I absolutely hate shopping for an apartment. I am not mad enough anymore for this to be pit worthy so I put it here. I applied at a place 2 1/2 weeks ago and they still won’t give me an answer. Please understand I have very good credit, a great rental history and a wonderful job! I don’t understand these people. They finally pushed me over the edge Wednesday morning. They gave me the number to the “main office” and it didn’t work! The phone rang and rang and rang! No answering machine or person. I was so upset that I called the Landlord and Tenant Affairs and they told me I was at the apartments mercy unless I thought I was being discriminated against.
So, this morning I went to apply for another apartment. I really liked this apartment manager and the apartment was just as good as the other one! It is very hard to find a decent (ie something affordable in a decent part of town) apartment here (in Norhtern VA)so I am very stressed and discouraged. I have my mom coming from Denver to visit in 6 weeks and I am hoping I have a place to live!
Thank you, I needed to vent. I haven’t slept correctly in weeks. I work an overnight shift and I have had to stay awake during the day to get all of this taken care of! I am tired and stressed! Any words of advise or encourgement are needed. Thank you so much for “listening.”
I’m having apartment blues of my own. I want to move to a bigger place but it seems all the places I can afford are in really bad parts of town. I finally found a great place, good location, good price, BUT they have income restrictions and I MAKE TOO MUCH MONEY! I am SO unbelieveably poor, I can barely get by some times, but I MAKE TOO MUCH MONEY. Argh!
I have had that problem with income restricted apartments too. I make too much money for them! It is amazing isn’t it? Making too much money for one place, but not enough to afford any other options! Grarr!
Michi, I wish you the best of luck!
I understand all too well. Am paying over $1300 for a single bedroom apt and they want $2000 from new tenants. I want to move into a two bedroom, but can’t afford the rates…and don’t tell me about buying a place.
Where in Northern VA are you looking to move to? I live there too and I can sympathize. It took me a lot of looking to find a place I felt comfortable with in price and location. My commute to DC is a little longer than I’d like but it’s worth it for living somewhere I’m happy with. I’m in Alexandria (Fairfax county not Old Town) but also looked in Arlington and Old Town. I wanted to be able to walk to metro which narrowed my choices alot.
I certainly didn’t have to wait 2.5 weeks to hear from my place. They said they had vacancies and they did the credit check in a matter of days.
The housing market in this area is just so insane right now. I guess they feel they can have less than stellar customer service since there’s such a crunch.
I hate looking for apartments. Chris and I decided to get a larger apartment. We started looking around, and couldn’t find anything decent. we have finally broken down and are buying a house instead. Then we wont be bothered by landlords.
I’m hearing about apartment-HUNTING blues, what about apartment-RENTING blues? I own a house, live upstairs and rent out the large downstairs. All I ask is that people pay the rent ontime, don’t tear the place up, and don’t make TOO much noise. YOu think it is hard finding a place, finding tenants that understand the above simple rules is a bitch too. Sure I do background checks, and I tell prospective tenants up front that I want a months’s rent and the deposit in full up front, but I still get folks who try to chisel me down. At least the lst three sets of tenants have been ok, but the current guy is moving at the end of the month and I dread putting an ad in! Anyone looking for an apartment in Kansas?
ASD I am looking in the Alexandria area right now. I have put in an application at two different places. With one place it will be three weeks tomorrow since I turned in the application and they won’t give me an answer either way. The other place is by Skyline Mall and they said I should know by tomorrow. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the place approves me quickly! If you know of any places that are renting in the Alexandria or Fairfax area please let me know. Phobos I understand your pain. On some of the apartments I called on they had 6 month waiting lists! I was shocked! Good luck to you. Tubagirl I wish I had the option of buying a place right now. I hope you enjoy your house. Congrats! Baker Right now I wish I lived in Kansas! The problems you are complaining about are why I won’t get another roommate! Any chance of you buying a house out here and renting me the basement??? Sorry, I had to ask. NarlieI wish I could afford $1300 for a place! I would have no problem finding somewhere to live, but I do feel for you!
Thank you everyone. I am feeling a little better that I am not the only one dealing with this stuff! I just don’t understand why this has to be so difficult. All I am asking for is a place for me and my cat to live!!!
Oh yeah, there’s another thing. I have FIVE cats. Of course I lie and say I only have two, and pay the damn pet fee (upwards of 400 bucks!), but I live in eternal fear of being caught.
Bluemonchichi, cats are fine. I have two myself, and unlike dogs or small children they tend to be quiet and clean. I accept children of course, but it’s their PARENTS I sometimes have problems with.
Where in Kansas do you live because I live in Kansas too. I’m not looking for an apartment though. We just rented a house and have a 1 year lease. We had a helluva time finding a place though. The affordable houses/apartments were dumps and the really nice ones were way too expensive. We finally found a nice 2 bedroom house, in a nice neighborhood, with a big back yard for $450/month. Hopefully we’ll be able to buy a house in a couple of years and stop renting altogether.
Bluemonchichi, I hope you find something soon. I know how frustrating it can be. Good Luck.
Easy. Dress nicely. Arrive ten [or more] minutes before the appt [so you beat any other applicants]. Bring, always bring, the deposit as a check or money order. Once you get your deposit in their hands, ball is in your court.
I have three, and when I was looking I started out by telling the truth. After several weeks, a kindly agent told me to start lying - he said that in my area’s extremely tight market, one cat is usually okay, two cats might be okay if you have good credit and references, and three cats or more equals a weirdo. It doesn’t matter if you’re not really a weirdo - you are as far as most landlords are concerned.
Anyway, bluemonchichi, I hope you get that second one. If the first one doesn’t want you, screw 'em - it’s their loss.
Blue, I hear yah on the shopping for a place to rent thing. I just signed a 3-month lease for my place; after two years, I’ll finally be moving out of this studio apartment. It’s served me well, but I am starting to feel the tiny-ness of it. DeathLlama and I are going to start looking for a place to call our own after our April wedding; I’ll be moving in first around the end of January (I do not want to be going through the stress of moving and getting married at the same time).
Shopping for a place sucks, and actually moving sucks. This apartment has been nice, but there’s been all variety of problems…the a/c broke dozens of times before they finally conceded to replacing it, I’ve had numerous ant invasions, mild flooding following a storm, and my electricity turned off due to an error in management (all of my utilities are paid for, so this was not at all my doing).
And finding a place that will accept pets…feh. I find many places are phasing out allowing pets; they are an added mess, but dammit, Inigo is necessary companionship.
:::raises glass in a toast::: Here’s to finding an apartment for you, and a house or townhouse for the Llama and I, Bluemonchichi!
I think my complex has openings–it’s about a mile south of the huntington metro station, near route 1.
My one bedroom is $815 a month (that includes all utilities though which can easily add a big chunk of money-especially if you have electric heat). I don’t have the smallest one bedroom which I think was running about $770 when I moved in. They also have efficiencies, and their 2 bedrooms start at $820 or so. (These prices are as of February, they may have gone up since then).
I used to live closer to the Skyline area (and near 395) but the cockroaches and awful apartment manager convinced me to move. It made my rent go up a little, but I haven’t seen a cockroach since I moved and the office staff here are wonderful. It’s also a better neighborhood, I can walk to metro, walk to the grocery store, etc.
If this is in your price range and location range drop me an email and I can get you more information. Of course–hopefully you will have heard back from the other place by now and won’t even need this info anymore!
