Off campus apartment question... well, Berkeley area question in general.

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Hey all,
Alright, I don't know why it never occured to me to ask here but I suppose it's never too late, and I know it's a little long but bear with me, the extra info seemed important. I'm transferring up to Berkeley from L.A. as a spring admit, but I'm moving up for the fall session because I'm taking classes for extension and I already put in transfer paperwork with my job. So I've been making trips up that way checking out apartments. So far I've looked in Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, and El Cerrito. Berkeley apartments were horrible... small, old buildings, terrible floorplans, waaaay overpriced, I just generally hated everything about them aside from the proximity to campus. Emeryville seemed like a nice area, although those outdoor malls seem to encompass the whole city, in fact I don't think I saw a single supermarket. The apartments were ok, but still a little small for the price. Oakland had massive floorplans for dirt cheap, and some of the areas I checked out in North Oakland were kind of nice, but it's a fair distance from campus and I'm pretty lazy. Also I'm going to be working right near the campus anyway so it's also a drive to work.</p>

<p>El Cerrito won me over, seemed like a decent area, good size floorplan for the price, and the essential living stores (supermarkets, Costco, Sam's Club, BevMo!, etc.) all seemed in close proximity. And yes I realized I listed BevMo! as an essential. It also was significantly closer to campus than Oakland. So I dropped a security deposit to lock up one I saw that had this massive patio and it looks like I'll be there, but the place won't be available for about three weeks so I can always just back out of the lease and forfeit the security deposit if I find something better.</p>

<p>My question is, have I overlooked anything in this whole process? Is there some magical city in between that the apartment app on my phone ignored? Is El Cerrito secretly the heart of all gang wars? Should I expect my walls to be pierced by gunfire? Is there a way to get a good sized place in Emeryville without paying some obscene amount? For the thousand square feet I'm getting in El Cerrito at $1700 I'd be paying about $2300+ in Emeryville at the places I looked.
Thoughts? Ideas?
Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>Actually, the “magical” city between El Cerrito and Berkeley is Albany, but I doubt prices will be low as El Cerrito. It looks like you did quite a research and made a good choice.</p>

3

<p>Y’know I checked Albany out just driving through and I didn’t see a single apartment building with a leasing sign up. I checked the apartments app and the apartment websites, nothing. So I dunno what’s up with that place.</p>

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<p>Ive been living in Albany for a year now and there’s quite a few apts for rent here. Check down Solano ave (on the hill), Marin st, and Cornell street. There’s also a bunch of apts close to the El Cerrito Plaza but I don’t know if you wanted to live that close to the Bart. Try driving around a bit you’ll see em, not sure why they aren’t listed online.</p>

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<p>most areas in El Cerrito are not the center of gang wars lol. Generally, in the Albany-Oakland-Berkeley-EC area, the more you are on the hill, the less sketchy it is.</p>