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The Apartment Hunter
Aug. 25th, 2003 09:25 amHere we are in the wilds of Houston, looking for the elusive, affordable apartment. There's a list of amenities and expectations I have for a new place. There's also a sense of urgency, since I've made a slight error in knowing when my lease was up here at Running Rats Acres.
I got a notice that my lease was up This Month here, and they offered $200 off one month and the same rate I've been paying on this apartment. Well, I don't like the place that much, and I know that they are charging $50 less than what I'm paying to new renters. Shouldn't I get that same rate?
Well, I thought the lease was up in September, but it's not. I can't move this week, so I'll be paying the Month-to-month rate, which is $100 more. There's $100 wasted, plus i have to look at paying a new application fee and deposit. UGH. I will be giving my 30 day notice when I pay the rent.
So out and about this weekend, I looked at about 15 different properties. I've narrowed down the list to three. One is two blocks from where I like now, another is about a mile west, and there's the one that's about 7-8 miles out west. They all have their pros and cons. I like the closest one. It has all of the amenities I want, but it's the most expensive. The furthest one has the amenities, but is more than 10 miles from work, and it's a tough drive in the morning. The last one is the cheapest, but doesn't have everything I want.
So affordable, distant, or expensive.
My favorite ones to go into are the ones that you find are totally out of your price range. You look around, and have to kindly bow out, because you know having the rest of the conversation is pointless. i still like to go on the tour, though. I think it's fun to make them do their little tour guide thing.
It's even funnier when you get to one that you know sucks, and you go on tour and you get to hear them try to hit the positives. I almost wish I could tour Running Rats Acres anonymously so I could grill them on all of the negative things about this place. Yea mean streak!
The most fun I had was on the trip out to the far west one. Melissa was nice. She's also a mac user, and she was talking about having trouble hooking up to the internet and all, so I was helping her, giving her tips and all. She was happy that I could help. I mentioned cable systems, a big selling point for me, since I like TV, and I hate the super-sad cable system your forced to get here at Running Rats. She told me theirs was Time Warner (better) and we started talking TV shows. She mentioned American Chopper, and I said that Paul Jr. was cute - whoops! Guess who's out!
We both had a good laugh. The price was right, but they wouldn't have a unit open until October. this was bad, I don't want to have to pay for another month renting this place. Of course, i don't want the drive, either.
So I guess I'll be looking at the expensive one further. I like it. More than that, it will be the easiest move, and I think the floorplan is the best. I just wonder if I can negotiate the price a bit. We'll see.
I got a notice that my lease was up This Month here, and they offered $200 off one month and the same rate I've been paying on this apartment. Well, I don't like the place that much, and I know that they are charging $50 less than what I'm paying to new renters. Shouldn't I get that same rate?
Well, I thought the lease was up in September, but it's not. I can't move this week, so I'll be paying the Month-to-month rate, which is $100 more. There's $100 wasted, plus i have to look at paying a new application fee and deposit. UGH. I will be giving my 30 day notice when I pay the rent.
So out and about this weekend, I looked at about 15 different properties. I've narrowed down the list to three. One is two blocks from where I like now, another is about a mile west, and there's the one that's about 7-8 miles out west. They all have their pros and cons. I like the closest one. It has all of the amenities I want, but it's the most expensive. The furthest one has the amenities, but is more than 10 miles from work, and it's a tough drive in the morning. The last one is the cheapest, but doesn't have everything I want.
So affordable, distant, or expensive.
My favorite ones to go into are the ones that you find are totally out of your price range. You look around, and have to kindly bow out, because you know having the rest of the conversation is pointless. i still like to go on the tour, though. I think it's fun to make them do their little tour guide thing.
It's even funnier when you get to one that you know sucks, and you go on tour and you get to hear them try to hit the positives. I almost wish I could tour Running Rats Acres anonymously so I could grill them on all of the negative things about this place. Yea mean streak!
The most fun I had was on the trip out to the far west one. Melissa was nice. She's also a mac user, and she was talking about having trouble hooking up to the internet and all, so I was helping her, giving her tips and all. She was happy that I could help. I mentioned cable systems, a big selling point for me, since I like TV, and I hate the super-sad cable system your forced to get here at Running Rats. She told me theirs was Time Warner (better) and we started talking TV shows. She mentioned American Chopper, and I said that Paul Jr. was cute - whoops! Guess who's out!
We both had a good laugh. The price was right, but they wouldn't have a unit open until October. this was bad, I don't want to have to pay for another month renting this place. Of course, i don't want the drive, either.
So I guess I'll be looking at the expensive one further. I like it. More than that, it will be the easiest move, and I think the floorplan is the best. I just wonder if I can negotiate the price a bit. We'll see.
