Moving to a new apartment doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to your neighbors forever. With a little effort, you can stay in touch with your neighborhood friends. Read on for some simple steps to take to help you keep those friendships growing, no matter where you’ve found your home.
Hand out cards
It’s perfectly natural to hand out business cards to keep in touch with co-workers and clients; you can also do this at home with neighbors when you are moving to a new apartment. Create a moving announcement with your new contact information, and hand this out to the neighbors with whom you want to stay connected. Your announcement can be as simple as writing down your new information and making a stack of photocopies, or you might use an inexpensive printing service like Vistaprint to make fancier business cards with your new address and other contact information. A handout provides a physical reminder that will help your neighbors remember to update their address books with your most current information.
Connect online
Tech-y techniques are also great tools to help you stay connected with your neighbors after a move. You can search for people on Facebook and invite them to be Facebook friends with you. LinkedIn is another online tool that helps you connect and share professional information. It’s a good idea, as well, to provide this online information on your moving announcement by including your Facebook or LinkedIn URL link, for instance.
Say farewell in person
There’s no better way to say goodbye and set the stage for long-term friendship than by hosting a farewell party. Invite your neighbors over for a happy hour, brunch or afternoon tea so that you can let them know how important they are to you. Seeing them in person will also give you a chance to tell them how much you would like to stay in touch. Now’s the time to hand out cards with your new address, and pass around a sign-up sheet to collect their e-mail addresses. A fun farewell event provides a memorable experience to celebrate good times shared with your apartment neighbors.
Making and keeping friends takes work, but is well worth the effort. Sharing contact information with your neighbors is just the first step of staying in touch. After you move, contact everyone with an update about how things are going in your new place. You could even invite them over for a house-warming party. As you share your experiences, in a way, you’ll be introducing these special neighbors to your new apartment community.
