Forget about figuring out why the guy went crazy when he was locked in an empty room with 51 bicycles, or how to pull an equal number of blue and brown socks out of a drawer in a dark room. Every fall and spring, many Chicago renters get to put their minds to work on a real-life brain teaser. It`s a little more complicated than most, so pay close attention:
You`ve decided not to renew your lease. Legally, you have your apartment until midnight Sept. 30, which is good because you`re not legally allowed into your new apartment until 12:01 a.m. Oct. 1. Unfortunately, all the friends you`ve enlisted to help you move inform you that they`d rather by snug in their beds than carry your belongings down four flights of stairs in the middle of the night.
Meanwhile, the new tenant for your apartment also has to be out by the 30th and wants to know if it would be okay if she moved in that day. And, somewhere across town, the current tenant in your new apartment says he can`t get into his new apartment until the morning of the first, so you`ll have to tough it out.
The teaser: Where does everybody and their stuff go?
”I`ve had a few occasions when people left their furniture in a truck overnight and slept in one of my rental models,” says Diana Julian, assistant vice president for residential management at Draper and Kramer.
”We`ve had situations where we`ve moved everything into one room while the other person was still occupying the apartment,” says Ned Griffin, general manager of J.P. Movers. ”There are some hassles.”
Add it to the list
Like deep dish pizza (although considerably less tasty), Chicago`s twice- a-year moving scramble is a venerable city tradition.
The idea of a rental market turning over in 24 hours twice a year (May 1 and Oct. 1) is still a source of amazement and amusement for many Chicagoans, including John Supera, who recently joined his family`s real estate business after living in Houston.
”In Houston, the market was looser,” says Supera, who is director of marketing and leasing for Supera Properties. ”There were usually about three days to move someone in, and residents generally had more flexibility with lease terms.”
Supera adds that the situation in Chicago can be as much of a hassle for landlords as it is for tenants. ”A lot of residents who are new to the area, if they`re thoughtful, will say, `Wait a minute-the tenant will move out at the end of the month and you`ll have it ready the next day?` It`s pretty frightening how we`re able to do it. Having someone like Anne is the only realistic solution.”
”Anne” is Anne Roggow, Supera property manager and a woman who helps her tenants deal with the 30th-1st moving day crunch by bringing to bear the skills of an air traffic controller and a den mother.
Flight schedules
About 15 days before leases expire, Roggow says, she contacts tenants and makes up a list of people who are moving out and moving in, trying to pinpoint departures and arrivals to the hour. ”Luckily enough, some people leave early,” she says, but she also has to make arrangements for those who have to stay until the day after their lease expires. Usually, she has them leave by 8 a.m.
With all the tenants accounted for, she then schedules all the people who have to get the apartment ready for the new tenant: plumbers, electricians, painters.
”One tradesman follows another,” she says. ”You get good at this after a while.” How good? ”I can turn around a studio in six hours.”
For Roggow, it`s all a part of doing business. ”That`s why you have a management company, to make transitions easy,” she says. ”I`ve had very few complaints.”
While there are stories of management companies letting tenants slug it out (at least metaphorically) over who has dibs on an apartment when, all of the property managers interviewed for this story say they do prefer to keep a hand in the arrangements so everything runs smoothly.
New softies
Recently, a factor other than the basic goodheartedness of mankind has helped ease the 30th-1st gridlock: the softening of the Chicago rental market. ”Years ago, it used to be a problem,” says Diana Julian, ”but the market isn`t as tight as it once was.”
In other words, there`s a better chance these days that the apartment you`re moving into may already be empty, or that the landlord can`t find someone to take your place-both of which give you more flexibility.
And, more and more leases begin on dates other than Oct. 1 and May 1, says Mariana Ravalli, general manager of the apartment search firm Apartments Unlimited. ”It`s not as consistent as it once was. The (rental) season is balancing itself out.”
Incidentally, if you`re moving from Chicago to Chicagoland, you`ll probably find the 30th-1st problem to be non-existent. The large complexes in the suburbs often stagger their leases over the months and within the month to stop congestion, according to Diane Wheeler, director of marketing for the 1,600-unit Four Lakes complex in Lisle.
”It`s the suburbs,” she explains. ”Things are less hectic here.”
Just in case
If worse does comes to worst and you find yourself in Renter`s Twilight Zone between Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, you could always make use of a special service from A-Windy City Movers, although owner Ed Witas doubts you`ll need it.
”It`s not really as bad as some people make it sound, because everybody has the same problem,” Witas says. ”Most people move out in the morning (of the 30th).”
Nonetheless, the service is this: You have A-Windy City move your belongings into one of their trucks, sign a rental lease for the truck for 24 hours (which makes you eligible for renter`s insurance, says Witas) and provide your own lock. The truck is then parked in the moving company`s fenced-in yard or in its warehouse overnight. The next day, the movers will bring the truck to your new home.
The cost: $25 to $50 over the cost of the move. No, you can`t stay in the truck overnight, too.
Some other tips on avoiding moving-day gridlock:
– Make sure you and the current and future landlords agree on whose job it is to coordinate moving day. If the landlord says it`s up to you to make the initial arrangements with the new or current tenants, you should be able to call on the landlord as a ”court of last resort” should things get sticky.
– A lot really does depend on the good will of everyone involved. ”One time, we ended up moving out the current tenants into their U-Haul so we could move in the new tenant,” says Greg Petrus of Chicago Student Movers. If the professionals are willing to make compromises, you probably should be, too.
