If you and your family have been relocated by a company, chances are you will be or are already living in temporary accommodations arranged by your new employer. This may be an extended stay hotel or a corporate home.

Our stay was in a corporate home. Actually it was in an apartment complex and in one of their available 1-bedroom units. The apartment was fully furnished similarly to a hotel suite with kitchenette.

Here’s what our corporate home had:

• kitchen: 1 chef’s knife, 1 pairing knife, 1 cutting board, measuring cups, mixing bowls, 4-piece set of china and dining ware, mugs, glasses, garbage can, dish soap, sponge
• dining room: small round dining table and chairs
• living room: sofa, chair, coffee table, tv, tv stand, lamp
• bedroom: queen bed, linens, set of drawers, several hangers, small LCD tv, 2 end tables, mirror, 2 lamps
• bathroom: towels, soap, garbage can
• communications: Internet/wifi setup, landline and phone*
• other supplies: iron, vacuum, broom, in-suite laundry washer and dryer

* Our landline was restricted to local access only. Long distance calling was not permitted.  But, purchasing a calling card locally at any drug store will solve that problem.

It was nice to have an assigned mailbox to receive redirected mail, and weekly flyers and advertisements to get to know the area and its conveniences.

As an added bonus, we also had access to all of the apartment complex amenities – from the gym, pool to the common barbecue. Of course, this depends on where your stay has been arranged and what the rules/regulations are specific to the housing location. Essentially, we were considered a tenant for the short period. These furnishings were provided for us, and may be different from what your employer has arranged.

For corporate housing, your temporary home will likely be arranged by a third-party corporate housing company/specialist. The corporate housing company was available via a toll-free 1-800 number for corporate housing specific issues like Internet/wifi access issues, requests to rent additional furniture (e.g. if you need another sofa), etc. For apartment specific issues, like a faulty dryer, we directed our questions to the apartment complex rental/leasing office and their service/maintenance team instead. The corporate housing company is available to mediate and step-in to help if the apartment complex staff are unwilling to resolve recurring issues with the apartment.

Having our corporate housing in an apartment rental complex was nice because it really gave us a chance to get to know the local environment, its citizens and lifestyle. Nearing the end of our stay, we also had the option of signing on to rent the apartment unit for 1 month or sign a 1 year rental lease at our expense because the unit would still be vacant thereafter. Because our new home search went well, we didn’t need to extend our stay at the corporate home. Should you need more time to search for your “new home” or if you love the corporate home and wish to make it “home”, do let the corporate housing company and apartment complex rental/leasing office know in advance so that the unit will be taken off the vacancy list.

To feeling at home, wherever your new home may be!