Your Apartment Stories, Please (page 2)

Southland

Bendrr,

I too got a chuckle out of your $450 rent "horror" story. Those of us that live in Southern California would give anything to have rent that cheap. My mortgage is over $2500/month!

Prisca

Yeah, I had a giggle at Bendrr's "problem" of having to pay $450 a month.

I pay $210 a week for a 2 bedroom apartment in suburban Sydney.

One weird experience was about 12 years ago. There was a woman in one of the units next to me, who was an alcoholic. She was nice enough, and we kinda looked out for each other.

Anyway, this guy from the units behind us used to get his kicks by tapping on her bedroom window late at night. He never knocked on her door, or did anything else, but just tapped on her window to scare her or whatever. She used to tell me about it, and it understandably shook her up a bit (and probably added to her alcohol problem too).

Up to this stage I hadn't heard him, until one night I couldn't sleep and I heard him come home (from the pub), park his car, and walk over to our block of units, and he then started tapping on her window. So I crept out into my loungeroom which was right next to her bedroom window, as I was worried about him hearing me. I called the police, and they arrrived about 15 mins later. By this time the guy had gone back to his own place, but they interviewed me and my next door neighbour, then went to speak to the guy who was harrassing her.

Nothing happened to the guy, but the late-night window tapping stopped after that.

Reborn2002

Southland said:

My mortgage is over $2500/month!

What type of work do you do to pay your mortgage every month? JEEZ

Edited by - Reborn2002 on 4 August 2002 4:17:15

sunshineToo

Mortgage over $2,500? That sounds about right.

Bendrr

Hey Southland and Sunshine! I live in Macon, GA. Where do you live?

The average rent is pretty reasonable in Macon. Even the high-dollar apartments in high-security complexes are probably just around a grand a month. The section of the downtown historic district I live in is populated mostly by college students, so the rent tends to be fairly reasonable.

Prisca, I didn't mean to come across as saying $450 was a problem. The apartment was well worth the price and I could and can definitely afford it. I just decided that I'd rather pay less so I started searching and found this one for $300. Rent is money that goes right out the window and you never see it again.

Now if you really want a shocker, my first apartment back in 93 only ran me $175/month. A good friend of mine has a small apartment in a duplex that she only pays $150/month for.

I take it you're renting (or have rented in the past) in an apartment complex. Here's some advice. Take the time to search out and find private individuals who rent out apartments. It takes some work on your part. You have to interview and screen your landlord, much like apartment complexes screen tenants, but remember that you are the customer. Leasing companies tend to forget that fact, and many times they turn the relationship around and treat you like a subordinate. Private individuals who own a house or two that they've converted into apartments run their businesses differently. The good ones always remember that you are their customer and treat you as such. Ever since that first $175/month apartment (did I mention that for the 3 years I lived there I never locked my doors?) I've always found good landlords and to this day if I were to need a place to stay I could call any one of them and know I'd be taken care of. Just try that with some leasing company.

But hey y'all, I'm getting off the subject. What about your stories? The good, bad, and ugly of apartments. Stinkydrawz laid some good ones on us, so somebody get busy and top them!

When I get my DSL connection transferred over here next week, I'll post some pics. Why don't y'all post some too?

Mike.

Southland

Reborn said:

Southland said:
My mortgage is over $2500/month!
What type of work do you do to pay your mortgage every month? JEEZ

I'm in Informations Technology. But this is a typical mortgage amount for Southern California where the AVERAGE home goes for over $310,000. The true cost is probably closer to $1600/month when you factor in the tax writeoff benefit. Wanna trade places? :) I was in Chicago a few months ago - nice place!

noidea

I was afraid to read this thread..I am off tomorrow to look for an apartment..Everyone wish me luck.

Prisca

Good luck noidea!

Bendrr, I've been living in units and apartments for over a decade now, and I agree that having a private landlord is a good way to go. Some landlords are a pain to deal with when you want things fixed, but the ones I have now are above reproach - always curteous, swift to fix things, without being busy-bodies. And the rent is cheaper becos there's no middle-man.

d

I stayed over a friends apartment and it was cold,their was no heat and he wanted me to move in. lucklily I did not he found something better.

JWdaughter

Last summer I lived in Egypt and was getting ready to move back home so I took a bag of kitchen supplies/equipment to my next door neighbor, a Sri Lankan Christian man who had previously been nice enough.

Because of the lighting system, after a few seconds, the light by the front doors in the hallway goes out. I had my flat door open, but I guess not much light drifted through. It was about the middle of September and anyone watching the news would think that Cairo was a hotbed of unrest. Anyone living there knew differently (at the time, mind you!), but apparently this guy wasn't paying attention to the actual city that he lived in (to be fair, we lived close to the edge and he worked farther outside the central area at a large clothing factory and took long hours at work.)

So, by the time he got to the door, the landing light was off and he couldn't see me well. My nice, female, middle aged self was rather shocked to be greeted at the door by the terrified man holding a LOADED pistol (of some sort, I'm not a handgun kinda gal). He told me he was scared because of the news. Well, we lived in a very secure, locked building and had a gate guard, to boot! PLUS, we only had 3 apartments in the entire building-our upstairs neighbor owned it and there was a preschool downstairs).

I kinda forgive him for scaring the sh*t outa me, but OTOH, I turned on the internet as soon as I got back in to see if something happened that actually warranted his panic (another soccer ruckus in Tahrir!) and found that my dear friend and prom date from HS had just died. That was a really crap day. And its my only dramatic apartment story except for the crack vial I found while living in the Bronx in 1987. The only shocking thing is probably that I only found ONE there in nearly a year at the flat. Wait, I managed an apartment once where we had a suicide (glad I wasn't that clean up crew!) and the head manager yelled at the family of the tenant who killed himself(he was using steroids-DON'T DO IT) about the deposit. The manager was an evil old biddy.Nothing good to say there, I'm afraid!

Your Apartment Stories, Please

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