) know exactly which car you were in.
This a coupon for $10 worth of free rides . Check it out, and decide for yourself! You can earn more credit by sharing Uber with your friends.
Do you consider yourself a successful person? We here at 520 Park Avenue believe everyone possesses the ability to be successful. Reaching the heights of success can take time, though. It's not always a hurdle jump away from immediate success. Fortunately, you can shorten this journey through one simple step: making the best use of your lunch hour. If you're like most people, you have five hours per week that you can use to reach your goals faster. Read on to discover how to make the best use of these five hours:
Leave the office
This gives you a break from distractions and an opportunity to refresh yourself. If you simply sit at your desk for lunch every day, you can expect managers and coworkers to ask you to do more work. By escaping the throws of office duties, you're regenerating your brain, getting your blood flowing and allowing your focus to rest on things simpler and less stressful. So leave, scat, make like a bread truck. Just don't forget to go back. What about those times when you simply have to stay at the office? There are ways to work around that requirement as well (see the next tip).
Do a weekly review
Maintaining control and perspective over your life doesn't have to be hard. That's why successful people have mastered review habits. For example, you can review the past week's sent emails during lunch to determine what follow up actions are needed. Alternately, you can review your calendar of appointments for the rest of the week. This can be applied to your personal schedule as well. Heck, it is lunch after all isn't it? These practices put you back in command of both your work and personal time and keep your life on track.
Get exercise
Successful people know that exercise is vital to maintaining mental focus and health. Successful people get exercise during lunch in several ways, such as going to a fitness class, going for a walk and even putting in a few quick push-ups. Exercise is also a great way to cope with workplace stress. Some companies, like HBO, even offer yoga classes on site! Take the time to ask your HR department about the company's wellness program you don't know what's available until you ask. In accordance with tip #1, getting the blood flowing provides the mental and physical relief your mind & body needs to perform at its peak.
Build career assets
Assets are resources that grow in value over time. Checklists are a resource that successful people regularly use to avoid mistakes and guarantee high quality (check out Learn How To Build A Checklist In 6 Steps ). The time you invest to build a career asset will save you plenty of time in the future. Here are other career assets easy enough to build over your lunch hour:
Standard Operating Procedures : a sequence of steps that explains how to do important parts of your job. These procedures can cover how to produce reports, your personal sales process and other aspects of your work.
Career Portfolio : a collection of documents (e.g. performance reviews, copies of emails from happy clients, PowerPoint presentation templates) that prove all of your skills and accomplishments.
Professional Contact List : write up a contact list (use a paper notebook or a spreadsheet to start with) of the 100 most important people in your career - include their name, title, company, phone number and email address. If you are laid off suddenly, you will need a copy of that information at home for reference.
Build relationships
Breaking bread and sharing a meal with another person is one of the best ways to build a relationship. Successful people know that meeting somebody once at an event is just the start of building a relationship. The next step is to spend more time with that person. Lunch is a great way to develop a relationship because people tend to open up about their lives and go beyond business concerns. By delving into personal (but not too personal) information, you and your new contact feel comfortable with one another and trust each other enough to do business together. And remember, first impressions, body language and vocabulary are key!
Eat for health, not entertainment
What you eat for lunch has a significant impact on your results. That's why successful people tend to avoid pasta and other carb-heavy meals at lunch, they make you lethargic and groggy. To improve your energy and keep moving, eat almonds, walnuts and other proteins. Foods high in protein fuel the brain. Relying on sugar to get you through the day is simply not effective - you'll crash and burn by 2:30. In addition, consider avoiding foods with strong smells or sauces during the work week; spilling food on yourself during the work day is frustrating! Keep your eating for entertainment desserts and the like to the evenings and weekends.
7. Run personal errands
Successful people understand the importance of staying focused at work. That's why they avoid making personal phone calls during business hours as much as possible. However, we all know that life is full of pressures. For example, you may need to pick up prescriptions. One way to improve your productivity is to use a pharmacy nearby your office, so you can go there during your lunch break. To take this principle a step further, adapt Mike Hardy's time chunking approach. You could designate the Friday lunch hour for personal errands and reserve Monday lunch hours for professional growth. Either way, incorporating a small portion of your personal life into your work day relieves some of the pressure in your home life, and it's well worth it, however small.
8. Take a nap
Successful people understand the value of being well-rested. Entrepreneur Michael Hyatt has explained 5 reasons you should take a nap every day . Putting in a 20-30 minute nap does a great deal to increase your productivity and mental clarity. Specifically, napping has been shown to improve heart health and improve efficiency. Not sure where to take a nap? Look around if your company has a wellness room or a quiet room. Such rooms may serve as a useful nap location! As an alternative, look for a quiet office or a meeting room (though you run the risk of being caught napping).
Think how far technology has come in the last 5 years: from Google Glasses to a self-driving car to a Humanoid Robot . Now think how far technology has come in the last 100 years: the telephone, the Apple computer, the Walkman, THE INTERNET! It's fascinating to think long-distance communication involved nothing more than a series of dots fired across wire strung along the entire United States. In a world where people demand connectivity 24/7, and technology such as Periscope lets you communicate with anyone anywhere on the planet with just a touch of a button, let us stop and appreciate where it all stemmed from. The telegraph. First used here in our beloved Baltimore City. Painter-turned-inventor Samuel Morse was intrigued by the electric telegraph after overhearing a conversation about electromagnetism sailing from Europe to America. He immediately experimented and eventually developed the telegraph machine in the 1830's and 1840's. His first telegraph message was sent from Washington D.C. to Baltimore on May 24 th , 1844 (171 years ago!) It read: What hath God wrought. The telegraph's long-distance application marked the beginning of a new era of communication, in which information traveled faster than any human by any means of conveyance could possibly travel. Morse and fellow inventor Alfred Vail later created Morse Code, to better understand the transmissions, which in turn transformed how wars were fought, how journalists reported news and how loved ones communicated across state lines. By the early 1900's the telegraph machine was used countries all across the globe. But it wasn't until this day, August 20 th , in the year 1911, that a dispatcher in the New York Times office sent the first telegram around the world via commercial service. The Times decided to send its 1911 telegram in order to determine how fast a commercial message could be sent around the world by telegraph cable. The message, reading simply "This message sent around the world," left the dispatch room on the 17th floor of the Times building in New York at 7 p.m. After it traveled more than 28,000 miles, being relayed by 16 different operators, through San Francisco, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Bombay, Malta, Lisbon and the Azores, among other locations, the reply was received by the same operator sixteen and half minutes later. It was the fastest time achieved by a commercial cablegram since the opening of the Pacific cable in 1900 by the Commercial Cable Company. I'll give you a minute to let that sink in, and then you can get back to checking your Facebook newsfeed.
