Good apartment complexes... is it a hopeless search?

[hans030390]

My best experience with apartments was through a small, family-owned business. You wouldn't have been able to find them online unless you saw one of their signs near their complexes and directly looked them up (i.e. weren't found on common renting sites). They had some new units, but I went with their cheap, old models. They were great for the money, quiet, and I just simply never had any issues.

My next apartment was some "luxury" apartment from a company that had OK-but-not-great reviews. The place was OK at best and certainly overpriced. Service was OK, though not the best. The places were already starting to fall apart, and they were less than 15 years old. Makes me wonder about the quality of most of these other new, "luxury" places going up for rent. I did not want to stick around with them...such a rip off.

My current place is through an agency with absolutely horrid reviews online. Yet, so far, it's been smooth sailing. We made sure to read the lease carefully and wrote down the smallest details in our move-in inspection (seems they hit you hardest when you move out, so we are going to be very careful and prepared when that time comes). The place is a house built in the late 50s, and it is holding up better than the "luxury" apartments despite having a lot of original hardware (some stuff is updated, like the stove and fridge, but some of it is hilariously outdated, like our pink toilets and sinks). At this point, I'm more worried about a nice area and things just working right...doesn't have to be nice or pretty. The fact that this old house is still rocking the original cabinets in near perfect condition (still an ugly style), and the "luxury" cabinets from the apartment were literally falling off the walls and had doors falling off from regular use, made me set some priorities straight in my life and mind.

Anyway, long story short, here are my lessons for you:

1. Good luck. Not saying you won't find something you like, but it will be a PITA and may take you living in a few places you dislike before you find something you do like.

2. Don't always trust online reviews. Angry and unreasonable people tend to be the most vocal in these situations. That said, don't ignore reviews either...it's a hard balance.

3. Accept that you will likely never get everything you want through renting. Just trying to set your expectations at a reasonable level!

4. "Luxury" and many other nice looking or new apartments are usually a rip off.

Seriously, good luck. At least living in those "luxury" apartments for a year gave me time to identify a place I really liked. Even then, there are much worse things in life, so be thankful for that.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

So, I am not sure if the question has been definitively answered, so I'll ask again: has anyone updated the scroll yet?

I can't believe how hard Trident is making this. Find a job and move to where the job is. It is your first job out of school, not a lifelong commitment FFS. Once you get experience, you can move wherever you want.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

Compared to what I had in Seattle, I feel spoiled. I knew what I had was good but holy shit... I had the best thing ever. I wish I didn't have to leave there... it was so nice.

one page later:

Because Seattle sucks. The people are very cold and hostile. Read Seattle Freeze.

 

[purbeast0]

op you seem to be one of those people who just overthinks the shit out of things

 

[HendrixFan]

There are some cheaper apartments along 360 by 2222, which is reasonably close to Mopac and 183. The housing out there is pricey but there are a more limited number of apartment dwellers in the area so it pushes the pricing down. The apartments are older but because of the area they aren't ghetto (dangerous). I had a friend living there paying considerably less than me down here in south Austin.

I know you aren't really the best at socializing but splitting a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment (or rented house) is a good option to start out. It would probably be a good buffer until you become more familiar with the city and really see where you'd like to be.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

op you seem to be one of those people who just overthinks the shit out of things

We had a joke at a previous job of mine. There were 2 guys (a manager and the Unix admin) who would try to engineer every possible exception known to man into their solutions rather than using the 80/20 or 90/10 rule. The joke was that if you put those 2 in a room with 2 slices of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a knife, and a notepad, they'd come out with a 25 page manual on how to make a peanut butter sandwich. I believe Trident is in the same mold as these folks, except he whines more.

 

[Phoenix86]

My friend who I'll be staying with for two weeks starting next week lives in Dallas. So I would probably move there. I also have a friend in Austin and she's been asking me to come check it out because she thinks it's better than Dallas.

But if rent is over 1k or so I would need a good raise if I move. The thing about Philly is the stupid city wage tax of 3% and it comes out of your check weather you live in the county or work in the area. It's such a pain and because apartments where I work are too expensive I put up with the commute.

You can stay under 1K for a 1br apartment in a decent place down here. Little less if you find a good deal, little more if you want nicer.

I'd consider Austin as well if you want to move down here, both areas are nice but different. Dallas has the advantage of the metroplex, which is also varied depending on the area (Fort Worth is really different than Dallas, but only 30 minutes away).

 

[alkemyst]

I think luxury apartment buildings are beyond my budget at the moment. Unless I start netting well over $5000/month (In Austin that would require a gross salary of at least $82k/yr) then those are going to be out of my reach. $1500/month for a 1 bedroom is just not something I'm feeling up for at this point. If you're splitting it with someone then no big deal but I'd be swallowing that whole cost. I'd rather pay no more than $1000/month and use the extra $6k/yr to get furniture and pay for flights. Even then, I'd like to find a decent studio (space for bedroom/living to be about 15x20, ideally) for ~$700/month and save even more... again so that I could fly around the country and spend that money on some stuff I've been wanting. It would also be nice to have extra cash for savings.

That's the problem, if good places cost $1500; then something less than that will not be good.

A decent 2 bedroom when I was renting 10+ years ago was around $1500...that was an apartment not a townhouse/house.

 

[sze5003]

You can stay under 1K for a 1br apartment in a decent place down here. Little less if you find a good deal, little more if you want nicer.

I'd consider Austin as well if you want to move down here, both areas are nice but different. Dallas has the advantage of the metroplex, which is also varied depending on the area (Fort Worth is really different than Dallas, but only 30 minutes away).

Yea I have family and friends living there in nice areas for under 1k. Takes a bit of a drive to get to some places but that's fine. My biggest concern would be finding a job down there while I'm still up here in PA. Might just stay here one more year then try to apply down there.

 

[MrPickins]

There are some cheaper apartments along 360 by 2222, which is reasonably close to Mopac and 183. The housing out there is pricey but there are a more limited number of apartment dwellers in the area so it pushes the pricing down. The apartments are older but because of the area they aren't ghetto (dangerous). I had a friend living there paying considerably less than me down here in south Austin.

That's a good call, but he definitely won't be doing much walking around there. Nice area, though.

I know you aren't really the best at socializing but splitting a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment (or rented house) is a good option to start out. It would probably be a good buffer until you become more familiar with the city and really see where you'd like to be.

:thumbsup:


Trident, if you don't want to commute, you should look for a job first, then find a place close to that. Otherwise, you may end up living on the north side and commuting all the way south for work...

 

[Thebobo]

https://austin.craigslist.org/apa/

 

[xeemzor]

So, I am not sure if the question has been definitively answered, so I'll ask again: has anyone updated the scroll yet?

I can't believe how hard Trident is making this. Find a job and move to where the job is. It is your first job out of school, not a lifelong commitment FFS. Once you get experience, you can move wherever you want.

So is TridenT officially now the next Jerboy?

 

[TridenT]

one page later:

The apartment was great and had a nice location. It was that Seattle sucked as a city overall. There is no contradiction there.

 

[CZroe]

I've been in my apartment 2 weeks and it's all the little things that you start to notice after that make you hate the place.

There is only a dead bolt and a chain on the door, so you can't leave without your company leaving the place insecured unless you have an extra key for them to take. This is so they have less to re-key when a unit goes back on the market.

The maintenance staff routinely paints over the smoke detectors even though they clearly state "do not paint" on the front. They paint right over the coax jacks too, but I see that everywhere.

I have to breathe trash smell when I step outside all the way down to my car because there is no "back way" out for carrying leaky trash to the dumpster and the covered stairs do not get rained on. They pressure washed it so that I wouldn't know it as a new resident, but the smell returned two days later. They couldn't have been very thorough in the first place since all the wasp nests are still there and active. This needs to be a weekly thing and they need to warn residents to double-bag leaky trash. We wouldn't tolerate that when I enforced code on the residents at a luxury high-rise im San Diego, but people probably think it's different because that was a carpetted hall between their unit and the trash chute.

Roaches inside a completely empty/clean apartment with no one living there? Probably due to filthy neighbors that will continue being a problem. Gah! There was even a pest control notice saying they stopped by the next day but none of their services were checked on the notice.

A proximity card and no clicker for the gate means rolling my window down when I come home every day. It rains too much in GA to do it that way if you aren't going to have an awning over the drive-up card scanner. My stuff keeps getting wet.

They lock the office when they leave to show units, take lunch, etc, but you need to go through there to get to the pool! Maybe I just didn't notice the card scanner but it's still pretty annoying.

They never do what they say they'll do. They never came back to collect the washer and dryer we aren't paying for and they also never brought the drip pan for the stove that they promised. That burner looks like it needs to be replaced too.

Previous tennant knocked the bath towel rack off the wall? Replace it with a hand towel rack! Who cares if it's "too small?!" Previous tennant poked a hole in the exterior door with a knife? Paint over it! Who cares if it "looks ghetto?!" Make sure to get a little spray in the viewport too.

I feel sorry for my roommate who says he doesn't want to go through the hassle of moving again for at least a few years, but I will not be renewing my lease in a year. No sir. He'll have to find another roommate if he's going to stay.

 

[KlokWyze]

All the mgmt crews of apartment complexes are dealing with a lot of shitty tennants so they tend to be assholes. A lot of turn over @ places like this. Most reviews are by people that take enforcement of the rules personally. Trust me, in some cases the management will do things out of personal revenge if you get remotely on their bad side. Hence the negative reviews.

That particular rental "sector" is full of shadiness. It's all about contract manipulation. It goes both though of course.

(sorry slightly off topic.... lol)

Basically, don't have ANY expectations that you will be happy when trying to save money renting. You have to pay quite a bit and you will still have a bunch of issues you won't like about the complex.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yup, this is why I bought a house when I moved to the ATX.

 

[D1gger]

We had a joke at a previous job of mine. There were 2 guys (a manager and the Unix admin) who would try to engineer every possible exception known to man into their solutions rather than using the 80/20 or 90/10 rule. The joke was that if you put those 2 in a room with 2 slices of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a knife, and a notepad, they'd come out with a 25 page manual on how to make a peanut butter sandwich. I believe Trident is in the same mold as these folks, except he whines more.

TridenT's manual would be 25 pages about the reasons he couldn't make a peanut butter sandwich.

 

[Ns1]

TridenT's manual would be 25 pages about the reasons he couldn't make a peanut butter sandwich.