Apartment hunting--question

[frugalone]

I hope this does not sound silly. But could someone tell me: how exactly do you find the apartment you want? Do you start by deciding on a part of town in which you'd like to live? Or does price determine it? What about the furniture you own? Let's say you have a bookcase that lines a wall. Do you look for a place with a room large enough to accommodate the bookcase? How many rooms do you know you'll need?

Can anyone recommend a book or web site that might be helpful?

Again, I hope these don't sound ridiculous coming from an adult. I honestly am not sure what the answers are to some of these questions, though.

Thank you.

[Tussiemussies]

Hi frugal one,

We had to rent awhile back and here is how the process went in my mind;

-- picking a town I like I looed up the town's crime statics to see how much crime there was and if okay looked for a house in a neighborhood that would fit my needs. Do you want to have a garden, clotheslineetc. All things to take into consideration...

-- I did make sure we could handle the rent

--storing a lot of my belongings was a big issue but I did make sure the house rooms that there were enough for what I had to do and couldn't give up and I did make sure as I went through the rooms the placement of the furniture we were going to use had a place where I wanted them to be basically.

--make sure if you like quiet that the neighborhood is quiet.

-- it is important to have a good landlord but that is hard to tell

It is a good time to rent right now, many homeowners cannot sell their homes so they have rented them out

You can always find a reputable real estate agent to help you on your search, there was no fee with them since we wound up finding something on our own but the did show us some great homes...


PS sorry for all the grammar mistakes but I can barely see out of my glasses and I am on the iPad which makes one finer typing hard to do! Christine

[Zoebird]

we chose by location and price point, and then do the best from there to find what will work. I do measure rooms when I view a place -- we have a king size bed and that's not always do-able in some apartments here.

[Dhiana]

Researched a move from Japan to San Diego all on the Internet. Had never been to SD before but did know I wanted to live near a Trader Joe's, Whole Foods type grocer and would not be purchasing a vehicle for at least a year.
And a reasonable commute to work via public transportation, bicycle or running.

Spent a lot of time on Google Maps to familiarize myself with the layout, Lots of time on Craigslist checking Apt listings.

My plane landed at 2PM and by 6PM I had an apt rented. My first choice I saw on Craigslist :)
We ended up returning to Japan less than a year later but I do know if we returned to SD I would make every effort to live in the same neighborhood.

The tsunami/earthquake created a hiccup in our plans to return so I immediately jumped on Craigslist and found a studio apt to rent until hints calmed down.

It really helps to know exactly what you want, how much you are willing to spend

Good luck!!

[sweetana3]

For major cities, you can go to city-data.com forums and ask questions about locations. Grain of salt regarding replies but for the most, it might give a local residents perspective.

[Miss Cellane]

I tend to move a lot, so I've rented most of my adult life.

In many ways, you do the same research as you would in buying a house--you look at the neighborhood, the public transportation, the schools (if you have kids), locations of nearby shops and things like the library and post office.

Then you think about the way you live and what you need in a living space. How many people will be living there? How many bedrooms do you need? Do you need a dedicated home office? An eat-in kitchen? A dining room? Do you have things like Christmas tree decorations that you'd need to store? That gives you an idea of the amount of space you will need and the number of rooms. Do you want outdoor space, a balcony, a patio, a shared grassy plot?

Then look at your budget. You can find places to rent just about anywhere. In the better areas, you pay more. So you may have to choose between a large apartment in a slightly less desirable area, over a smaller apartment in your first choice location. Things like designated parking spaces, washer and dryer in the unit, extra storage space--all add to the rent.

Make up a list of things you want--eat-in kitchen, breakfast bar, carpet or hard surface floors, lots of daylight, the type of neighborhood, amount of closet space, laundry facilities, etc.

Furniture-wise, yes, if you want to keep that large bookcase, measure it and bring a tape measure with you when you look at apartments. The more furniture you have, the larger the apartment you will need to hold it all. If the bookcase becomes a stumbling block, then you may be forced to decide if you want to an apartment that will fit it, or sacrifice it to get an apartment that is better overall.

As for what furniture to bring, start with the basics. What furniture do you use every day? Bed, sofa, dining table and chairs, desk? Bring the things you know you will use. Most people I know end up with a table of some sort, even if they don't eat at it. The flat horizontal space comes in handy for folding laundry, or wrapping presents, or cooling cookies, or playing D&D. You need a place to sleep, a place to sit comfortably, a place to sit and do work.

Bear in mind that if you are moving from a large house to a small apartment, your existing furniture might not be the right scale. Many of today's houses have large rooms, and furniture is sized to fit them. You might have trouble fitting the amount of furniture you need into the space you have. You might have to make do for a while and then replace some stuff with smaller-scale furniture.

There are some things that are different than living in a house. You probably won't have a garage, but will park in a communal parking lot. You may or may not have assigned parking spaces--so look at the lot during the evening when most people are home to see if there is an adequate number of parking spaces. If it is assigned parking, where do visitors park? Also, every single thing you bring into the apartment (after move-in day) will have to be carried from your car to the building and through the building to your unit. Just how far do you want to be carrying your groceries? Check to see if there's a 15 minute parking spot near the entrance--some places have these so that you can quickly unload your car near the door.

Laundry facilities--do you want a washer and dryer hook-up in your unit? Or are you okay with coin machines on your floor? in the building? somewhere in the neighborhood?

Noise--the larger the building, the more neighbors and the greater the chance of noisy neighbors. Check the lease to see if there are any quiet hours listed. Talk to the landlord/management about what to do if the neighbors get too loud. Some places are great at keeping noise in check, others do nothing. Unless the building has great soundproofing, it's always best to get a top-floor unit. That way, you don't have to listen to every single footstep from upstairs. If you can, visit the building on a weekend, when people are home, to get a feel for the noise level.

The type of building--I've always gravitated towards older building with fewer units. They tend to be better built, so quieter. And fewer neighbors means fewer chances for noise problems. But older apartments, like older homes, may have problems, like things breaking, or creaky floorboards or the like. But they also can have more character. They definitely have a different use of space. Newer apartments are very streamlined, with small or no hallways, the kitchen in a corner of the living room (the main reason I like older places is that you can find separate kitchens), all rooms opening off the central living room. Some older apartments "waste" space by having long hallways, or odd nooks, separate kitchens and dining rooms. But, if you are living with others, they allow a greater degree of separation, which is useful if one person wants to watch tv and the other wants quiet in order to read.

Landlords/management companies--there are good and bad landlords. It's hard to know which you are dealing with until you are living in the apartment and have a problem. Then you find out in a hurry. But, in general, if they promise something will be done before you move in--get it in writing. I've had promises to paint, or to replace older appliances, or to patch a hole in the wall. None of which was fixed until after I moved in and complained. A lot.

Check out what you are responsible for. In one three family house I lived in, the landlord was required by law to clear the front steps and sidewalks of snow within 8 hours of the end of a snowfall. But nothing was required for parking lots/driveways, so he did nothing. We had to shovel out the packed snow that the snowplow left at the end of the driveway by ourselves. If you are renting a house, this is particularly important to get clear on--usually it is the tenant who mows and shovels and rakes, but some landlords want to do it themselves, or have their service do it. Currently, in the two-family house I'm living in, I shovel the front stairs and sidewalk and the landlord has a wonderful plow guy who takes care of all the parking spaces and driveway. In a large building, with a large parking lot, you may have to move your car at certain times to allow the plows to really clear the lot.

Take a good, long look at the storage space that the apartment has. Some apartments have great closets, some don't. Check for a coat closet near the front door, and a linen closet in or near the bathroom. Check out the size of the closets in the bedroom. You will be using these closets to store the things homeowners store in attics, basements and garages. I've had closets that weren't very deep, front to back, barely deep enough for a hanger. There's not much extra room in a closet that size to store anything but clothes. On the other hand, I've had huge closets in bedrooms that allowed me to store my sleeping bag and cooler and sewing machine in there. Check out the cabinet space in the kitchen--more is better. You can always store non-kitchen items there. Check to see what storage there is in the bathroom. It's easier if there's at least a sink with a vanity cabinet underneath it. Ask if there's a separate storage area in the building--some places have them, some don't. You can work around less built-in storage space by adding storage furniture, like shelving or a credenza or a kitchen island, but at some point, that starts to take up your square footage.

[poetry_writer]

Location and price are the top considerations for me. A tip I have learned from moving many times to apartment complexes: drive through it on a Friday or Saturday night late. Look for noisy parties and see if it is properly lighted. Drive around the property to see how clean it is. If possible see the unit you will be renting (many of them here show you a model unit which hardly ever matches up with the actual unit you get. In fact I no longer rent if i cant see the place I will be living in. Got burned on that)....Hope it works out well for you!

[ApatheticNoMore]

Yes location (don't want to be right by the freeway either - freeway accessible is great but not right next door!), yes price. I have some basic requirements an apartment must have: A/C (a window box is ok, it doesn't have to be central air), parking on premises (doesn't have to be covered just don't want to be battling the world for street parking at the end of the day), laundry on premises (can be shared with the whole apartment I just don't want to be driving to the laundrymatt and spending hours I don't have there). I was tapping the walls of this particular building and seeing if it was structurally sound and so on. Since the unit was open I kept going back there after I had toured it with the landlord to be sure before I finally was approved for an signed the lease :) I realize worrying that the building is relatively solid etc. is completely neurotic for a place I'm not buying, and I never did it until after that one time I lived in a complete dump that was so drafty it could barely count as shelter at all (felt like I was sleeping outside), that one experience left me burned.

[iris lily]

I know exactly what kind of apartment I'd live in an alternate universe where I am a renter. Old building with 9' ceilings, tiny closets, 2nd or 3rd floor walkup, nice moldings and wood floors, window air conditioners. There would be a storage section in the basement, lockable. It would have poor water pressure. The kitchen and bathroom would be old.

This may be silly, but because I've lived in an old house that was converted to apartments see who controls the heat. Some of the apartments had no control over the heat. I remember the girl next door coming over one day to my place to say "aren't you ever going to turn on the heat?" I had not realized that I controlled the heat for the entire building.

[sweetana3]

Iris Lily, you would love the apartment a new friend lives in here. Built in the 20s with original beams and stenciling still in place..... Tall ceilings, stained glass windows. Upgraded kitchens and bathrooms but still have the old flavor. She is on the south side and has terrific light. No elevator so she moved from the 4th to the second floor to make it easier on her getting in and out. The owners live in the building and are very responsive. It has good security. I have always wanted to see what it was like inside.

So many of these old buildings were just gutted. These owners have apparently held on for years and years and since they live there, they want it kept up.

[JaneV2.0]

One of the advantages i see to apartment living is the availability of both very modern and very vintage architecture not readily (or cheaply) available in stand-alone housing--and if you're a fan of Very Small Living, it's easier to find tiny, efficient apartments than houses.

If I were looking for an apartment, I'd start by narrowing down neighborhoods using every on-line tool at my disposal, interviewing friends and co-workers, etc. Then I'd browse real estate/rental sites looking for price, walkability, and whatever features were important to me. I'd make use of Zillow and Google Earth and other sites to get a feel for surroundings before I visited neighborhoods in person. I'd look for reviews and ratings of larger apartment complexes. But in the end, you're not stuck in an apartment like you are more likely to be in a house, so if you make a mistake or find yourself disenchanted, it's not the end of the world.

[iris lily]

Most rental agencies have photos up on their sites now for rentals. Start with Craigslist and you can see what you can afford at each price increment.

[citrine]

I definitely think you should check out the complex during the day and evening just to get a feel for it. Also, if you can talk to a couple of residents that would be a good idea. I ended up renting in a great complex with nut jobs for my downstairs neighbors....they had late parties, lot of shady business, and I finally called the cops enough that they decided to move out. Plaster/brick walls mean less noise pollution....a new complex means you will hear a lot of stuff from the neighbors. Please get the top unit and not the downstairs one....the noise level is out of control, especially if they walk heavy or wear heels! ;)

[awakenedsoul]

I lived in an apt. in Las Vegas that was nice, but had problems. I was above some guy who was a bookie. I would hear him yelling at people on the phone, "I want my money!" It was the only complex in town that allowed large dogs, so I felt like I had to stay there. Also, they had a pool, but some creepo kept pooping in it in the middle of the night. It was so gross! It happened several times. (Actually there must have been two people, because there were two sets of poop.) Disgusting.

Best rental I had was a guest house in Santa Fe, NM. It was in a gorgeous part of town. The woman had made the garage into a guest house. It was a little adobe with a nice flagstone patio, view of the sunrise, mountains everywhere, and hiking right outside my door. I loved that place...I found the notice for it on the bulletin board at Whole Foods. It was a wealthy area and I paid $600. a month. I hope to live in a nice neighborhood like that again someday...location location location!

[jennipurrr]

Do you have any pets and will the potential apartment accommodate them? Aside from location/price, that was my next question when I had an apartment and then rented a house.

Furniture wouldn't be a deal breaker for me personally (like a book case) unless I was super attached to it. If I found a place with the perfect price point in a perfect neighborhood and the only issue was the bookcase wouldn't fit I would personally consider other options. I have a friend who ended a long term relationship and kept the king bed when she got a new apartment. She ended up having to get one of the most expensive apartment complexes in town to accommodate it...and she was single, I think it would have been better to ditch the bed and have more flexibility. Selling it and buying a similar good condition queen or full probably would have been a wash financially.

However I say all that, and I am really just a big hypocrite since I have this mission style dining/china cabinet set that was my great-grandmothers when 95% of the time we eat on trays on the couch or at the kitchen table, but one reason I bought this house was because it had room for it. Nearly every bone in me wants to get rid of it but I am torn because it is too beautiful and it has sentimental value. I would love to have a home where it actually looked like it belongs (its in what was originally the living room of this house). It is one of the few material possessions I have irrational feelings for.

[frugalone]

I lived in an apt. in Las Vegas that was nice, but had problems. I was above some guy who was a bookie. I would hear him yelling at people on the phone, "I want my money!"

All I can think of is "show me the money!" Yikes!


It was the only complex in town that allowed large dogs, so I felt like I had to stay there. Also, they had a pool, but some creepo kept pooping in it in the middle of the night. It was so gross! It happened several times. (Actually there must have been two people, because there were two sets of poop.) Disgusting.

Is it possible the DOGS were pooping in the pool?
Yes, I agree, gross.


Best rental I had was a guest house in Santa Fe, NM. It was in a gorgeous part of town. The woman had made the garage into a guest house. It was a little adobe with a nice flagstone patio, view of the sunrise, mountains everywhere, and hiking right outside my door. I loved that place...I found the notice for it on the bulletin board at Whole Foods. It was a wealthy area and I paid $600. a month. I hope to live in a nice neighborhood like that again someday...location location location!

That really sounds beautiful!

[frugalone]

Do you have any pets and will the potential apartment accommodate them? Aside from location/price, that was my next question when I had an apartment and then rented a house.

Small, caged pets. Although I have often considered getting a dog. Jury is still out on that one!





I have this mission style dining/china cabinet set that was my great-grandmothers when 95% of the time we eat on trays on the couch or at the kitchen table, but one reason I bought this house was because it had room for it. Nearly every bone in me wants to get rid of it but I am torn because it is too beautiful and it has sentimental value. I would love to have a home where it actually looked like it belongs (its in what was originally the living room of this house). It is one of the few material possessions I have irrational feelings for.

Well, that sounds just wonderful. I would certainly hold onto that. It is probably irreplaceable.
I have large bookcases, but we're talkin' IKEA here, not anything hugely valuable.

[frugalone]

Wow--there's a heckuva lot to digest here! Some of these things, I never would have thought of.

I have heard of driving and/or parking at the location at different times of day to see what "the action" is like. I would like to live near my job, but it's in a (small) city and I imagine it would be noisy at various times of the day. Parking is also at a premium, depending on whether school is in or not.

[Miss Cellane]

Another consideration is large complex vs. small, usually privately owned rental. The large complexes tend to have a lot of nice amenities--pools, even gyms, party rooms you can rent, parking, some level of security, 24 hour maintenance, nice laundry rooms. They can also have drawbacks if people are noisy or break the rules. There's usually a management company taking care of things. If they are good, things are fixed promptly and complaints looked into and dealt with fairly.

Small places are frequently owned by someone who owns them as an investment. The caliber of smaller landlords varies greatly. You can get people who neglect the property, or people on the other extreme who want to inspect your place monthly (which, by the way, most states have laws against). I've mostly had great experiences with smaller landlords, but you have to meet them in person and talk to them a bit to get a feel for them. The woman who informed me that I could not have male overnight guests--I did not rent from her, although the space on Beacon Hill in Boston was charming and very affordable. I had one who stalled on every single repair, even though doing so saved him no money whatsoever. When my refrigerator stopped working, it took 5 days of phone calls to get the repair guy out, to fix a switch--total visit took 30 minutes, the part cost $25. Delaying 5 days did nothing for the landlord except make me mad enough to decide to leave when my lease was up. He also delayed taking care of a leak in the next apartment over, for so long that the water eventually rotted out the kitchen cabinets in the unit below, and the landlord ended up spending more money to gut and replace the kitchen.

My current landlord owns about 5 2-3 unit buildings in my town. She's great with emergency repairs, a little slow with other things. The leaky sink got fixed in 24 hours, the broken dishwasher took 2 weeks--although in her defense, it turned out that she had to get someone to raise the kitchen counter to allow a new machine to fit underneath it, as apparently kitchens built in 1930 did not anticipate the size of modern appliances. But the buildings are in general well-maintained and she's prompt to respond if we have any problems. She's careful about who she rents to, so noise hasn't been a problem at all.

Oh, and if you do rent at a complex with an outdoor pool, do not take a unit near the pool. The noise can be a pain in the neck. And even if there is a closing time for the pool each day, drunken college students ignore the rules and have drunken parties in the pool at 2 am.

[Amaranth]

Check its walkscore.
Can you garden on the balcony, patio, in the yard?
Who controls the hotwater?
Do you have your own hotwater tank?
Who controls the air conditioning?
Do google birds eye view to check for traintracks/dump/pig farm/industry that may not be visible from the apartment complex.
If there are amenities, what is the extra cost/damage deposit to use them? Have lived in places where it was implied the amenities were included in the rent.
Can you grill on your patio or is there a group grill area?
Are you required to use professional, bonded movers?
If there is a gas oven, can you cook in it without setting off the smoke alarms?
Does the building have aluminum or knob and tube wiring?

[Gardenarian]

Doesn't sound ridiculous at all! When I was living alone, location and price were the main factors. I knew where I wanted to live and how much I could pay, and that narrowed it down a lot.

When I got married, my husband needed a place where he could practice (loud music.) So that became the biggest factor.

When we got a dog, we gave in and bought a house!

I hope you find your perfect spot!

[Miss Cellane]

If you decide to go with a larger complex, do check out the various apartment rating sites on the interwebs. Here's one: http://www.apartmentratings.com/ But Google "apartment rating sites" or "apartment reviews" to find more. Smaller, individually owned units probably won't show up, but the larger complexes will. You can also try Googling the name of the complex you are interested in to find out more about it.

[jennipurrr]

Oh yeah, I just thought about this...you probably want to google the address and also the complex name in google news. After you search you can select "archives" and that will pull up anything that ever appeared in your local paper. That might be an additional way to get a feel for the crime level or past incidents.

[redfox]

Also, check out bedbug reports for apartment buildings at http://bedbugregistry.com/

[frugalone]

Thank you, everyone.

The majority of apartments around this area are in older houses. We don't have a lot of complexes. I am guessing that the closer you get to a major metro area, the more common that would be.