Be vewyy vewwy qwiet. I’m huntin’ Wabbits… err, Apartments

Indeed, I am once again on the prowl for a new apartment. My current apartment is great, but fairly cramped, and lacking some amenities that it would be nice to have. Since I’m now not on a “find an apartment from several states away, hurry! Before class starts!” schedule, I have the luxury to look around and get picky. So, what am I looking for?
My current apartment is about 700 square feet, 1 bedroom, 1 bath, on-site laundry, free water/trash, off-street parking. All that for $850 a month. Not bad, as Santa Barbara goes.

What I’d really like to add to that list are things like: on-site swimming pool, a balcony or patio, some more square footage, maybe more pet friendly (though that’s always a hard one to find). At first I thought a 2 bedroom was the way to go, but looking at prices and stuff, a large one bedroom might be better. I guess my price range is around $1400, since Teisha will be fronting half of the bill (Yay!). So I watch Craig’s List Apartment Listings like a hawk, and check the paper when I can.

So, what do you all think of your apartments? Recommendations? Things to look for/avoid? Fill my mind!

14 Responses to “Be vewyy vewwy qwiet. I’m huntin’ Wabbits… err, Apartments”

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Ah, the luxury of time.

The patio sounds nice, but it needs to be a certain size or it won’t get much use. If it only has room for a single chair its a waste of space (Don’t laugh there are apartments in Boulder with patios that have 12 sqft total). Also make sure its not on the north side of a building with a big tree next to it. I rarely used a patio of mine because it got no light and looked at the back of a fence. What a view!

What do you need a swimming pool for, you have an ocean? Unless you like swimming in the winter, then make sure its heated or covered.

khirsath - July 14th, 2005 at 9:21 am

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Good comment on the patios… we of course will be checking out the places thoroughly before making any final decisions.

We decided to direct the money that it would cost for wetsuits towards paying for a pool, since it’s really one or the other in our frigid, local ocean waters…
It was a nice idea though 🙂

Teisha - July 14th, 2005 at 4:36 pm

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“My current apartment is about 700 square feet…”

We actually just calculated it all out and it’s more like 425 square feet… no wonder we feel cramped. On the bright side, that should make it easier to find a larger place 🙂

Teisha - July 16th, 2005 at 5:05 pm

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Balcony’s are somewhat better than patios. Privacy, less flooding, a little more secure.

It’s, um, shocking what the prices there are like.
We’ve got a 1200 square foot townhome, two bedrooms, w/d, kitty-friendly (Well, 250-bucks friendly), and weekly “happy endings” from the landlady (okay, not really) for, er, 750 a month.

You sure you don’t want to move to North Carolina? You’d like our friends.

Owen - July 16th, 2005 at 4:12 pm

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I’m currently still living like a college kid. I share a 5ish bedroom house with 3 other people. We have converted the 5th “bedroom” into a nerd lair where all of the computers live. Our place isn’t huge, but it was a great find for Boulder. It’s two stories (upstars and a finished basement) and our land lord is the roxx0r!

If I get the job I applied for located in the Denver Tech Center I will probaly be moving more toward Denver with my boyo. In that case I think we are going to be looking for a 2 bedroom, pet friendly apartment/towhouse or condo. Luckily, like what you’re saying, we are going to have lots of time to look and find something cool ^^.

Good luck with your house hunt!

Lily - July 18th, 2005 at 7:44 am

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Wow.. I think living with people in a 5 bedroom house would drive me crazy. Why/how is the land lord so cool?

Something that seems to be particularly common, looking through the listings, is “cottages”. Basically, a studio apartment attached to someone’s home. All the luxury of a studio, and the indignity of walking through your land lord’s lawn on the way to your door!

Paradoxdruid - July 22nd, 2005 at 6:03 am

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There are only 4 of us in our house, two of them are related (brothers) which is a convient loop hole for the zoning laws. Additionally, our land lord is GREAT :)! He’s a really awesome guy.

Lily - July 25th, 2005 at 2:48 pm

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It’s sometimes really hard to know in advance, but good landlords are REALLY important. After my creepy landlord at the Phoenix Apartments (Welcome to our village. Do you think you can handle being part of the village? I’m writing the longest novel ever written) and our less-than-friendly landlady at The Cannery, we adore the people at Habitat. So, if you know people who like the management staff, consider that place.

Also, what kind of pets? If you’re only interested in cats, it’s marginally easier (at least around here) to find places that take cats, but not dogs. Also, something I’d not heard of before, is pet rent. So, some places charge you a monthly fee to keep the little furrballs (or in our case, hairless balls) around.

ShortSpeedFreak - July 28th, 2005 at 5:57 am

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Ooo, hurrah for apartment hunts! They’re pretty wily critters, but I know your persistence will pay off.
By the way (accounting for my rare appearance on your webland), I’m coming to California! I’ll be there from Wednesday until.. sometime later than that. Let me know if there’ll be a good time to see you. I missed seeing you while you were here!

Fleep - August 7th, 2005 at 7:15 pm

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It’s going okay… I don’t NEED to move until next June or so (the next mass student exodus), so right now it’s more of a “keep my eyes open and if I see a dream apartment, jump on it!”

It’s amazing to me, however, how many landlords don’t know (or claim not to know) the square footage of their properties. Seems like one of the first considerations to me.

Paradoxdruid - August 8th, 2005 at 3:28 pm

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How’s this going Andrew?

Owen - August 8th, 2005 at 4:49 am

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Heh, gotta love those California living expenses…

My fiance and I have a 800 sq foot 1 Bedroom with a large balcony patio thingy (we live on 2nd floor), and we have a 3 week old border collie that the complex allows (as well as 2 cats that are allowed, put the complex doesnt know about /wink). Yeah, I know, it’s a zoo.

Anyways, we pay $635 a month, and it’s in a really new nice area.

I pick a weird post to drop by and reply to dont I Andrew =P

Gakumen - August 11th, 2005 at 7:50 am

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Wow, where are you that it’s so cheap?? I’m guessing Colorado, since that’s where most the people on here are from… though I think that’s even cheap for Colorado (or at least Boulder).

You should really go introduce yourself on the roll call post here so we (or at least I 🙂 ) know who you are.

Teisha - August 12th, 2005 at 9:17 am

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As you can now see from the roll call, I live in Parker, which is east of Highlands Ranch, CO where The Dr00d and I went to high school. My fiance and I just happened to get in on a sweet deal at a place not far from where we were living in Parker, and I’ve really enjoyed the area we live in. A friend of mine just moved into the same complex and is paying $40 per month more for a smaller place. Right place at the right time for my fiance and I, eh? =)

Gakumen - August 12th, 2005 at 10:15 am

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