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Picking an apartment
Creagan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm going to grad school in August (yay!) and will be getting an apartment. I've got it narrowed down to two places, but I'm having trouble deciding.
The first place is super close to a bus route, a place where a lot of grad students live, generally closer to campus. It doesn't allow animals unless they're registered service/therapy animals. It's fairly cheap. I've heard mixed things about the landlords, though.
The second place is $100 a month more expensive, but significantly nicer/cleaner. It's in a better neighborhood. Pets are allowed. It's far from campus & bus routes to the point where I'd need to get a car. It's mostly inhabited by older people & families. I have heard nothing but good things about the landlords.
Why I'm having a hard time deciding:
I've never picked an apartment independently like this before. So while I know what's important to consider, I don't know what should hold the most weight in my final decision. I'd love hearing from people with more life experience. There might be things I haven't even considered, but should.
The first place is super close to a bus route, a place where a lot of grad students live, generally closer to campus. It doesn't allow animals unless they're registered service/therapy animals. It's fairly cheap. I've heard mixed things about the landlords, though.
The second place is $100 a month more expensive, but significantly nicer/cleaner. It's in a better neighborhood. Pets are allowed. It's far from campus & bus routes to the point where I'd need to get a car. It's mostly inhabited by older people & families. I have heard nothing but good things about the landlords.
Why I'm having a hard time deciding:
- I have a guinea pig who will be coming with me. I could probably get her registered as a therapy animal if I had to. (There's a legit basis for it in my case history.) But there's a chance that'd mean I couldn't live in the 1st place.
- I really prefer to live someplace quiet, it looks more likely I'll have that at the second place.
- I very much prefer to use public transportation. Driving sucks, I'm not super good at it, and don't really know much about car maintenance. So that makes the first place's proximity to a bus route appealing.
- Public transportation would really limit the stores I can shop at, and how quickly/easily I can take my guinea pig to a vet. (Dinah's in good health, but she's six and older guinea pigs need more medical care.) So maybe I'd need a car anyway.
- If I live in the 1st place, I'll have a hell of a time getting my parents to OK my buying a car because of the proximity to a bus route. It's not a total impossibility (they gave my sister a car for free, so I have some leverage with that) but it'll involve a lot of arguing about why I should get to use a portion of leftover college money for that.
- While I am very used to living far away from my friends, it does kinda suck.
- While the first place is in a less-nice neighborhood, I used to live on the South Side, so comparatively I'd still feel pretty safe there. But I am taking classes mostly at night.
I've never picked an apartment independently like this before. So while I know what's important to consider, I don't know what should hold the most weight in my final decision. I'd love hearing from people with more life experience. There might be things I haven't even considered, but should.
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Check over the leases, and make sure you are considering all the fees when you look at the rent. The other place is $100 more expensive, but is it really $200 once you add in their trash fee, parking fee, pet fee, or other stupid fees? sometimes there's an invisible 50-100 dollars in stuff like that. Also consider insulation, if you are in a less temperate climate. Is the cheaper apartment older with shitty windows? Will it cost ten times more to heat/cool it? You'll also need renters insurance, its not expensive but it is a requirement for most places.
I also usually check pantries and stoves for mouse droppings. In my experience if an old building has mice and you cant get a cat, welcome to living with mice. keeping things spotlessly clean and setting traps does not mitigate your neighbors mouse population.
The car is also a huge added expense, I assume. You'll need to factor in a budget for gas and insurance, potential maintenance, and such. If 100 bucks in rent is a large factor, it seems like adding a car to the mix wouldn't be feasible, but I don't know the extent of the situation.
Cleanliness tends to be a sign of an easily accessible maintenance service.
If you need to spend a lot of time in your apartment, getting a quiet one around families can be great. I live far away from college kids now, and its a godsend. When we used to live closer to a campus, I hated the school year because drunk students having fun is maybe the most grating sound on the planet.
Driving is one of those things that will make you way less nervous when you are always doing it. Personally it took me a year of driving everyday and in different situations to feel like I had total control over my car, and having your own car if you've not had one, feels different.
-pet friendly
-quiet
-safer
-the only way you'll get more comfortable/better at driving is by driving
-if you can demonstrate the need for a car it's more likely your parents will help out
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
That said, it's just for school (so 4 years or less?) and if you could get your guinea pig registered as a therapy animal, then maybe? I've found however that "cheap" places get their money back in other ways - like keeping your deposit because they decided you hadn't actually vacuumed before you left even if you did vacuum - always, always do the walkthrough with the landlord/property manager when you leave, otherwise you probably won't be getting that deposit back.
Have you been unable to find any other places than those two? What i used to do when apartment hunting is put all the apartments in an excel spreadsheet and include things like does it have washer/dryer or do I need to bring my own or go to the laundry, do they allow pets, if they allow pets is there a pet rent and/or a one time fee? The spreadsheet would include all the things that were important to me - I had a field for pretty much everything I could think of, including asking them if the price goes up after the first year or if you can keep your introductory rent if you stay. That way I could see the pros and cons of each place right in front of me.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Even if there's no car payment, those related costs can add up to be a substantial chunk of change. If you pick the second place, you may be able to minimize some of these costs by doing your own maintenance (oil changes are easy, but can be messy if you're not careful, some places may restrict what you can do).
On the guinea pig front, how much does registering an animal as a therapy beast cost? I mean, if it's a negligible fee and marginal inconvenience than do that and take her out of the equation and see how the places compare then. She can be a therapy beast at the pets allowed apartment just as well as at the pets restricted place, right? I don't know if they get a plaque or a collar tag or what. And yeah, I think therapy beast is a lot more fun to say than therapy animal, so I'm sticking with that.
Like Cambiata mentioned, what's the laundry situation like in the places? In apartment? In the building? A laundromat down the street?
It may seem minor, but having your own machines in your apartment is amazing after you spend some time fishing other people's lint out of filter screens or waiting for a drier to be available.
The $100 difference is with estimated utilities and the cost of renting the washer/dryer, but does not include the car.
My parents would pay for registering my guinea pig as a therapy animal. (Dad doesn't want therapy stuff on insurance, and gave me anxiety in the first place, so he pays those bills.) The lease allows for service/therapy/support animals, but no "pets."
I'd buy the car and pay gas, I'd probably try to make my parents pay for insurance given that they cover that for my sister. No idea about repairs, or how I'd handle snow though.
Basically, I think what this comes down to is how awful is to own a car, spend more money, and be really far away from everybody in my program, VS. getting a guinea pig registered as a therapy animal, and dealing with a slightly less comfortable living situation. but potentially have more savings.
There are registries out there that will accept animals that fall outside of this specific legal definition, but remember they do not have the power of law behind them and business' can not be forced to accept them.
My advice: I think in the long run you'll be happier in the closer place. At least, I know that I would be.
Edit: Some reasons. A short and/or easy commute is a treasure, but you'll never really understand this until you don't have it, and living around people your own age with similar things to worry about is, once again, a treasure you never really understand until you don't have it anymore.
Edit 2: Also, think about the future and how living in the cheaper apartment can also mean a bigger savings account, which will bring even more options if/when you decide to buy instead of rent.
For me, living in a clean place in a nice neighborhood and feeling safe is hugely important. I'd go with the more expensive option if you're still able to afford it after you factor in all your other expenses.
I have dealt with a 2 hour commute before (an hour of train plus an hour of walking) one way to college. The commute from both places is incredibly short comparatively. And I have not lived near people my own age for three years now, so I am pretty used to it at this point.
At the 1st place, it's a 20 minute walk to class without the bus. I'm just assuming I'd be taking the bus because my classes are in the evening, and the bus would probably be safer. 2nd place, I'd have to drive.
I mean, "draw a little floor plan to make sure your furniture fits and you know how to efficiently use your electric outlets" is a really good idea... but I would skip that step and just deal with it if I could not pay for a vehicle.
Meh, the place I lived in that didn't allow pets wouldn't let me have any. Not even a fish.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"