Apartment hunt

Blue & White · December 2013

First a shout out to @lmhollister and @southernpeach89. Currently driving through your lovely state (I'm obviously the passenger as knotting while driving is not advised) on our way to find an apartment in Florida.

We've done this several times before so I think we know what we're doing, but any advice? We're looking for a shorter lease so that we can buy a house sometime next summer.

Any good/bad apartment stories to share? Fi once had a neighbor who he complained about their loud sex...the office staff told him they were glad the neighbors were moving out in a week because they had had numerous complaints about the loud sex lol. Awkward.

labro · December 2013

@Blue & White Have fun driving through Atlanta in the raaainnnnnnnnn. It's going to suck A LOT if you haven't passed through already. Just a warning.

Ok here's my advice/stories.

Don't rent from any complex owned by JRK Residential. They have complexes in several states and they are THE WORST EVER company. Just don't do it. I'm just fuming right now thinking about them.

Don't rent from anywhere that exclusively uses a single internet provider...ESPECIALLY if the internet provider is DirecPath. They provide TERRIBLE service.

Look out for construction projects on the pool/buildings/exercise room...stuff like that. Try to get a hard date on when those projects will be completed...otherwise you end up paying for a service you never get to use.

When you find an apartment and do your initial move-in document every little thing. Seriously. Even if it seems insignificant and the apartment rep is getting annoyed with you...just do it anyway. Our apartment tried to screw us when we moved out and tried to charge us for total carpet replacement. It took me over four months and I don't even know how many phone calls and emails to FINALLY get our $900 back.

Try to check out reviews on the apartments. Take both the glowing reviews and the super nasty reviews with a grain of salt...but if you're seeing a single consistent message over and over and over again then I would start to take it seriously.

I'm sure I'll think of more later but this is just what's on my mind for now.

Blue & White · December 2013

@lmhollister we are driving on 95 around south newport (if that is a place) and it is a gorgeous sunny day with 69 degree temps. Are you sure we're in the same state?

Thanks for the apartment advice! It's pretty exciting that we will soon have an address in Florida lol

[Deleted User] · December 2013

Yayayay! Sorry it's such a crappy day here. In Georgia people forget how to drive when it rains so I'm apologizing for the craziness you might experience.

I've only dealt with one bad apartment complex and they change management so freaking much that I don't even know who they are owned by anymore but it was through The Villas which seem to be popular here. I lived there in college and I'm guessing since we were young college folk they decided it wasn't necessary to do a walk through with us so in the end we were charged for things wrong with our apartment that were there before we moved in. Technically, it's our fault for not bringing it up at move in but besides that they were horrible to deal with on all ends of apartment living.

Good luck with the hunt and I hope you find something nice!

labro · December 2013

@Blue & White I hate you...I really do....just kidding of course. :P

It's warm here too...around 69 but it's been a mix of rain/mist/clouds/fog all week long and it's expected to continue through tomorrow. I'm about ready to start bashing my head against the wall if we don't get some sunshine and clear humidity free weather soon.

cu97tiger · December 2013

If you're looking for a shorter term rental, you might want to go with someone you find on Craigslist. It's a little riskier, but probably a LOT more flexible. That's all I've got....

Dignity100 · December 2013

My apartment stories - my first apartment (mostly college kids lived there) the guy across the hall always had people coming in and out and I always called him 'the drug dealer' - then I found out he really was. The last apartment I had - I was home sick and the FBI knocks on my door looking for my neighbor for some kind of utility fraud or something like that! I have crazy luck though - Hope your neighbors are better!!

Blue & White · December 2013

We've actually found several places that offer 6-7 mos leases so I'm not too worried. Worst comes to worst we can always pay our way out of a longer lease. Not a big deal

@livleighton I've never even heard of a leasing agent lol. One of the things I like is living in a place that caters to non-students though. College students are demons to live near. We only have smaller colleges near us where we're moving but it's the same idea. Get a place where people care about their rental.

@lmhollister I'm telling you you should head east. But the rain will probably follow you. Did you get my fantastic advice about woodworking gifts for your bf the other day?

Swazzle · December 2013

I found all 3 of my apartments on Craigslist. I've never paid a broker fee and I've never had to deal with a management company. I prefer dealing with the owner directly. My area is also mostly rentals (NYC area), though, so I'm not sure if this would be wise elsewhere.

Peaseblossom55 · December 2013

no scary stories about renting.

Good luck with the apartment search!!!

GoldenPenguin · December 2013

Where I live now with BF is the first time I've lived in a complex. It has it's good & bad things. I've also never used a broker - every other place I've had I've found on Craigslist or moved in with friends.

Craigslist can be a crapshoot - I would only look at places that showed pictures, and I always checked the maps so I knew exactly where they were. Nice place in a shitty neighborhood? NOPE. However, I've found some great diamonds in the rough on there. My last apartment before I moved in with BF was amazing - it was an adorable little 2(ish) bedroom - perfect for my first alone apartment.

I've never really wanted to live in a complex - I like having places with more character - but it made sense for us to live where we live now, so we're in a complex. The one thing I will say though, is that you're probably going to have to make compromises somewhere. Our complex has a million different layouts - we really wanted a pantry, but we gave up the pantry to have a fireplace. Little things like that - nothing that is SUPER important, but little concessions here & there.

labro · December 2013

@Blue & White I just did! We do have a Woodcraft shop pretty close to us. I'm kind of thinking of getting him a Dremel tool set because it's more within my budget right now and I know he'll get some use out of it. BF is just now starting to get seriously into the fancy woodwork stuff. His dad is a carpenter and he grew up around all the tools and has the general knowledge so now he's starting to acquire some nicer stuff now that we own a home and have the space to keep it all. The last couple of nights he's been messing around with some of his scrapers and other things making a wooden spoon out of some junk wood from our backyard.

KeptInStitches · December 2013

Oh dear God. I have horrible complex stories, but I think it has a lot more to do with the quality of what's available up here.

My apartment is managed by a slum lord. Seriously, I'm not getting near what I pay in rent. There's no drainage tile in my building, so I flood every time we get a severe thunderstorm and, as a nice extra bonus, last year during the spring melt. I have a neighbor - and I haven't figured out which one - who smokes in their apartment, but the way the complex is set up, all the smoke pours into my place through the bathroom vent. I have to keep the door closed and the fan running 24/7 to keep the whole apartment from smelling of smoke. The carpet in my individual unit was shot when I moved in - every time I go in to renew my constant begging is for new carpet. The site manager is pure poison. And our snow removal service is essentially nonexistent, which is awesome when we all share a parking lot [/sarcasm].

My best advice would be to talk to your potential neighbors, if at all possible. If I had known this many problems existed with the unit, I might not have moved in. As it is, I have Eleanor and it's damn hard to find pet-friendly housing, so I'm staying here because I love her more than I hate this place.

Edited because typing is hard

Blue & White · December 2013

@dignity100 my sister lived down the hall from a meth lab. You bet she was psyched when the police shut that ish down.

@lmhollister we have two dremels

they're pretty great once you figure em out. We also have this like 108-180 piece accessory kit that is pretty invaluable. They're usually on sale around the depot for Christmas. Also, woodcraft has classes so definitely let your bf know about them. They're pretty fun

buddysmom80 · December 2013

I rented two apartments before I bought my house. My first apartment was in a complex of studio apartments, the tenants were strange, but surprisingly, management was GREAT! Whenever there was a problem, someone showed up to fix it, even on the weekends.

The second apartment was a three-family house I rented from my friend's dad and uncle. Same thing, great landlords, they even helped me move! They were totally fair about the deposit. Buddy, the demon cat, destroyed their carpet, I told them prior to moving out and they told me if I wanted I could find a quote to have it replaced. My friend's H does flooring so he quoted me a good price, I gave it to the landlords, they approved it and probably saved me $300.

labro · December 2013

Ok I got the negativity out of my system because I swear I have had some decent apartment/rental experiences. It's just my last one was total shit so it pretty much poisons my view of everything.

One thing I liked about the apartment I rented before moving in with BF was their online rent payment system. It was convenient and there weren't any stupid fees tacked on (visible ones anyway). Also, they had apartment maintenance requests available through their online system. So I could say...wake up with a leaky faucet...log in at work and report the faucet...and then I would get notifications throughout the day that my report had been received, get an ETA on repairs, and then finally an email when the repair had been completed plus a physical note left in my apartment of the work done. I really really really liked that. Our last apartment made you call in to report an issue and you had absolutely ZERO way of knowing if they even wrote it down...much less reported it to their maintenance staff. We had ongoing issues for months because of that and it was the worst.

Make a list of your priorities in an apartment. Short term leases, a pool, ceiling fans in the apartment, whatever, and then narrow down your list of options based on that.

Depending on your budget maybe consider renting in a duplex or townhome community instead of an apartment home. Sometimes you'll pay the same in rent as you would in a apartment and you get a little bit more space and privacy.

There's a company in the Atlanta area called ProMove. It's similar to what @LivLeighton mentioned about using a leasing agent but it's totally free for you as the renter. They get a fee from the apartment complex for referring you and they'll basically do all the legwork for you of calling around to different places, getting quotes, plus they should be able to provide recommendations or personal experiences regarding the different complexes. I checked and ProMove is only in Georgia but there may be something similar in your area. I used them and I've had several friends also go through them to find an apartment. It really helped me narrow down to just a few complexes because there were seriously way too many to choose from when I was looking on my own.

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