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Post by ucladavid on Mar 3, 2013 12:24:24 GMT -5
So I am finally renting an apartment for the first time. My previous places have been my parents' house, college dorms, own a condo, and own a house with my soon-to-be ex wife.
Anything I should know or watch out for?
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Post by Caliber on Mar 3, 2013 13:21:16 GMT -5
Personally, I prefer 1st floor. Reasons being; you can stomp around and not have to worry about people complaining. During the summer the heat will rise and your place will be a hell of a lot cooler. When you're moving, it's SO much easier. Few things worse than moving up flights of stairs.
If your apartment complex has a trash compactor, a place where they bring all the trash and such, don't get a place near there. Last apartment I had for 4 years, and was right by it. So everyday you'd have all this fucking racket of 10+ dumpsters being dumped in the compactor, and then compacted. It was so fucking loud.
Don't live near a high traffic area. My place was right next to a bigger section of parking, so people were always coming and going. The problem with that, is it kicks up a TON of fucking dust. This was something I didn't even realize until we moved. Where I'm at now, there's hardly any dust, if any at all. But at my old place, things would get COVERED in it in a short matter of time. I put 2+2 together and realized it was from dust & dirt being kicked up by the cars, as well as the maintenance crew. So, I was breathing that shit in for 4 years. No good.
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Post by Caliber on Mar 3, 2013 13:29:00 GMT -5
Oh, and something else, although chances are this won't happen.
While you're living there, if the company that owns the complex sells to new owners, make sure to ask if any policies have changed, or if new ones have been put in effect.
The last place I stayed changed owners the last year. Anyway, a few times I was a day late with the rent. It happens. So, you'd pay the rent, and then they'd late you pay the late fee later, so long as it was done before the month was up. Well, this place changed that and didn't say shit. So one month I was a day late, and I paid my rent on the second day. Well, they put that towards my rent and my late fee, so I was still $100 [yeah, $100 late fee for one day] short of the rent as far as they were concerned, and tacked on late fees for EVERY FUCKING DAY. Which was like, $50 a day for the first week, then $10 a day for each day afterward. So it kept piling up, and piling up, and they never said a goddamn word about it. I finally found out about it, and they refused to erase the late fee or help me at all.
This was a few months before I moved, and when other apartment places would call to check about me being a worthy tenant, they'd say no because of that stupid balance. It was complete bullshit.
I ended up getting a lake-shore house, so, all is well.
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Post by ucladavid on Mar 3, 2013 21:55:41 GMT -5
Thanks for the info!
When I owned a condo, I had a first floor and hated it for 2 reasons. 1) everyone can look inside while they walked by my place
2) I had very stompy neighbors upstairs. There was a 2-3 year old and every day he would run back and forth across the room.
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Post by Caliber on Mar 4, 2013 5:23:57 GMT -5
Yeah, those are the cons. My dad has a 3rd story apartment, and when I hang out there I realize that being so high up is pretty sweet. But whenever you want to move something, it's an honest to God nightmare, and in the summer time you absolutely bake. I guess it all boils down to what you hate more.
I lived in a house for the first 23 years of my life, and thought apartment living was death. But once I lived in one, I really dug it. I mean, you don't have to maintain your yard, no property taxes, no major up-keep, and if your neighbors suck, there's a good chance they won't be around for very long.
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Post by scottyflamingo on Mar 4, 2013 10:31:05 GMT -5
Take a look at the tenants walking around. Make sure they look pretty well put together. If you got a bunch of black guys with their pants hanging down, meth looking crackers, or Mexicans and low riders, fine someplace else.
Not saying look for a "White" neighborhood, but you need neighbors that have it together.
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Post by Caliber on Mar 4, 2013 11:44:22 GMT -5
Haha, I'm glad someone said it.
The place I was living had a ton of Mexicans, and it sucked. I'm about as far from racist as you can get, but Mexicans up here in Washington are extremely unfriendly, refuse to learn English, and don't give a shit about any of their neighbors. While I was living there I had a Mexican family live next to me the entire time. They had two cars that were broken down hogging up two prime parking spots for months. Their brat kids would make messes all over the place, even spray painting the building when maintenance left a can laying around. Not to mention they literally cram 10 of'em into a 2 bed-room apartment.
Really though, white, black, mexican, asian, whatever, the class that's the absolute worst is white trash. Now, when I say white trash, I don't just white people. Mexicans, black people, Asians, Jewish peeps, anyone can be white trash, and they're the absolute worse in society. Unfortunately, they love their apartment complexes. My parents lived in the same complex as me, and across from them for a while were some white trash folk in their 20's who would always stop me or my brother when we came over and tried to sell us shit, or beg for money. I wanted to end their lives.
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Post by scottyflamingo on Mar 4, 2013 13:04:05 GMT -5
I don't care where my neighbors come from or what race they are if they act decent. I had some neighbors that were immigrants from Poland and barely spoke English but were perfect.
Then I've had redneck white neighbors upstairs that had a 90 lb dog so I hear scratching and whining ALL day. Why do you have a big dog if you don't have a yard?? It is borderline cruelty.
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Post by ucladavid on Mar 4, 2013 22:04:08 GMT -5
When I lived in the condo, the people who owned their place were great and had no problems. It was almost all 1 bedrooms except for a few 2 bedrooms. 95% of the residents were great. It was singles in their 20s-40s, older singles/couples, and brand new families. Only a few families had more than 1 kid in the time I was there.
The people who rented were HORRIBLE!!! One place had drunks that would would drink from 9am to midnight 7 days a week outside on the patio and would scream or talk loudly constantly. We had to call the cops on them at least once a week. My next door neighbor was a "music" producer who would have his music turned up to 11 at 2am. It was so loud that the walls would shake. When the residents complained, he said that he had to work at that early in the morning. He also grew pot in his apartment. Cops arrested him after he played his music too loud one morning and saw the pot. Luckily both were only there for maximum 2 months each.
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Post by ucladavid on Mar 4, 2013 22:10:40 GMT -5
The reason why I'm moving into an apartment is because I don't want to deal with the fixing bullshit or HOA BS that I had with my condo. In my house over 18 months, we had the water heater leak into the walls, the dishwasher that leaked that caused black mold all behind the cabinets, and the shower-head that fell on my ex-wife's head as she was showering (too much weight on the shower pipe). When we did the home inspection, the inspectors saw no major problems and all the stuff happened after we moved in.
When I lived at the condo, there were 2 hostile takeovers by the residents because of the incompetence by the HOA board. So I am glad to be done with all of that.
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Post by The Fuj on Mar 7, 2013 2:26:21 GMT -5
Take a look at the tenants walking around. Make sure they look pretty well put together. If you got a bunch of black guys with their pants hanging down, meth looking crackers, or Mexicans and low riders, fine someplace else. Not saying look for a "White" neighborhood, but you need neighbors that have it together. HAHAHAHA!!! Thats so funny cuz when I lived in my apt... I wanna live with middle class white people. Ahhh Wickham Villiage, Melbourne Florida. Apt 112... affectionately known to the whores who came thru as "One Tweezie" I fucked many broads in that place. It got to the point where I was changing sheets like every 2-3 days. I just said fuck it for like a month and fucked on the bare mattress. I broke the box frame. I broke the head board. I burned the armoire. I never left Florida with that bedroom set. I can not wait to go back. The Apt complex was cool. |
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Post by Caliber on Mar 7, 2013 6:02:24 GMT -5
You really lived in Apartment 112? Where the playas at?
Yeah, I hear Florida is pretty much the capital of the World for pussy. Some say LA, but them bitches just trying to land an acting gig.
Florida bitches, they just wanna fuck. No kissin' & rubbin', no they got a husband that loves them. Don't need them all in their time...
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Post by ucladavid on Apr 27, 2013 18:51:30 GMT -5
I moved into my new apartment last monday and things are mostly unpacked. I have to get a few things here and there.
I am enjoying it. Neighbors are quiet. people that work here are very friendly and quick. I had an issue with my garage remote and it was fixed within 10 minutes. My older relatives don't like the climb to the 3rd story but it has been ok so far. Great neighborhood and close to everything.
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