Apartment questions.

[Farzam]

I know renting is pointless but this is purely for a short period of time in 3-4 months and i'm not really living there much. I'm basically paying $20/mo to sleep on a couch when i'm not on tour and save some money from getting my own.

I was just wondering if you guys knew of anything to watch out for/check out before getting an apartment. Many of you members of Zilvia seem to be level headed people and this is why i'm asking on here.

Also, should I ask about smoking in the apartment or just do it?

Is there any negotiating apartment prices?

Any and all information/websites you can give to benefit me/us would be appreciated, and you saying that renting is pointless is agreed with 100%...but this is a very temporary thing for me...idk about those 2.

I personally am not signing for the apartment, but i'm still ensuring that my good friends/roommates won't get funked up.


Thanks.

[lord_hypnos]

Farzam is a fag. :D

/hijack

[exitspeed]

You can smoke in your apartment if you want to.

Finding an apartment complex that would allow that short of a lease is going to be hard (at least her in Milwuakee area).

You usually can negotiate prices, but they're not going to be real flexible on such a short lease. So you might have to take whatever they offer you.

We (my sife and I) hated living in apartments. We lived in on of the most exclusive apartments in the area and we still had problems with people being assholes and inconsiderate. We really thought by moving in around doctors and lawyers etc that people would respect eachother more, but that was indeed not the case. We paid to get out of our lease early and bought a damn house.

Maybe try to find someone you know that has a spare room and rent from them (kinda sounds like your doing that now though).

[HalveBlue]

I'm with exitspeed.

Finding a decent place that will let you lease less than 6 months is going to be difficult. There are some places that will allow you to rent month to month, but they're a) shitholes b) mucho dinero.

You mentioned something about being on tour. Military? If so, some places might be more flexible.

[lord_hypnos]

He's talking about music tour.

[Agamemnon]

Check out apartmentratings.com for info and tenant reviews of the places you're looking into.

Are your friends staying while you go on tour? If so, I wouldn't worry about trying to find a place that has short-term(3-4 months) leasing options.

I wouldn't try to haggle with apartment prices. They're pretty much set in stone.

[S13 Charlie]

For the situation that you are looking for - craigslist will be the easiest solution. I don't know about your area, but in So Cal, there are tons of options where people need someone to pay rent for a few months. Good luck!

-C

[exitspeed]

I wouldn't try to haggle with apartment prices. They're pretty much set in stone.

Not entirely true. We negotiated ours. But that was with a 1 year lease.

[Agamemnon]

Not entirely true. We negotiated ours. But that was with a 1 year lease.I have gotten special pricing on my rent before, but that was due to move in specials or signing an extended lease. I have never heard of anyone being able to negotiate rent. In Reno, it's mostly marketprice or nothing at all.

[exitspeed]

I have gotten special pricing on my rent before, but that was due to move in specials or signing an extended lease. I have never heard of anyone being able to negotiate rent. In Reno, it's mostly marketprice or nothing at all.

We negotiated on the price of a 2 bedroom unit. Luckily the 1 bedrooms had a mile long waiting list so they were eager to rent out one of their 2 bedrooms.

[theicecreamdan]

First of all, renting is not pointless... you've gotta do what you gotta do.

Our place is month to month, and its actually one of the cheapest 3 bedroom apartments we could find in the area. They have only raised the rent $50 in the 8+ months we've been here. We don't have too many problems with the neighbors, mainly because nobody has a long term lease and the managers are pretty good about enforcing rules.

[exitspeed]

First of all, renting is not pointless... you've gotta do what you gotta do.


Your right about that. not eveyone has the time or money or credit to purchase a home. If your not gonna be in the same place for a couple years at least then it's probably not in your best interest anyway.

In Farzam's case renting is probably his best choice. It's just going to be more difficult,t hat;s all.

[Farzam]

I should have clarified slightly more, i'm sorry.

I'm living with them just for 3 months at least...to test waters...and have somewhere to sleep when not with my band on tour. Believe me, i'll get something in writing about it should they decide that 6 1/2 years of friendship isn't enough(hahaha).

They are aquiring a normal 12-month lease, and we've already got our eyes set on this what seems to be perfect apartment complex.

$680ish for 2 bedroom 2 bathroom, 24-hour fitness center, pool, utilities included, 3 pools, "car care center" woo wash my car and vacuum free!, etc.

And for the record, I'm saving up for a house right now. $120/month of my money goes into a no-load mutual fund and then I invest another $100 or so out of my paycheck and then I take any profits I make and put that into the mutual fund...and that $100 or so back into my pocket. I don't make enough money...I need a better job.

Thank you exitspeed for the rep and thank you Agamemnon for the link.

No thanks Lord_hypnos for having weak shit.

[jrmiller84]

Check out apartmentratings.com for info and tenant reviews of the places you're looking into.

Are your friends staying while you go on tour? If so, I wouldn't worry about trying to find a place that has short-term(3-4 months) leasing options.

I wouldn't try to haggle with apartment prices. They're pretty much set in stone.

I've used that website before, especially when 75% of the people in Gainesville live in apartments. You have to here with all the students.

Only problem with it is that

a.) the apartment complexes pad them with fake "positive" feedbacks. You can usually tell when they are doing it though and

b.) people only post when they have a problem, no one goes there to post positive feedback about a place. Or at least very few people do.

It has helped on some occasions to know if a place is a TOTAL shithole, but on regular to nice places it's always made me feel afraid to move in somewhere.

And yeah, your haggling ability depends on the market a lot of times. The demand here is so high that there is absolutely no haggling. A lot of times it's impossible to even get into most places.

[exitspeed]

I've used that website before, especially when 75% of the people in Gainesville live in apartments. You have to here with all the students.

Only problem with it is that



Problem i found with it is it doesn't have the apartments we used to live in = not updated enough to help out in every case.

[Farzam]

Edit: Nvm I found it.

So yeah.

The apartments I was looking at aren't too good on reviews. I'll probably just act like a lurker and go around randomly to houses and ask how they enjoy their apartment. That's weird, right?

[Agamemnon]

It's going to be hard to find a place that has a 100% rating. As stated elsewhere in the thread, most people are going to talk about the bad experiences. I find that this helps. Find a common theme within the complaints and decide if those complaints apply to you.

It's better than nothing at all.

[Farzam]

Yeah, the good majority are about lights being out and then there were a few about bugs...ehhh.

Then some say awesome management and then some say shitty management.

Whatever.

I know a few people that lived in 1 of the apartment complexes and see what they say and i'll make some friends in the other one...i'm sure there'll be a party on a Saturday night.