I can't afford the perfect apartment. In what areas should I compromise to get something halfway decent?

July 5, 2009 11:28 AM

I can't afford the perfect apartment. In what areas should I compromise to get something halfway decent?

I am apartment-hunting again. I am sick of being so far from the subway (I don't drive) and feel like my social life would improve dramatically if I were able to go home after work, drop my stuff, eat something and then go out again without facing a lengthy bus wait ot 15-minute walk through snow, rain, ice etc. I have also had some issues with my present apartment that leave me in need of an upgrade. Here is my issue, apartments are really costly in my area and I cannot afford a great apartment in a great area. So I will have to compromise. Here are my three choices:

1) Go way downtown. I can get a bigger apartment for a cheaper price if I go way downtown, but this is not practical given where I work and where I may be working in the future if I change jobs. Also, it's too far from my mother's place, which means I would lose the occasional use/access I have to her car for Costco trips, moving large objects etc.

2) Get a much smaller apartment but be able to stay in the areas I want. This would mean I would have to get rid of furniture, which might be costly to buy again if I move later. Also, it would mean I can't do things like get an extra freezer (a long-standing goal of mine, so I can cook ahead and save money on my grocery bill) or have people over (another long-standing goal, the whole reason I am moving is a better social life and better subway access).

3) Get another basement apartment. I am in one now and have had a few issues (flood, critters, subject to capricious whims of landlady e.g. she sells the house, she goes away for whole summer etc.) But the big pro here would be much more space for much less money, and things like cable, laundry, utilities and internet are very often included.

I am in a basement now and it's an okay one in spite of the issues. I had really been ready for a non-basement (the flood last summer was really traumatizing!) But now that I see what sort of places are available at my price range and where, I have to admit that the lure of So! Much! Space! is tempting me yet again. Everyone I have talked to says another basement would be a mistake, and I suppose it might be. But the reality is that unless I over-extend myself financially, I have to compromise somewhere! So given my options, what would be the best choice I can make to find something half-decent?

posted by JoannaC to home & garden (25 comments total)

Is there some reason you aren't considering a roommate?
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 11:30 AM on July 5

Have you looked at apartments over (non-food) stores?
posted by x46 at 11:38 AM on July 5

I assume from your use of subway you're talking about NYC....but are you talking about NYC? You'll get more helpful, specific answers if you specify. And you might want to add that as a tag.

In any case, I second St. Alia's suggestion about looking for shared housing. This is how lots of people - grown-up people, even, not students - afford housing in expensive urban areas.
posted by rtha at 11:39 AM on July 5

I'd go for option two - less possessions = freedom.

Unless the furniture cannot be replaced such as an heir loom get rid.

As for lack of space hampering your social life - you can entertain on a small scale even if your space is small such as have a couple of friends over to eat and whatch a film or such. Grant you you'd struggle if you want to have over large group but you'll just have to meet them outside your home which you'd be much happier to do because you're more central and it's easier to get out and back home...

And being as you'll spend more time outside your home you'll probably eat out more as well and thus need to cook less at home...so lack of freezer no longer an issue.
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:43 AM on July 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

It seems to be Toronto, and I think your experience of basement apartments is very much area dependent - the style of house makes a huge difference to the pleasant/unpleasant element of basement living.

I've just spent a LONG time house hunting in Toronto (for rental) and it was pretty soul destroying (there is an awful lot of hideous, unliveable crap out there) but just keep looking, is my advice. In my experience space and convenience go a long way to a good quality of life, but no-one can the the same sacrifices as you are looking for without deep knowledge of how much you value them. A huge variety of places turned up over time.

But, Toronto specific answers:

Being near the subway rocks. It makes (obviously) anything else near the subway easily accessible in any season. Transfers to streetcars are also excellent. I haven't used buses in Toronto at all.

In terms of practicalities, being near your mum seems pointless if it really is an occasional need for the use of her car. The big element with housing for me is finding the most annoying/frequent compromises that are involved and factoring them in. In my first place here I went right downtown as I'd prefer a 40 minute commute than not having restaurants and the city available to me when I am not working. I have literally hundreds of restaurants and bars within easy walking or transit reach. If I lived where I worked, there'd be about 4 crap places.

What is most important to you? What annoys you most about where you are now, and weight it off against the alternatives.
posted by Brockles at 11:47 AM on July 5

I would go for the smaller apartment. My bet is that you don't use 60% of the furniture you have, except for storage for things you will never use/look at again. When my husband and I were dating we lived in a 400 sq foot apartment and hosted dinner parties all of the time - including a 20 person make your own sushi party, Your space is what you make it.
posted by a22lamia at 11:49 AM on July 5

The way you word your question, it sounds like you're seeking validation for your decision to live in a basement apartment.
posted by mikewas at 12:05 PM on July 5

I second Brockle's suggestion of living downtown near the TTC if it is indeed Toronto we're talking about, based on your previous questions. Downtown is much more walkable and you'd have better access to restaurants, bars, shopping, etc. which goes with your desire for more of a social life. Especially if you are able to find a cheaper and bigger apartment in the downtown area, since in my experience it's usually the other way around.
posted by pravit at 12:16 PM on July 5

Wait... you live alone, in an apartment? You borrow your mothers car to go to Costco? and you want to BUY A FREEZER so you can save money on your grocery bill by cooking ahead. This just sounds a little convoluted. You live alone. You don't need a freezer and you don't need to go to Costco. You don't need to borrow your mum's auto. Drop those off your decision matrix.

Furniture is not the deciding factor in having people over. Having friends is the factor. I've lived in dank dreary basements and had people over. I've lived in gorgeous lofts and never had anyone over. Right now I have a lovely home in Denver proper, about two miles south from the down town core and I barely have had anyone over. Don't put the cart before the horse.

Get a smaller place closer to the city.
posted by FlamingBore at 12:36 PM on July 5

From Ms. Vegetable:

Option 2. It's eons better not to live in a basement (speaking as a former basement renter). It's also eons better to live close to things you want/go to frequently (like work, speaking as a former 3 hour daily commuter).

Get rid of some furniture. Furniture is easily attainable in the future through sites like freecycle, craigslist, and yard sales. I have at various points entertained people around a coffee table in the middle of my living room and used pillows and cushions for seats. Nobody seemed to mind.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 12:44 PM on July 5

Yes, it's Toronto :) My main issue right now is access to the subway. I want to be able to stand at my front door and SEE the subway from there. I am currently a 10-15 minute walk and that's too far at night or when it's snowing.
posted by JoannaC at 12:55 PM on July 5

I want to be able to stand at my front door and SEE the subway from there.

That's incredibly unrealistic, to my mind, if you still want to get any sort of decent place for the money. While a 15 minute walk is not that bad, in my book, (you just don't have the right clothes/boots if it's an issue)* I can see wanting to be a 5 minute walk from the subway. To be as specific as you are gives an enormously small area in which to work. The fact that you consider yourself 10-15 minutes away from the subway as 'far' makes me laugh, to be honest. I am possibly a 6-7 minute walk from my nearest station (9 according to google), and I consider myself living almost on top of it. I can't see how to live much closer without living either on a very busy road or in a nasty apartment.

I think you are being too strict with your criteria, there.

*Mind you, I usually walk anywhere that is less than two subway stops no matter what the weather. It's really not that big a deal.
posted by Brockles at 1:10 PM on July 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

I think Toronto is liveable when your apartment is: above ground, has lots of windows, and is less than 5 minutes' walk from Bloor.
Try the areas around Bloor at Ossington, Christie, Dufferin, or Dovercourt. (Lansdowne is cheap, but is too scuzzy, in my opinon).
There are also some cheapish apartments near St George or Dupont Stations.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 1:12 PM on July 5

Get a smaller place. Put your stuff in storage if you don't want to get rid of it. I'm not sure about prices there, but around here a smaller place will save many hundreds a month while a storage space will run $20-40. And what you save on electricity, heating, etc will cover that.

How much space do you need to have people over? I have a 12x15 foot living room and there is seating for 8. 12 if I break out the folding chairs. Another 6 if I use the floor cushions. And that's just people who want to sit. I've been to numerous enjoyable parties in studio apartments.

Forget about a freezer. Instead go to the farmer's market and shop the local ethnic markets. Better fresher cheaper.
posted by Ookseer at 1:26 PM on July 5

Yeah, go for the smaller place. Unless you have young kids or a big dog, no one really *needs* that much space. Being in a neighborhood you like will make you happy whether you're inside or outside your place; living in a bad or isolated neighborhood will make your life miserable in more ways than you can imagine.
posted by drjimmy11 at 1:32 PM on July 5

Don't forget the streetcars - I lived on King about 50m from the streetcar and I found it went pretty much anywear I wanted to go, including into the subway station nearby, pretty much all hours of the day (same thing applies on Queen).

Don't forget a basement across the street from the subway may very well sound and feel like.... well, a basement right next to the subway.

As for option one - I find a lot of neighbourhoods aren't as bad as people say, but there are places where I wouldn't feel safe coming and going after dark which would put a far bigger damper on things than a ten minute walk, I would think.
posted by scrute at 1:56 PM on July 5

Get a smaller space. You can cook ahead for one person and put into the normal size freezer that is part of your fridge. (Unless you are cooking for a large family on a daily basis, a normal fridge/freezer is always good enough.) Also: the occasional convenient trip to Costco (which is also a complete waste for a person living alone - you never need that much stuff) is not a good justification for any other inconvenience, particularly in where and how you live.

I don't understand what version of Toronto exists where apartments are cheaper downtown than they are farther out. I think perhaps you need to do more research?

I live at Yonge & College. I can see the subway station from my living room window. So proximity is possible.

Can you tell us what part/end of the city you do want to live in? North York? East end? West end? That could help.

Also: are you willing to get a roommate? That would have a huge impact on your budget.
posted by Kololo at 1:57 PM on July 5

Move to a smaller place and determine the cost of storage relative to the value of your furniture: say you envision yourself moving to a bigger place in five years, if you have some valuable or family heirloom furniture pieces, it may be worth it to store them for $50/month (assuming the value/sentimental value of the furniture is greater than $3000); if you're talking about a $400 Ikea couch, sell it and don't look back.

RE: the freezer. If you're cooking for yourself on a weekly basis, you probably don't need an extra freezer. Look for good quality, stacking containers intended for use in the freezer. Cook everything on, say, Sunday, divvy it up into single-portion containers, and you're in business. It might be a squeeze in a regular-size fridge's freezer, but it'll work.
posted by Meg_Murry at 2:00 PM on July 5

I don't understand what version of Toronto exists where apartments are cheaper downtown than they are farther out.

Totally. I forgot about that bit as I think I registered it before I realised it was about Toronto. I can't get my head around that logic at all.

If you're cooking for yourself on a weekly basis, you probably don't need an extra freezer... It might be a squeeze in a regular-size fridge's freezer, but it'll work.

Totally agree. I have a standard fridge freezer (with a separate door, rather than an ice maker compartment) and I can make a lot of food last a long time with minimum expenditure and always have plenty of food in. I rarely, if ever, fill my fridge up unless it is a shelf full of beer and I cook pretty well and relatively healthily (no pre-prepared meals or anything like that). For one person, a standard fridge is plenty, and the convenience of the city will mean you can get fresh stuff regularly enough that it'd probably be preferable anyway.
posted by Brockles at 2:06 PM on July 5

I'm in Vancouver, and basically had the same problem. I chose option #2. I made the right choice. It's freeing to not have a lot of stuff; getting rid of all of it just feels liberating. If you need to buy it again in the future, so be it. Chances are you'll want new stuff by then anyway. My main complaint is a still a lack of storage, but it makes you think about every little thing you buy. I've saved many a dollar on things I wanted to buy but didn't for the simple reason I have no where to put it!

To chime in on the pile on above as well -- You don't need the freezer, there is still plenty of space in the one in your fridge. And dear god, what are you buying at Costco that requires that much space? The stuff I buy at Costco isn't anything in mass quantities; more like cheap yoga pants and books.
posted by cgg at 2:45 PM on July 5

Totally #2. You are not a suburbanite soccer mum; you don't need a Costco membership or a dedicated freezer. Freecycle your stuff, and do the sparse, airy, minimalist studio thing.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:09 PM on July 5

> Put your stuff in storage if you don't want to get rid of it.

This can also be a really good way to figure out what you actually need. If in 6 months you can't remember what you had stored, you can probably ditch it.
posted by Decimask at 3:11 PM on July 5 [1 favorite has favorites]

By 'downtown' I mean Bloor/Lansdowne as compared with mid-town, as in Bayview/Eg where I work :) I appreciate all the comments. I'm going to keep looking :)
posted by JoannaC at 4:05 PM on July 5

I'm glad you're going to keep looking. I'd also encourage you to really pay attention, in the most objective way you can, to how your friends live, and what they have to say about it. Also, take a really close look at the lifestyle you see within the apartments you are viewing. My impression is that you've created a set of 'facts' that aren't really really true and/or relevant (ie. that you need a separate freezer in order to cook ahead for one person, that downtown is cheaper, that you can't entertain in smaller space, and that occasional easy access to your parents car is more beneficial than living in a location you like.)

Talk to a person paying $2000 a month for a 550 square foot downtown condo, and see how much they entertain, cook ahead, and visit their parents. I bet all of your assumptions about your will prove to be irrelevant.
posted by Kololo at 8:58 PM on July 5

Tightwad Gazette had an article about the value of a single person having a freezer in the city. She actually recommended it. Apparently many apartment fridges had crappy freezers plus the whole make-ahead-and-freeze in mass quantities made a diff. Another point it made was that if one did not have a car it was easier to take a taxi (or borrow a vehicle I suppose) and make a single trip to the store rather than always struggle to take groceries home while walking or on public transportation.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 11:37 AM on July 6