In 2019, Joey and I decided we’d move to Calgary from Vancouver. It was a renter’s market, and we were excited to finally afford a nice apartment in the city. Since there were so many choices, it was difficult to keep track of our favourites and remember the features of each one. Thanks to Notion, we were able to plan and rent in no time.
What is Notion?
Notion is a project management and note-taking software. There are free plans for simple personal use and paid plans for accessing more features and collaborating with teams. Notion supplies many templates that suit people’s needs. We used Luke Waring’s Apartment hunt template to help us sort our favourites in one organized and accessible table.
Using the template
Simply compiling a list of apartments that fit our budget wasn’t enough. We wanted to stay for a few years at least, so we had to be happy with the place. Here are the template’s categories and how we used them.
- Name and Link: apartment names and links to their respective websites.
- Rent ($): monthly rental price.
- Fee: initial fee to rent. Tags were No Fee, Unknown, Half-Month, and 1 Month.
- Date Available: the date when we could move in.
- Rating: how we organized our favourites. Tags we used were Top pick, Very interested, Somewhat interested, and Barely interested.
- Neighbourhood: areas downtown where we wanted to live.
- Features: amenities of each apartment. Tags we used: balcony, dishwasher, gym, laundry in building, laundry in unit, pet-friendly, underground parking, lounge, den, storage, and furnished.
- Sqft: the size of the apartment in square feet.
- Agency: the rental agency that managed the apartment.
- Notes: notes for before and after our viewings.
After the hunt
Luckily, we were able to land an apartment in our Top Pick category. The lounge with the fireplace was my favourite amenity, but now that I’m into boxing, I’m thankful for the gym.
I’ve kept the Notion template saved in my account, just as it was for nostalgia’s sake. Those weeks of planning and the excitement of viewing what Calgary had to offer will always be fond memories.
Originally published at https://kyladelrosario.com on February 21, 2022.
