Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with apartments

One more week to find a place

squidlarkin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:01:42 -0800

Is apartment moving always this hard? For everyone? I feel like I must be missing something. Apologies for this vague, panicked, ranty "question" but I really would like to know what I'm doing wrong and how to avoid this in the future. As far as I can tell, the process goes like this:

-Most openings don't start getting posted until a month before the move-in date.

-Your existing landlord needs to be notified in advance, so you're already committed to moving out.

-The vast majority of places require a $30-$50 credit check fee per person, non-refundable, guaranteeing nothing, before you're even in the running. Which severely limits how many places you can apply to unless you have a lot of money to throw away.

-At least four other people have applied at each apartment. Some of them have better credit and references. Eventually you find out that the places you applied at have all been giving to someone else.

-You start checking prices of self storage units and calling in your couch-surfing favors and hope next month goes better.

Except I don't think the last step is part of the standard procedure for most people. So what am I missing?

DIY-Filter: Attaching sliding-door tracks to hardwood floors without damaging the floor?

andrewmarc — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:33:33 -0800

DIY-Filter: Any suggestions on how to attach a sliding-door track to a hardwood floor without damaging the floor? The main living room in my apartment is huge, with a large alcove attached to it. Having just moved in, it's mostly used for storage now... but it's the perfect size for a small home office.

I've been through a series of ideas about how to do this, and the one that seems the best is to install a frosted-plexiglass sliding door there - this would allow the light through but still make a more permanent barrier than, say, a curtain.

My issue is that the sliding door needs a track on the bottom. Think shower door or closet door - similar to that. The owner (a friend) just had the floors redone, so I'd rather not screw the track directly into the floor if I can avoid it. I could conceivably screw a flat board across the opening and then attach the track to that - which would allow me to make fewer holes in the floor. Any other thoughts? Some sort of super-velcro? Some sort of epoxy that is easily removed with the right solvent?

Also - barndoor-type tracks (that attach to the ceiling) aren't really an option in this space... and even if I could tweak the plans a bit (which I could), the plexiglass would still need some sort of guide on the bottom, wouldn't it?

Cheap, nice studio within 30-45 mins of Manhattan?

shivohum — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 07:05:49 -0800

Where can you get a clean, safe studio apartment, if possible in a cool area with cheap good restaurants, for under $700/month or less, within 30-45 minutes via mass-transport of Manhattan?

Apartment rent being consolidated: stay or go?

amicamentis — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:31:51 -0800

My landlady is going to start charging rent by apartment ($2000/month for all) rather than by room ($530/month for me). Is it worth it to stay? Backstory: I moved to NYC a month and a half ago. I found my current apartment in Jamaica, Queens from a guy on Craigslist. He had advertised it as $530/month, and I would only be responsible for my room (aka if another room was vacant or someone else was late, then that wasn’t my problem). I appreciated the lack of lease because I wasn’t sure how long I would stay there. The Craigslist guy (Bryan) lived in an adjacent room. He is in another country for the summer and hard to get a hold of.

The landlady is a Chinese woman whose English is very poor. Her daughter’s English is fine. I had them approach me when I returned home the other day and told me that since they’ve had issues with other roommates not paying rent (Bryan hasn’t paid for August, these two Ukranian boys in the other room had people in the empty room without telling the landlady, forcing her to clean it again) that now she is going to switch how people pay and charge $2000 for the whole apartment each month, rather than require individual payments.

This sucks. The Ukranians are moving out in early September and the other room is currently vacant. Clearly Bryan is not a trustworthy renter and I do not want to be stuck with his financial problems. However, $530/month is very good for this area, and I also have my own bathroom/two closets in my room that I do not want to give up if I move.

I paid the landlady one month’s security deposit when I moved in and she is allowing me to stay at the same price until October 1st.

Question, at last: based on others’ experiences, what should I keep in mind if I stay? Would Craigslist be the best way to find new roommates? Should I have them sign a lease? Advance deposits? I would rather not be responsible for others in this apartment, but if anyone has some good systems for dealing with this I will listen avidly.

Also, I would rather not have answers relating to lawyers or be in any way contentious. I do not want to be on bad terms with the landlady, and I can definitely understand her frustration. However, I just moved in and have been a model tenant. I don’t like being faced with this difficulty.

MKE rental advice

sulaine — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:31:47 -0800

Advice for finding a rental (house or apt) in Milwaukee? We are looking for a 2+ br rental in Bay View (preferred) or south of there (St. Franics, Cudahy, South Milwaukee). I am scouring Craigslist, but that seems to be the only place I see anything. And there are quite a few Bay View places listed, but we have a dog and a few other requirements and haven't seen anything we want yet.

I have tried newspaper ads (MKE, and Sherpherd Express, Journal Sentinel) but not much is listed. We are doing this from Madison, and have been driving over maybe once/week. I have driven around looking for signs, but that is somewhat less practical since we are usually just in town for the day.

Should I be looking anywhere else for ads? Any other advice?

How best to find a place to live in Austin?

malthas — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:50:35 -0800

MovingFilter: My girlfriend and I have a trip to Austin planned next week to find an apartment for our upcoming move there. Do you think it would be possible to find a place in the 4 days we'll be there, or is that a pipe dream? The skinny: moving (hopefully) in mid-July to Austin, TX. I'll be a grad student at UT and she's looking for a graphic design job. We've been looking for a while for a good apartment, and it's proven almost impossible to find anything really useful over the internet. Most of the places that have websites are way too expensive for us, and if not then they're really far away from town.

So while we've been trying to do research, it hasn't proven too fruitful. Is it unreasonable, then, to try to just have a few places in mind and other than that sort of look around for "For Rent" signs? (keeping in mind that we have a relatively short time frame)

Obviously, this is our first major move. Any advice would be appreciated!

Help me choose an apartment

sondrialiac — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:20:14 -0800

I am headed to law school in Brooklyn with a full ride and a great housing offer-- subsidized housing for 3 years. My partner and I can pick between two apartments, but we can't decide which we should take. One Bedroom
$1500/month
300 square feet
All but electricity included
Gorgeous historic brownstone building on beautiful residential street (Brooklyn Heights, trees, the works)
2nd floor of a 5 story walk-up
Laundry in basement
No A/C

Two Bedroom
$2040 a month
500 square feet
No utilities included
Great location, steps from subway and school, not particularly attractive street (bland, commercial, Downtown Brooklyn)
11th floor of an elevator building, GREAT view, Statue of Liberty, etc.
Laundry in basement
Central A/C

What would you do? Why? What factors should I be considering here? I can't view the actual apartments.

Thank you for any insight, opinions, anything that will help me brainstorm.

Is finding an apartment in NYC without going there to see it an option?

makonan — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:42:02 -0800

Relocating from St. Louis to New York (Queens/LI border). I need to find an apartment to move into July 1st. How screwed am I? Here's the lowdown:
After four months of interviewing and multiple flights and hotel stays, I've finally been hired for this job. It starts in five weeks. Due to prior commitments including two out-of-state weddings, my current job, and studying/sitting for my board exam, I really, really do not have the time to fly out there for a fifth time this calendar year to hit the pavement looking for an apartment. I'm seriously at a point where I basically need to just pick something based off photos, send over a wad of money and then haul myself and my stuff there at the end of the month. The whole prospect of apartment hunting in the NYC area is daunting enough as it is, but am I making it even worse by trying to do it remotely? Am I fooling myself by thinking I can trust a property management company or a broker to find something for me? I've heard enough Craigslist horror stories that I'm not really sure I should bother looking at it anymore. Am I wrong to dismiss it as a viable option at this point? I have a few phone numbers for property management companies and will start making calls tomorrow, but I'd love to hear from anyone who has been through this and can give me any tips, or tell me that there's no way in hell this is going to work, or anything.

Is apartmentratings.com accurate?

Loto — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:06:52 -0800

How accurate is apartmentratings.com? I've been browsing the site, looking at properties I plan on visiting soon and I've been very surprised at how poorly everything is rated. Is this site accurate, or should I take what is posted there with a grain of salt?

Where to leave near Germantown, MD?

Loto — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:49:03 -0800

Where are good areas to look for apartments within driving distance of Germantown, MD? So, I'm a PA native and there is a chance I will be starting work in Germantown, MD soon. As such, I need an apartment but I have no idea where to look. I'm a new grad getting an entry level job, so the cheaper the better.

I'd like to find a place within walking distance of lots of stuff, namely bars and gyms, if at all possible.

Finally, what resources could I use online to find apartments in the suggested areas?

Noisefilter (possibly literally?)

synecdoche — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:10:33 -0800

Is there anything we can do to keep our apartment a bit quieter? My girlfriend and I just moved into a new apartment, which we like very much. However, there is one problem: noise. We're on the top floor, but we can hear quite a bit of what our neighbour directly below us is up to.

I don't think he is (often) being excessively loud. For instance, right now, he's talking on the phone below me at what seems to be a reasonable volume, but I can still hear him and even, occasionally, make out the odd word. When his computer makes noise (such as when he gets an instant message on MSN) I know about it too. Things are a bit more frustrating when he listens to music. While there have been a couple of times when he has turned up the volume, for the most part it is, I think, fairly reasonable; it just seems as though the floor between our apartment and his is very, very thin. (I am not sure how much of what we do he can hear.)

I'm not sure what we can do. The floor is well-padded carpet through most of the apartment, though it is an older building. Most of the time he isn't really doing anything wrong, and it isn't as though we can ask him to not talk on the phone or ever listen to music.

Any tips on dealing with this? We're both grad students who do work at home, and would love things to be a bit better than "just tolerable." We're in Southern Ontario, if it matters. Thanks.

2 + 2 = 22

TryTheTilapia — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:13:24 -0800

How does one delicately go about bringing up a huge discrepancy in the listed square footage vs. the actual square footage of an apartment in a unit that is for sale by owner? My SO and I have found an apartment we are very seriously considering putting a bid on. As is my habit, I have taken the dimensions listed on the flyer given out at the open house and calculated the square footage to aid in bidding on a square foot basis using comparable sales in the area. Using the owner's own calculations of the square footage of each room, I have discovered that he has overstated the total square footage of the apartment by almost 200 square feet. This greatly affects the asking price of the apartment and most definitely affects any bid we might make.

I have a call into the owner to feel him out on his flexibility on the price. I don't want to insult him, but I do feel the need to point out that his final square footage calculation based on his own individual measurements per room is confusing. And, well, wrong. How do I broach this subject with an aim toward offering a fair bid for actual square footage rather than the overestimated square footage? The apartment is lovely in every way, in a great area, and we would love to live there for all the right reasons. We're in Brooklyn, so it may be that he's just not going to take less than the asking, but I figured I might appeal to his sense of fairness all the same. It's quite possible this is an honest mistake, after all. We are not, however, going to put in a bid on this place based on phantom square footage. FWIW, comparables in the same building are accurately listed and we know the median price per square foot these places went for in the past several months. Those units have gone for far less than the ask on this unit.

Any suggestions on how to broach the subject, if at all? Thanks.

Inspiration for painting and decorating rooms

Meagan — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:22:51 -0800

Looking for various sources of inspiration for painting/decorating a new apartment. I'm in the early stages of moving into a new and larger apartment, going from a one-bedroom to a 3-bedroom with two living areas and 1.5 bathrooms. How exciting!

Now that I have all these rooms, I want to paint and decorate some of them. I'm trained in graphic design, so I have a good sense of color combinations and shapes/flow, but I'm not terribly creative on my own. What I would love to do is page through a magazine or blog that shows room designs, so I can gather inspiration. I know magazines like this exist, but I'm not sure which ones are highly rated, or what terms to Google for.

I'm open to all styles of design, from retro to classic to abstract, all colors, all shapes, everything.

If you have any links, or book/magazine recommendations, please share!

Luxury apartments nyc?

tessalations999 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:02:02 -0800

I have a specific question about apartments in NYC. I will be moving June 1, and am looking for an apartment building in the Upper West Side with similar cost/amenities/location as Sheffield 57 or Trump Tower. Does any one know of any similar rentals or apartment buildings in the same area? I have been searching around, but am finding it hard to locate places that arent for sale, or that have the same standards as these two wonderful places. Thank you so much i really appreciate any and all help!!!!!

Should we get a joint checking account?

Tin Man — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:14:03 -0800

My partner and I are about to start the dreaded apartment search in NYC. Would it benefit us to open a joint checking account right now? The issue has never come up before, because we've miraculously managed to live rent-free in Manhattan for a couple of years (my partner's previous job came with an apartment). But now we have to find a place where we'll be paying rent. Will it hurt us with brokers/renters if we don't have a joint account at the time we're looking?

1-bedrooms in Toronto?

regicide is good for you — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:57:25 -0800

TorontoApartmentFilter: Am I crazy to hold out for a nice 1 bedroom apartment in Toronto's downtown west-side (Little Italy, Roncy, maybe Parkdale, etc.) for under $1100? What about under $1000?

Part of being nice means not being cramped, and not being cookie-cutter, parquet floor in a high-rise.

How To Know If A Subletting Offer Is A Scam?

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:23:48 -0800

What's the best way to find out who owns an apartment in New York City? A relative of mine has been offered a sublet, but the circumstances seem very shady. I think my relative (who will be completely new to the "big city") is being scammed. I don't think the "owner" of the apartment is truly the owner. How does one go about finding out who owns property in NYC in regard to apartments? The apartment is in a well-known building in a high-end Manhattan neighborhood, which most likely has celebrity residents, so I don't know if that complicates things. Any help would be appreciated, as my relative is a complete novice at things like this, and I don't have any experience with it either, and I'd like to be able to give good advice.

Alll riiight!!!

boyinmiami — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:08:31 -0800

Every Bachelor Pad must have a ?????? Moving into my own apartment after a few years of living with a roommate. What things do I need to make sure to have the coolest, most comfortable, awesome bachelor pad ever?

SEATTLE: Help us find a nice rental home with a soul!

Bob Dobbs — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 05:52:35 -0800

SEATTLE: I'm looking for internet resources to find rental apartments, condos, houses Hi All,

We are moving to Seattle very soon. Need online resources to find a nice rental home for the two of us. We are looking in the Ballard, Queen Anne, and West Seattle areas. I'd prefer non-mega corporate rentals, ie. one or two unit townhomes, a house, or a smallish apartment building. I'm familiar with craigslist, which I've been using a lot. Also familiar with NWapartments. The larger sites like rent.com list rentals that are just too cookie cutter and commercial for us. Please give resources to help us find a nice, unique, home with a soul. BTW, we are looking at the $1800-$2800/month rent range for a 2bedroom.

Appropriate holiday tips for building staff.

Anonymous — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:33:04 -0800

New Yorkers, please advise me on appropriate holiday tip amounts for building staff. I am preparing to give out end-of-year tips for the people who work in my apartment building, and I would love to hear how others determine end-of-year cash amounts for their NYC building staff.

I own an apartment in a ~40-unit Manhattan building. There is always a doorman at the lobby desk, but otherwise the building is not at all what one would consider a luxury, full-service building. There is also a non-live-in super. I live alone and don't really require any personal extra effort from the building employees, although I feel sure that if I ever needed anything they would go out of their way to help me. Every member of the staff is friendly and first-rate, so I'd like to err on the generous side of the tip scale. I need to tip my super and each person on the roster of six doormen, who work anywhere from one to six shifts a week.

I've googled and found several articles about what to tip but they didn't seem to be particularly applicable, so I'd love to hear about your personal decision-making processes. How much do you tip your building employees? What is a good way to determine appropriate amounts?

How do i move to Boston on the cheap?

doppleradar — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 05:53:01 -0800

Boston Filter: Moving from Texas. Help me navigate the (seemingly) bizarre apartment market I'll be moving from Dallas to Boston around the first of the year. What's the best way to find an apartment and not get ripped off?

Reality companies/property managers to avoid? Sublet for a few months? Go through craigslist? Brokerage fees, what the hell?

Can I get out of my lease?

AceRock — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:21:48 -0800

I am subleasing my apartment in Chicago. But can I get out of my lease? My roomate bailed on me and so I had to sublease our 2 bedroom apartment and find a studio for myself. I found some new tenants on craigslist (or rather they found me) and they are ready to sign a sublease agreement. My landlord will not release me from the lease AND wants me to sign something new that stipulates that I will remain responsible for the rent for the remainder of my lease (5 more months). First, is there any way I get out of this responsibility for the rent if the new tenants don't pay? Second, what is this new thing they want me to sign, and do I have to sign it? It seems sketchy to me.

Save the kitties!

amarynth — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:56:40 -0800

Apartment-dwelling cat owners: What do you do when the fire alarm goes off? I live on the second floor of a new condo building, and have two indoor cats. I had always lived in single family homes until we moved in May. If the house had caught on fire, I would have just grabbed the cats and thrown them in the car or left doors and windows open for them and let them run outside, but now things seem more complicated.

We've had one false alarm since I moved in. I couldn't see or smell any smoke, so I just grabbed the dog and went to wait outside, figuring that if there was any indication that there was an actual fire, I'd try to run back and get the kitties (I know that's not smart). Getting them in their carriers takes ages, and I'm afraid that if I start trying to put them in their carriers whenever the alarm goes off, they'll start hiding when they hear the alarm. Neither of them have any interest in going outside, and if I just tried to shoo them out the door, I'm sure they'd just sit in the hallway, where they would be trapped. And it's a closed building, so if I managed to get them outside without them in their carriers, they would run and hide somewhere and not be able to get back home easily.

I hope that I'll never have to worry about this, but I don't want to not have a plan and have them burned alive or get lost during a false alarm.

Creeping myself out.

Jess the Mess — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:17:09 -0800

What are these reddish brown stains on the floor of my "vintage" apartment? I'm not sure if I really want to know the answer to this question but here goes: I live in an old (circa 1920's or older) apartment in Chicago with wood floors. Both this apartment and the one I lived in before (also quite old) had very dark reddish brown stains on the floor when I moved in. In this apartment, they're in the bedroom. The other one was in the bed/living area of the apartment, which was a studio. Both were groupings of several stains of varying sizes, the largest being about a foot in diameter.

The morbid part of me wants to think they're blood stains, but could they just be from a drippy plant or something? Also, why is this apparently so common, if it is blood? As far as I know there hadn't been any murders or anything in either apartment.

Astoria

lumidine — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:07:06 -0800

Looking for an apartment in Astoria, Queens. I am moving to NY in 2 weeks and I need an apartment.

My husband and I have reached the conclusion that Astoria is the best area for now. Quality/price I mean.

I hear getting a place in NY is quite an adventure.What makes it harder is that I don't trust Craigslist . Also, realtors are ripping us off.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I need an apartment ASAP .
Any suggestions are highly appreciated .
My email address is luminita_dinica@yahoo.com

Thank you so much.