<p>I'm new to apartment hunting. Do you all have any tips on what to ask, do or research when apartment hunting? (i mean like everything!!). also do you know of any good apartments that are cheap?</p>
<p>Before I even went into the leasing office i drove around the neighborhood first, get a feel for what’s going on in the area, drive around the apartment’s parking lot and see if you can get a glance at other residents etc. Very important: drive by the place at night. It can be a nice place during the day and at night turns into a ghetto nightmare. </p>
<p>This were the main questions I asked, I’m sure there are more. There can always be more questions:</p>
<p>Are any utilities included?
What is the average utility bill?
Is it pre-wired for alarm system? (adt, safetouch…)
I have both a cat and a dog, is that ok?
Is there an additional fee for pets?
Additional pet rent?
What are the parking arrangements?
Is there a difference price between upstairs and downstairs units?
is it a gated community?
What are the move-in fees? (app. fee, security deposit, pet fee, first month’s rent…?)
Is the security deposit refundable?
If there are any pet fees, are these refundable?
What are the lease terms, 7 mo, 12 mo?
Are sublets allowed? Do I need an approval for subleasing?</p>
<p>Then on this link you’ll find my experience apartment hunting, and in the following threads there’s other people’s input. Good luck!</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-florida/1080138-accepted-denied-uf-transfer-fall-2011-a-39.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-florida/1080138-accepted-denied-uf-transfer-fall-2011-a-39.html</a></p>
<p>Agree with above.
You want to see the parking lot empty during the day(everyone’s at work or school) no loiterers.
Drive by at night to see who is hanging around the complex-parking lot, laundry room, mail place.
Any apt complex security? Frequent drive by many times a day of security patrol car?
If you are a light sleeper, the AC unit for building not outside your window.
Same thing about dumpsters, you don’t want to be awakened several times a week by the pickups.</p>
<p>Ask residents about how loud neighbors are, or how often they hear others walking up the stairwell or just walking around above them. Get the top floor if you don’t want to deal with as much of that. See if there is an elevator and if it ever works.</p>
<p>If utilities are included, see what the allowance is. 30 dollars doesn’t go very far if you ever plan to be inside the apartment or have the AC on. Check the bus routes, and distance/time from there. </p>
<p>You’re probably looking at pretty slim pickings at this point in time, check out craigslist though. I found a luxury condo across the street from campus for 450 a month and have already met the roommate.</p>
<p>Things that I think are important are:
- The bus line. How often does it run? How far along on the route is the stop? This is really important, since it’s pretty hard to find parking at school. You want to be on a good route - for example, The Estates is a great complex and is the first stop on the way back from campus… BUT, on the way to school, it’s the last stop on the route, meaning that the bus may not stop since it might be full. That’s not always an issue, but it is certainly something to keep in mind when considering where you want to live.
- How much security is offered? And how safe is the general area, and the complex? This is kind of hard to find out sometimes unless if you’ve lived in Gainesville for a while, because the people who work at the complex are often going to give you a skewed view… but you can ask residents. Which brings me to my next point…
- What do the apartments that residents actually live in look like? Are they in good condition? When I toured my new apartment complex, they not only took us to look at a model, but they also took us to view a resident’s apartment. How it works is they ask the resident for permission, and give them 24 hour’s notice. This is important, because the model is going to look great, of course, since they clean it often and nobody has ever lived in it - but you want to see what the regular units look like, that people have lived in before. If the people who give tours don’t offer this option, you can probably ask someone to see theirs - we did this, too. It sounds weird, but it’s really not a big deal - it happens often.
- Parking is pretty important, too. Some places (like the complexes near downtown, and sorority row) have parking garages or street parking, which kind of sucks and can also be expensive. I’d recommend a complex that doesn’t charge for parking. There are more than enough complexes that have free parking, that you really should not have to consider a complex that charges for parking (unless if you just really like the complex).
- And finally, convenience. It doesn’t necessarily have to be right next to campus - this is not as important as you think. However, you do want to be near things such as a grocery store, stores like Walgreens or Target or CVS, some restaurants or fast food places, etc. This, in my opinion, is very important, because you don’t want to have to drive 15-20 minutes to get to the closest drugstore if you need medicine in the middle of the night, or to get to a grocery store or whatever.</p>
<p>I’ve lived in Gainesville for a year now, so while I obviously don’t know everything, I do have a good amount of knowledge about “good areas” and what complexes are worth it, and which ones are not. I recommend the complexes around SW 35th to a lot of people - University Club, Lexington Crossing, The Enclave, Gainesville Place, etc. They are all nice, good prices, and convenient to a lot of things (including campus) and have good bus lines. I also like the apartments on 20th and 62nd - there’s a bunch. Right now, there’s some crazy construction going on, making getting places kind of difficult, but once it’s done (everyone seems to think it’ll be done by fall’s start) it should be even easier and quicker to get to campus. Those complexes are The Estates, Cabana Beach, Canopy, The Woodlands, District on 62nd… and more. There’s a side road that makes it really convenient to get to Butler Plaza, it’s pretty close to the mall, and there are a few bus routes that run for those complexes, and they are good routes (except in the case of The Estates).</p>