Apartments.com Room To Move Contest Winner Gets a New Lease on Life

Apartments.com Room To Move Contest Winner Gets a New Lease on Life

$15,000 in prizes means no longer having to share a bunk bed with her teenage sister

CHICAGO, June 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Apartments.com has named Valerie Seimas of Tracy, California the winner of the second annual Apartments.com Room To Move contest. The 22-year-old captivated thousands of online voters with her compelling and humorous tale of living with her parents and sharing a small bedroom and a bunk bed with her 15-year-old sister. For her efforts, she will receive a grand prize valued at $15,000, including a room redesign for her family from Karen McAloon of HGTV's Design Remix. The remaining finalists each will receive a $500 cash prize.

"Valerie received the majority of votes on Apartments.com because voters could relate to the unique challenges that living with a teenage sister after college creates," said Mike Ricciardelli, Apartments.com contest spokesperson. "Her win provides a very happy ending to the contest."

Seimas' creative essay and photographs describing why she needed "room to move" paved the way for her victory over finalists from Burlington, Connecticut and Chicago, Illinois. With many of her friends living at home with their parents, her new apartment is bound to become quite popular.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18 million unmarried Americans aged 18 to 34 currently live with their families. Apartments.com Room To Move contest organizers were impressed by the hilarious pleas of more than five hundred entries received from those in this predicament. Contest participants illustrated the humor and desperation of their living situations, entertaining judges with stories of living in the family's attic, hiding clothes from scheming siblings, and the widespread instances of family members walking around in the buff.

The winner was announced live on NBC-TV's Today and on the contest Web site, http://www.apartments.com/roomtomove . The winning essay and photos along with fun facts and statistics can also be found on the site. For those interested in expediting the relocation process, Apartments.com offers access to a wide variety of apartments directly from the contest pages.

Along with millions of visual apartment listings and classifieds from 170 newspapers nationwide, Apartments.com also offers users a "Fill Your Vacancy" service for listing units for rent or sublet.

Editor's note: B-roll of the winner is available upon request.

Source: Apartments.com

CONTACT: Mark Bouffard of imPRessions-Apartments.com, +1-312-222-9590, mbouffard@media-impressions.com

Web site: http://www.apartments.com/ http://www.apartments.com/roomtomove

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