APARTMENTS THUS FAR

[camwyn]

#1:

Cons: THird floor apt. in a house with a slanting roof, so front and back of apt. has slanting ceilings and I must duck. Very very narrow staircase. Awfully small bathroom. No living room per se, so all entertainment must go in kitchen or bedroom.

Pros: Neighbourhood is familiar to me after all (walking distance of Newport Centre Mall). Nabe feels safe. Near friends. Rent includes all utilities. Pets ok. People in building quiet. People on either side quiet. Brand new bathroom fixtures. Tiny room outside of bedroom allows for books and other stuff to be put in an area where I don't have to fuss with them. Nice, accessible landlady. No visible indications of bugs. Wiring looks new, as do light fixtures. Stove clean and looks well cared for. Encountered two guys on the street outside walking best behaved Boxer and Pit Bull I have ever seen; the dogs are very friendly.

#2: Cons: First thing I saw coming out of the PATH station: liquor store. Grungy, ground down nabe. V. close to St. Peter's College & a high school, neither of which is a safe area from what I am told. Stairs also narrow though not as narrow as last place. Floor is lumpy. Linoleum on bedroom floor. Wiring looks quite old. Stove, though same model as last place, looks rather less well-cared-for. Landlord, while accessible (lives in ground floor apt), is apparently not a native speaker of English and explanation of questions like 'Are cats allowed in this building?' takes some time; maintenance related queries probably take more. Utilities not included.

Pros: Cheaper than last place. larger than last place. No roof weirdness.

#3: Cons: Not actually in Jersey City but in JC Heights, necessitating long bus ride from PATH. Other tenants really noisy. Realtor said to call at 9 to confirm showing at 10. Did so. Got there at 9:50, called realtor at 10, got answering machine saying she was showing apt. at 10:30.

Pros: Dunno. Didn't bother going in if realtor couldn't be arsed to turn up when she said she would.

Comments

[eevieivy.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'd go for the place with the good neighborhood with friends nearby. And the quiet neighbors. Loud neighbors are a bitch. Yeah, it's a smaller place, but you're probably paying for the fact that people are sane and nice. Hell, having a landlady that you could get ahold of that's also nice is a huge thing. Having a landlord that doesn't speak English fluently and probably would leave a heater broken for a while because he didn't understand that you were telling him that it had died would suck. Plus, sketchy neighborhood can be nerve-wracking. And the bedroom will probably freeze with the linoleum on the floor, although you could cover with rugs.

I think it comes down to how much you want to try to compensate for #2 to make it more like #1.

[camwyn]

Me too. My parents are saying I might want to consider looking for other places and chalking all of this up to the experience of apartment hunting, but... nice flats are everywhere and nice neighborhoods are tough to come by.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

*cough* I point out, too, that the landlord may selectively decide to forget what English he does know whenever he doesn't want to deal with something -- but I'm often a pessimist that way.

-- Lorrie