<p>I'm looking for apartments for the upcoming term, but I don't know where I should draw boundries as far as safety goes. I found a couple apartments that fit my budget, but I don't know how they rate in terms of safety. Anyone who is farmiliar in the Philly area want to tell me where I should and shouldn't go? I hear the North Philly is a terrible place, but I most of the apartments I found there are located a couple blocks above from Drexel. How far should I go in any direction before I encounter shady areas?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I would think your classmates and friends would have a better handle on where to look (and might be looking for roomates!) vs. folks here. Also check on-campus offices (Student Housing should have info on off-campus apartments). CC tends to be more folks looking to attend than already attending. </p>
<p>One piece of advice - have your parents review the lease before you sign anything or give them any deposit money. We negotiated out of S’s lease a lot of egrigous terms and conditions and costs the landlord (another college in another city/state) told us they left in unless the parents got involved or they had a particularly clueful student tennant. IOW, the landlords will try to take massive advantage of you. Good luck.</p>
<p>Don’t look too far North indeed. The community degrades quickly, as well as too far West.
If I were to draw perimeters of where I’d need my next apartment to be in terms of safety it would be this.</p>
<p>North - Haverford. This is even a bit stretch and I would only look near here if I had to.
South - Pretty much as far as your comfortably willing to commute. It is not directly South as there is Penn but southwest is good.
East - Well, there isn’t much in this direction as there is the river and then into the city.
West - Depending on your comfort I’d say about 38th. The farther west you are, the less north you want to be. And you don’t want to be past 40th.</p>
<p>Those are rough guidelines. I live at 39th north of lancaster and at times it can be a bit sketchy. The extra money you pay to get closer to Drexel is money well spent if you can afford it.</p>
<p>Live in an area that public safety patrols. I live on 34th and Spring Garden, and I’ve never ran into any trouble. When it’s late, I get public safety to walk me home (especially if I have any valuables on me). Spring Garden is actually a nice street, and my whole block is filled with students!!</p>
<p>The best advice is to always be aware of your surroundings and try not to walk by yourself at night if you’re a girl. I’ve walked home alone at midnight before and haven’t run into any “bad guys,” but it’s probably not the smartest thing to do. :-P</p>