Apartment hunting sucks

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m looking for a new place.

I actually really liked the old place, but it’s been on the market for about six months now, and my roommates just moved out. I think that it would be pretty darn hard for me to convince someone else to come move in to a place that’s for sale (and I’m starting to think that our landlord is on financially shaky ground), so it’s time to move.

It regularly feels like apartment hunting is a lemon market. All the good apartments are gone in a day, and only the crappy or expensive ones stay around long enough to actually get to. I’ve noticed ads on craigslist that say “walk around the outside, and if you’re still interested, give us a call”. So far, this has usually meant “This place is so bad that it’s not worth our time to come show it to you, since most people will reject it as soon as they see it.”

I have a cat, a motorcycle, and a long-distance girlfriend who comes to visit on some weekends. The combination of these means that I have quite a difficult time finding any place that will even consider renting to me, let alone one that doesn’t totally suck. I know that it’s my choice to have those things and my relationship, but it is unfortunate that it makes it so hard to rent a place. I have offered additional deposit for the cat (I’d feel honor-bound to fix anything she damaged anyway), but it doesn’t change any minds.

I think I’m being pretty flexible. I’m willing to share a house, or get a place by myself. I have a potential roommate lined up, but since we work ~15 miles away from each other, we’re trying to find a place that’s somewhere in between, and haven’t had much luck yet.

So, I guess I’ll just keep hitting refresh on craigslist, leaving messages on people’s answering machines, and getting calls back that the place was already rented.

Thanks for commiserating, and if anyone in the Santa Barbara area has a connection for a cool place to live, email’s in the profile.

2

Why is the long distance girlfriend a problem? Is it a roommate thing?

(Is the bike a problem just because you need extra garage space?)

3

Well, some places are quite particular about a residence being for one person only. If I get an apartment in a complex, obvious it won’t matter. If I get one that’s behind someone’s house or part of a duplex with the owner, they can be more particular. Looking at shared housing, it can be hard to sell people on an extra roommate many weekends.

Nope. It’s a problem because people assume that motorcycles are loud and dirty, and the people who ride them equally unpleasant. I’ve actually seen a few ads that say “No Motorcycles”, but even with the ones that don’t prohibit it, it can be a mark against you.

4

I’ve had the same problem. I’ve been checking the best places in Longview and there just aren’t any available. I wanted a place with washer and dryer hookups but I can’t even get one without. In order to get on the waiting list, I have to pay the application fee and security deposit, neither of which is refundable if I change my mind. There’s no way in hell I’m paying $150 or more so I can get in line for an apartment that i haven’t even seen that’ll be available at some unknown time. That’s not to mention I have pet tarantulas and the one place I asked if they count as pets said they weren’t allowed at all. (I don’t know if this is common.) I almost assured her that they wouldn’t shit on the carpet.

Oh, and I have a motorcycle but they’ve never asked me about it. Hopefully they’re not perceived the same way here in Texas.

5

I probably wouldn’t even mention that sort of pet. Cats and dogs are pretty impossible to hide, but there’s no way anyone should be able to tell or care that you have a tarantula. In addition to not shitting on the carpet, it won’t scratch the floors or keep your neighbors up at night. Are they wild in Texas? It’s not even like you’re introducing a potentially dangerous animal, either.

I don’t mean to say that everyone is against motorcycles. But I do feel like it closes some doors. I’m guessing that with the current fuel prices, the stigma of motorcycling is going to be reduced somewhat.

6

Probably not very helpful, but kijiji is a craigslist-like page that has a few apartments for rent in the Santa Barbara area. It’s probably less popular, so you might have a better chance at getting to be first visitor. Good luck!

http://santabarbara.kijiji.com/f-Housing-Apartments-for-rent-W0QQCatIdZ100037

7

It’s a really tight market where I am, too. I’m on the other side of the counter, though.

I can tell you that if you do fill out an application to rent through a property management company, making sure all the blanks are filled in (like your current landlord’s name and phone number, the first people we call for a reference) and a short, pleasant cover letter introducing yourself will get your application processed first and with an optimistic outlook.

(Honestly, people desperate for an apartment and you don’t bother to fill in your rental reference and employment information? You make me crazy!! I not process your application!!! I don’t have all day long to try and track you down on whatever I can make out of your scribbled cell phone number and your cell is never on or answered and when it is it’s some kind of f***ing joke outgoing message that either makes you sound like a moron, blasts my ears off with noise, or makes me HATE YOU AT ONC—

I’m calm. I’m happy.

I’m just saying complete and polite applications get processed first. Easier on my nerves. They get to the property manager for approval first, too.

8

I was just worried that they’d decide to do an inspection some day. My ex-girlfriend had that happen to her after getting her dog. (Her apartment allows pets if you pay the deposit. I doubt they saw her walking him and realized she hadn’t paid the deposit.) My friend said they’ve never done it to him on the other hand. They do let you know in advance, but I doubt I could find a friend who’s cool with keeping them for a couple of days. (Not so much my friends, but their wives, roommates, etc). But I’ve about decided it’s what I’ll have to do.

9

It looks like the Santa Barbara listings are all spam. One of them mentions that it’s in walking distance to Target (closest one is 30 miles away), and several of the others are ludicrously underpriced. A studio with deck for $750? You can’t rent a shoebox with a deck for under $1000.

10

Dude, I feel for you. That site is a complete crock of shit. Maybe some of those apartments are in Santa Barbara in Cape Verde, Guatemala or Colombia.

11

Then act fast.

My current apartment was posted on homeless.co.il around 6PM, my wife and I saw it at 6:20 and by 6:45 we were shaking hands with the landlady. (all in all, it was listed for under an hour). We were lucky in that it was right down the street from our old place, but basically, we knew what we wanted, and we were prepared to act decisively.

So basically, put whatever site you use to find apartments as your homepage, and get ready to jump on your bike the moment you see something you like.

12

That sucks! Sorry! I have used kijiji in Montreal (though admittedly not for apartment hunting) and have always found it reliable, at the least giving reasonable and realistic prices for things. Sorry it’s not any good for Santa Barbara!

In Montreal, many landlords never advertise online; they simply stick a sign up in the window with the phone number, and they can usually get the place rented out within a matter of weeks if not days. I don’t suppose simply driving around and taking down any number you find would be helpful?

Good luck!

13

I think we’re good.

My friend came around on the location and we decided to apply to a place that’s not our favorite, and we applied and left a deposit yesterday morning. Then, just a little bit before we were going to sign the lease, I got a call from another place and we swung by on the way. It’s much nicer and larger, and the location is better for my friend. It’s more expensive, but still within our price range.

So we applied last night and the owner said that assuming everything checks out, it’s ours!

The downside is we probably burned a $200 deposit on the other place. Oh well.

14

I’m on the other side of the coin here (literally… er, I mean, not literally), in that I have a couple of apartments I’m trying to rent out. I advertise on Craigslist and get a lot of responses, but many of them are crap. I’ve had some that read like this: “yo, im intested in ur apt, gimme a call.”

Lately I’ve been working with an agency that actually charges potential renters half a month’s rent. I’ve really been wondering about these people who’ll pay $500 bucks for something they can get for free from Craigslist. The illogical thing is that as a landlord, I actually prefer these irrational people, because they at least have 500 clams to rub together.

Anyway, walrus, if your apartment falls through, I’m happy to rent you one, cat, girlfriend, motorcycle and all. I think you’d find it a good deal, though the six-hour commute to work on JetBlue might be a trifle inconvenient.

15

Around here, we have places like this:

http://www.apartmenthunterz.com/california/

They don’t charge anything to find you a place (it’s a kickback type of deal between them and the apartment complex when you sign a lease).