Apartment hunting!

[MiaMeow]

I'm moving out of my little one-bedroom into a two-bedroom with another camgirl. Perma-camgirl-mansion!

Anyway, what is important to you guys when it comes to looking at apartments? I tend to get carried away by how pretty they are and forget to look at important things. Any tips?

 

[Zoomer]

Things I consider.

1) Security - what is the area like. I will never live somewhere I don't feel safe walking outside of after dark. Was attacked in a rented house by a gang of three with crowbars, and had my car stolen and burnt out - so never again will I live in an area where I fear for my safety/security 24/7). I use crime statistics (and types of crime) to ascertain the danger levels, as well as the overall state of the area (so lots of broken glass in the gutter means high car crime, bars on windows/doors and boards means high burglary. Blood splats on pavements means violence). When I was younger (19-22) I lived in places in UK cities which my friends referred to as 'Baghdad'. It was that awful (bars on all windows and doors, it's also where the attack happened - in the 20 mins my friends nipped out to pick some beers up and didn't lock the front door grate behind them - and the interior door wasn't locked either). NEVER AGAIN.

2) Insulation - how well insulated is it? With rising utilities, the difference between high and low can be vast. In the UK gas/electricity can start to cost $2000 per year, especially if you live in a poorly insulated place. A well insulated place with energy efficient bulbs and appliances can, by contrast, cost as little as $700. These days it is a requirement to have your homes energy efficiency rating

3) Storage. Is there enough for my junk, otherwise the apartment looks messy and cluttered.

4) I don't care for the size of bedroom much. Just as long as it has a good bed (or they'll replace the mattress if it's been buggered by previous tenants - which I have had done at 3 places I have rented), good storage for clothes etc. Maybe if I kept a computer in there I'd care more about the size, but generally - in the bedroom - I get dressed and sleep. Why have excess space?

5) Bathroom - a GOOD shower. V.important to have a great flow of hot water. Nothing better than a great shower. I also flush the toilet when looking around. Sounds weird, but one place I stayed had a very modern design toilet - but it acted like a fountain. Flush the toilet and a big splash of water would hit the ground around it. Guess women may appreciate it trains a guy to put the lid down - and to clean the toilet on a near daily basis - but it wasn't great having to tell everyone when they go to your toilet how to use it.

6) Louge/living room - good sofa to sit on, good space to have my stuff in. Since I spend most of my time there, its important it's a great place to be

7) Light, clean and airy - natural light preferable, windows that are secure but able to be open to refresh the place.

8) Kitchen - all appliances working, logical layout, and enough storage for all things I have. Also cleanliness. One place had an extractor above the stove, but the extractor had no outlet to the outside.. so it just blew everything around the kitchen. It meant the cupboards around had a very sticky tar like substance (condensed fat basically) over the tops which was disgusting.

9) Great internet. Ask the neighbours, and check with various companies on their phone lines (if they're kind enough to let you know their phone number!) and/or post code. If it's going to have shit internet, I am not going to live there. I don't own a TV after all... I watch it (US TV mainly, about 4 programs a week) via the internet

10) Neighbourhood. If it's noisy, forget it. Need to sleep.

If I owned a car, parking would be a high priority on the list (the list isn't in order really, number 1 is always safety).

 

[Bocefish]

Make sure you're happy with the heating and cooling system, test both personally. Flush the toilets and turn on all the faucets to see if the pipes rumble or if there's enough water pressure in the shower, look for leaks, etc.. Taste the water from sink faucet too, you may hate the taste of the water.

Ask about maintenance protocol, you want the landlord to be attentive and responsive to your needs while you two live there, so make sure the people currently living there seem to be taken care of. Inquire about how many maintenance people work on the property, how to get in touch with them, and when they are available.

Pest control problems are not only created by dirty residents, but can crop up due to shoddy construction. Make sure that the complex doesn’t have a history of pest problems, and, if and when the bugs do start crawling, they have a reliable solution.

Security and parking too.

Check out http://ohmyapt.apartmentratings.com/recent-articles for more info.

 

[bob]

all great suggestions.....
i'd add ask about the landlord/manager.....how nosy/friendly are they....where are they....how responsive are they, should something go wrong.

 

[Bocefish]

Forgot to mention the water heater... if you two take long showers or plan on doing showers shows, make sure the water heater is big enough to handle it.

It's also a good idea to make a checklist to bring with so you won't forget anything.

 

[LadyLuna]

Here's what we always check for:

-how thin are the walls? Camming gets noisy.

-what are the cars like, and what are the apartments themselves like? shitty apartments plus good cars- probably drug territory, stay away. Shitty apartments and cars? Low income housing. Stay away. Good apartments but shitty cars- probably gets a lot of break-ins. If you do decide to move in, get insurance and don't leave anything valuable in the cars.

-are there bad patches on the walls, floors, or ceilings?

-how much space does it have? It's important to have enough space for the daily life stuff. Now, if you need extra storage, that's not that expensive, but it's not very good to have to put things like clothes or cleaning supplies in your storage unit.

 

[AllisonWilder]

My list after moving several times in the last two years: (A bunch of things on my list were mentioned already so I won't repeat those.)

-Obviously safety is at the top of the list.
-Well-lit streets/parking areas for being out at night.
-How far away is the trash area? (Far away from building is a pain in the ass and scary at night)
-Laundry area (if there isn't one in the apartment)? Is it kept locked? Well-lit?
-High ceilings are gorgeous. High ceilings in places with crappy insulation/old windows? Suckage.
-Main floor apartments usually mean you can hear people walking around/up the stairs/talking/etc.
-Bathroom storage space. Is there enough? Is there under the sink storage? (We spent a year in a place that only had a tiny medicine cabinet hung on the wall behind the door and had to use my walk-in closet for all of our bathroom supplies.)
-Close to hospitals/police station/fire station is great, but also very noisy.
-Close to intersections with stoplights, also very noisy.

Any apartment on the 2nd floor or higher:

-Can you get your furniture up the stairs? (We had to break our couch frame and rebuild inside the apartment. Lame.)
-Are railings in stairwells secure? (My ex fell after grabbing onto a loose railing, broke his neck. Not fun.)

 

[Diana Blake]

A few big ones for me are:

1. Check the criminal activity in your area. Most of the time you can google your area and find out what kind of crimes and how frequently they've been committed in the last six months or so. We looked at one apartment complex a few years ago only to find that six women had been raped in the complex within the last year. Seriously a no go.

2. Where are the bedrooms? I will never ever make this mistake again. My bedroom in my last apartment was East facing. I loved it when I first moved in because of the big beautiful windows. What I didn't realize was that in the mornings it got hot in there very quickly. Since I was working night shift at the hospital at that point that was really bad.

3. Bathroom materials. Do you have a porcelain tub or a plastic? Tile with white grout or some other color? Is it properly sealed? Bathroom cleaning can be a huge drain and no one ever wants to do it. Different materials are going to clean up easier than others and when you've got two cam girls living in the same space there will be hair and makeup everywhere! I have a bathroom to myself and there's still hair and makeup everywhere and I hardly have any hair!

4. Natural light. When I met Master he lived in a cave. His apartment was built shotgun style and the only windows were right next to the front door and those were overshadowed by the floor above him. Even though he was relatively clean his apartment just looked dingy all the time. Natural light makes thing look clean, bright, happy and taken care of.

5. Carpets. I don't know about many girls but I spend a lot of time sitting on the floor and there's nothing that will kill my mood faster than stains or dirt on the floor. If you have pets you know how annoying carpets can get. Cat fur just collects everywhere. Stains and wear in the carpet might also warn you about future issues. They clean the apartments really thoroughly between tenants and just douse everything to keep it from smelling bad. But if there are bad pet stains that have soaked into the pad and subflooring that smell is just going to come back after you've walked over it a few times.

 

[SoTxBob]

strictly for apartments, and also considering what your going to be doing for the 'job' .. Neighbors. Will you be able to work to the wee hours of the am without them hearing/complaining about the noise? End, bottom floor apartments are usually the best. This also will involve sound transmission thru common walls. Many are whisper thin. Aside from that, the rest is all listed here several times..

 

[FrenchKitty]

Mold anywhere equals leaks or humidity, check the bathroom corners and ask if ventilation is good (it's sometimes preferable to have a window in a bathroom).
Check the wallpapers. Especially if it's just been changed: they could be trying to cover up some humidity problem; so check every suspicious area.
Water piping: check if they're old, rusty in any way (green, wet, or just really shady looking), especially if you spot any brand new repair job on any one of them.
Dont be afraid to turn the water on, check the pressure in the shower, how warm is the water?
Flush the toilets, check if it's fine.
Look under the sink, at the bottom of every cabinet, for signs of mouse droppings or any bug.
That's really the most irritating issues you could have in an appartment: humidity, leaks, and infestation of any kind.
Edit: oh: and turn the heater on at the beginning of your visit, and check their temperature at the end of it.
Also look for any cold wind passing around or under the closed windows and front door.

 

[Miss_Serena]

My biggest mistake was not taking the age of the house into account.

We moved into an older house in a cold climate (where you have to plug your car in in the winter if you want to go somewhere the next day) and there was no power sources outside. There's also no power source in the bathroom which you wouldn't think about but when it comes time to get ready it's a huge pain in the ass.

 

[Jolene]

Parking, dishwasher, how far away is laundry, electric outlets, if there are people below me or above me do the floors creak, wheres the closest airport