(no subject)
Feb. 23rd, 2015 07:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chocolatepotI was really hoping that when we went to look at apartments yesterday, one would jump out at me and I'd take it and everything would be settled. This didn't happen.
The first one was advertised as a spacious loft; it was converted from a carriage house some time ago. You enter through the garage, and come in next to the bathroom and kitchen. Upstairs is one room with a very high ceiling, a row of low windows, and a kind of barn-doory thing with a screen. There's a deck on the back, too. $700, including trash, snow, and electric (heat is gas).
Pro:
+ It's in its own building, no noise overhead or next door from other tenants.
+ Definitely a lot of space to dispose of, I could see using shelves and such to delineate "rooms", and I could definitely have a sewing room area.
+ Garage!
+ The kitchen has a nice long shelf.
+ Not too far from the museum.
Con:
- The windows are placed badly upstairs (shin-level), and for curtains (the bank of them is very long), which is an issue because I'm very sensitive to light levels when I sleep.
- It's toasty warm right now even with the heat turned low, so in the summer it's going to be unbearable; the screen on the barn door is poorly fitted and will let in bugs, and the fan over it (badly "winterized" with newspaper, which he said he would fix) seems ridic loud.
- A bathroom tile and the sink cabinet have to be left open to stay unfrozen in the winter. The only light is a really dim vent one.
- The kitchen feels very slapdash to me, not installed well. Light there is also bad. Overall the apartmentization seems like it was done as quickly as possible to make it rentable, and it's just not good.
- $150 fee for having a cat.
Then we went out to Ogdensburg, to look at an apartment with more actual rooms. Open kitchen/living room, bedroom with hardwood floor, small bathroom with a decent shower. $600, including heat, sewer, water, trash.
Pros:
+ Really cute, it's a bit dated but nothing horrible. I felt very comfortable in it.
+ Lots of windows so there's lots of light - I couldn't have A Sewing Room but there's a perfect place for me to put a sewing table in the living room.
+ Lots of closet space as well.
+ Upstairs, with a good view of a park.
+ Washer and dryer on the premises, downstairs.
+ Off-street parking, very important.
+ I liked the manager/owner - he's from Quebec and was very personable.
+ Price is very good.
+ Cats allowed!
Cons:
- Funny smell, poss. from smoking ex-tenants.
- Tenant downstairs has young child with very piercing voice.
- Half-hour or so from work, most of it on a straight road - high danger of problems when it snows, and especially from drifts even when the winter weather's not too bad.
Couldn't go in because I was scheduling on the fly and couldn't reach the managers (when I did get one, he was an hour away and couldn't get there), but we drove to Harison House, a complex of five or so buildings with a few apartments in each; 1BRs and efficiencies are available. $650 including heat, sewer, trash.
Pros:
+ Floorplan available online for 1BR looks decent. Pictures do as well.
+ Seems like a quiet place, the only tenant we saw was an old lady.
+ In Canton, walkable to most things.
+ Coin-operated laundry in building.
Cons:
- Would have to go back to see it again for real.
- And I left some hella awkward phone messages so I'd kind of like to never talk to them again.
- Do I want to live in possible retirement community?
- No pets, "strictly enforced".
I did get in to see a 1BR above a sports shop at the last minute, too. $600 including every single utility.
Pro:
+ Very good location, just off Main St. so it's close to everything but seems very quiet.
+ Cheap, megacheap.
+ New fridge and microwave.
+ Cat allowed.
Con:
- OH MY GOD IT'S TINY. The bedroom is a closet, the bathroom is a closet, the main room is a slightly larger closet. There are no actual closets
- One window in the entire place.
- Owner seems a bit crazy.
The last one is a definite no, very easy, but the rest are so hard. The Ogdensburg one is the none I would choose hands-down if location weren't a factor ... but location is a factor, this is the frozen north and snow is going to be an issue. Since I want to get a kitten, Harison House isn't a good fit. It's down to Ogdensburg vs. the loft.
I'm going to try to call a few more places, and now I have a better idea of questions to ask (windows, number of rooms, closets, etc.). But I suspect I'm going to have to choose between a shitty apartment and a bad location. :/ They're all year leases, so it's not like I can just move out once I find a better place.
But wherever I land, there's a place called the Bagelry just down the street from the museum where I can buy my bagels, and they have all kinds of hipstery bagel sandwiches as well.
The first one was advertised as a spacious loft; it was converted from a carriage house some time ago. You enter through the garage, and come in next to the bathroom and kitchen. Upstairs is one room with a very high ceiling, a row of low windows, and a kind of barn-doory thing with a screen. There's a deck on the back, too. $700, including trash, snow, and electric (heat is gas).
Pro:
+ It's in its own building, no noise overhead or next door from other tenants.
+ Definitely a lot of space to dispose of, I could see using shelves and such to delineate "rooms", and I could definitely have a sewing room area.
+ Garage!
+ The kitchen has a nice long shelf.
+ Not too far from the museum.
Con:
- The windows are placed badly upstairs (shin-level), and for curtains (the bank of them is very long), which is an issue because I'm very sensitive to light levels when I sleep.
- It's toasty warm right now even with the heat turned low, so in the summer it's going to be unbearable; the screen on the barn door is poorly fitted and will let in bugs, and the fan over it (badly "winterized" with newspaper, which he said he would fix) seems ridic loud.
- A bathroom tile and the sink cabinet have to be left open to stay unfrozen in the winter. The only light is a really dim vent one.
- The kitchen feels very slapdash to me, not installed well. Light there is also bad. Overall the apartmentization seems like it was done as quickly as possible to make it rentable, and it's just not good.
- $150 fee for having a cat.
Then we went out to Ogdensburg, to look at an apartment with more actual rooms. Open kitchen/living room, bedroom with hardwood floor, small bathroom with a decent shower. $600, including heat, sewer, water, trash.
Pros:
+ Really cute, it's a bit dated but nothing horrible. I felt very comfortable in it.
+ Lots of windows so there's lots of light - I couldn't have A Sewing Room but there's a perfect place for me to put a sewing table in the living room.
+ Lots of closet space as well.
+ Upstairs, with a good view of a park.
+ Washer and dryer on the premises, downstairs.
+ Off-street parking, very important.
+ I liked the manager/owner - he's from Quebec and was very personable.
+ Price is very good.
+ Cats allowed!
Cons:
- Funny smell, poss. from smoking ex-tenants.
- Tenant downstairs has young child with very piercing voice.
- Half-hour or so from work, most of it on a straight road - high danger of problems when it snows, and especially from drifts even when the winter weather's not too bad.
Couldn't go in because I was scheduling on the fly and couldn't reach the managers (when I did get one, he was an hour away and couldn't get there), but we drove to Harison House, a complex of five or so buildings with a few apartments in each; 1BRs and efficiencies are available. $650 including heat, sewer, trash.
Pros:
+ Floorplan available online for 1BR looks decent. Pictures do as well.
+ Seems like a quiet place, the only tenant we saw was an old lady.
+ In Canton, walkable to most things.
+ Coin-operated laundry in building.
Cons:
- Would have to go back to see it again for real.
- And I left some hella awkward phone messages so I'd kind of like to never talk to them again.
- Do I want to live in possible retirement community?
- No pets, "strictly enforced".
I did get in to see a 1BR above a sports shop at the last minute, too. $600 including every single utility.
Pro:
+ Very good location, just off Main St. so it's close to everything but seems very quiet.
+ Cheap, megacheap.
+ New fridge and microwave.
+ Cat allowed.
Con:
- OH MY GOD IT'S TINY. The bedroom is a closet, the bathroom is a closet, the main room is a slightly larger closet. There are no actual closets
- One window in the entire place.
- Owner seems a bit crazy.
The last one is a definite no, very easy, but the rest are so hard. The Ogdensburg one is the none I would choose hands-down if location weren't a factor ... but location is a factor, this is the frozen north and snow is going to be an issue. Since I want to get a kitten, Harison House isn't a good fit. It's down to Ogdensburg vs. the loft.
I'm going to try to call a few more places, and now I have a better idea of questions to ask (windows, number of rooms, closets, etc.). But I suspect I'm going to have to choose between a shitty apartment and a bad location. :/ They're all year leases, so it's not like I can just move out once I find a better place.
But wherever I land, there's a place called the Bagelry just down the street from the museum where I can buy my bagels, and they have all kinds of hipstery bagel sandwiches as well.
