What are the pros and cons of your apartment men?

[BlueAlpha1]

My friend and I just moved into a 2 bed, 2 bath apartment in central Florida and we're paying $799 each. However that payment includes utilities, cable, internet, washer and dryer inside the unit, a gym, parking, and it's even furnished including a 60 inch TV. I moved in with just my clothes. Simplified lease with 1 easy payment.

It's a beautiful building and we have a 3rd floor poolside unit. Modern amenities and the kind of place you wouldn't be embarrassed to bring a girl back to. We get a decent value with all that I listed above. Now the problem..it's in a college neighborhood and on the weekends it's WILD down there. I mean out of control...people dangling from balconies, wrestling matches in the pool, screaming until 3 am, drugs, and even people that don't live here showing up for the parties. Weekdays there's noise by the pool but it's bearable.

We're barely a few weeks in and I'm second guessing myself. I am considering finding a sublet, paying the $250 fee and looking at other options. There's a much quieter place 2 miles from here we could rent for $685 each but the neighborhood takes a dip. My friend said he's open to it but it'll take some convincing. This is a very new building and the stairwells and parking lots are already littered with garbage. I give these college kids 2 years before they run the place into the ground.

I'm only 27 and not too old to go try to pull some 21 year old girls so why not just join em? But I start a new job in a few weeks and I'm concerned about the noise when I inevitably end up working weekends. Many days in my life I felt like I was past this party stage and it was time to be a professional and retreat to a quiet place at night. If you filled this building with 35 year old professionals this would be the perfect place.

I would love to leave this college neighborhood and move into a high rise downtown in the business district, but you're looking at $1,500 for a studio there or $2,300 for a 2 BR. Little bit beyond our range right now. FYI I've already invested in a loud fan and some ear plugs, and it does drown 70% of the noise out. I've been on my own since I'm 19 and have easily had a half-dozen landlords, and there's never been a place that didn't have huge flaws. I'm getting frustrated but don't want to get a house.

Is this the price you pay everywhere renting and what are your apt horror stories?

 

[wifehunter]

I find the high price of renting... insulting.

Most of your value is used to have a place to sleep and store your stuff? Pass!!!

I'd rather sleep in my car.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Rent is a ripoff, but condos are only marginally better. I'm currently shopping condos and townhomes. No single family for me, since they are all ancient on the East Coast. The affordable single-family homes need a ton of work.

If you're renting, you want to pay as little as possible and go invest the difference into something meaningful. Paying for a luxury apartment is flushing money down the toilet.

 

[speed dawg]

It's a beautiful building and we have a 3rd floor poolside unit. Modern amenities and the kind of place you wouldn't be embarrassed to bring a girl back to. We get a decent value with all that I listed above. Now the problem..it's in a college neighborhood and on the weekends it's WILD down there. I mean out of control...people dangling from balconies, wrestling matches in the pool, screaming until 3 am, drugs, and even people that don't live here showing up for the parties. Weekdays there's noise by the pool but it's bearable.

No security or staff on the premises at all? Even the crappiest of places has a maintenance man hanging around. You can always call the police, I'm pretty sure all that partying is breaking more than a few laws. I mean, if it calmed down a tad, could you handle it? I'm inclined to think that the whole 'furnished' deal attracts credents as well, the more temporary, the worse people care.

Most apartments I've lived in haven't been too bad. As long as people aren't breaking in my car or beating down my door, I usually don't care. I'd always just turn up the TV.

 

[MatureDJ]

I bought a home as soon as I was settled in a place I wanted to be (my original home location), at age 24. It got flooded, and I ended up getting net 3x the original price 15 years later, bought a cheapo home a while later (I spend most of my time abroad) and have been living off of the equity of that original home while I wait for my IRA to hit a certain level, at which time I will buy a nicer home "that I can die in" with everything I want and the ability to easily add on if I get into a family way.

As for living in an apartment in a college area, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, so long as the noise is not too bad. Having coeds hang out at the swimming pool is a nice feature.

 

[Reptar]

Are you in Orlando?

My apartment is overpriced, unclean, and has had several gunpoint robberies since I've lived there. One night there was a police helicopter outside shining a light looking for somebody. My friend on the other side of the apartment heard gunshots when somebody was killed across the street after being shot several times.

Edit: Lmao if OP lives near me. He described several apartments within 5 minutes of me.

 

[BlueAlpha1]

Are you in Orlando?

My apartment is overpriced, unclean, and has had several gunpoint robberies since I've lived there. One night there was a police helicopter outside shining a light looking for somebody. My friend on the other side of the apartment heard gunshots when somebody was killed across the street after being shot several times.

Edit: Lmao if OP lives near me. He described several apartments within 5 minutes of me.

About 75 miles from Orlando but I've seen the helicopters and seen gunshots too. This neighborhood isn't like that but we're not too far from the ones that are.

 

[BlueAlpha1]

EyeBRollin: I disagree that renting is "flushing money down the toilet." It's a matter of preferences. Sure you're right that it's a non-investment and produces 0 return, but for a single dude, I can't stress the simplicity of what I described. People rent for simplicity, so they don't have to pay homeowners insurance, stress about thousands every year in repairs, or cut their own grass. This kind of place are corporate-style apartments that take simplicity to a whole new level. There is 1 bill that consolidates the rent with a comprehensive amenities package. I might not be getting a return but it really simplifies life. And I have lived at the cheapest place possible 2 miles from here. Shootings, drug dealing, ex cons for neighbors who beg for rides because their license has been revoked for too many DUIs. Living with spoiled and rowdy college kids takes one order of patience, but is much better than the former.

speedawg: There is a security guard. They are good about responding to noise complaints from individuals inside their apartment, but this was a party with 50 students by the pool. They laughed at him. The police showed up twice and inexplicably didn't shut it down and send everyone home. As soon as the police left, they started right up again. But tonight you can hear a pin drop out there. You can actually meditate it's so serene. I guess it's going to be like this 4 days a week, quiet Sunday-Wednesday, a little wild on Thursday, and stark raving lunacy on the weekends. I'm going to ask the landlord to institute a 12 am pool curfew. Kick everyone out and send them packing to the bars. We have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The furniture isn't bad. It's a luxury apartment with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, the works. $1600 for a 2 BR in central FL gets you a quality unit. And for a guy like me who moves and travels a lot, the furniture is a godsend.

MatureDJ: Good on you for getting equity while you're young. My dream is to own a youth hostel so I plan to have a future in real estate. I hope I have the cajones I'm sure that it takes...And you're right about the co-ed thing. If nothing else I'll get a few bangs out of this lease.

 

[Reptar]

About 75 miles from Orlando but I've seen the helicopters and seen gunshots too. This neighborhood isn't like that but we're not too far from the ones that are.

I assume the noise is too loud for ear plugs to block?

What about white noise and ear plugs, is that enough to block the noise?

I would be concerned with that if it affected getting a good night's sleep.

 

[Bible_Belt]

You're not in Tampa, are you? There's not very many places in central Florida that have inner-city crime.

When I lived there I had a nice 2 bedroom. 1.5 bath condo in a quiet neighborhood of old people. It was in Temple Terrace, by USF. My wife and I paid $550 a month, no condo fees, electric and water included. That was 1997-2000. The neighbors were paying $750 for the exact same unit. They moved into ours when we moved out.

We left when I got a job in Macon, Georgia. I found a house for rent for $1,200 and managed to negotiate it down to $900 a month. To this day, it is the nicest house I have ever lived in. Rich neighborhood, huge lot, 20' ceilings in living room, 3/3 with garage. We were too poor to afford heat in the winter, but damnit I lived in a fvcking mansion.

 

[BlueAlpha1]

You're not in Tampa, are you? There's not very many places in central Florida that have inner-city crime.

When I lived there I had a nice 2 bedroom. 1.5 bath condo in a quiet neighborhood of old people. It was in Temple Terrace, by USF. My wife and I paid $550 a month, no condo fees, electric and water included. That was 1997-2000. The neighbors were paying $750 for the exact same unit. They moved into ours when we moved out.

We left when I got a job in Macon, Georgia. I found a house for rent for $1,200 and managed to negotiate it down to $900 a month. To this day, it is the nicest house I have ever lived in. Rich neighborhood, huge lot, 20' ceilings in living room, 3/3 with garage. We were too poor to afford heat in the winter, but damnit I lived in a fvcking mansion.

You guessed it. Near USF. There's some really sketchy areas here, but I do like Tampa. I am in a nice new building made up with a lot of trust fund college kids, but you don't wanna wander too far away from here. It's a shining star in a generally ghetto area.

Would like to graduate to the downtown area within another year or 2. They have built no less than three 25+ story skyscrapers downtown recently and there are 2 or 3 more under construction. Hopefully with a half dozen highrises soon there it will increase competition and decrease the inflated pricing. The business district is growing and expanding here. I would love to live in one of these places with a view of the bay, but like I said you're looking at $1,500 solo and $2200 for two people. I just got a new job and if I net more than $50,000 in 2017 I might be able to justify the move in 2018. Wouldn't go solo, but by then maybe I could get a 2 BR for under 2k, and splitting the cost amounts to under a grand a month. I could justify that living downtown with a view among mostly professionals.

Where are you now Bible_Belt?

 

[Desdinova]

I have absolutely no regrets from buying my first house at age 25. Once I inherit my parents' property, I will be renting it out, renting out my own property, and putting the money into a nice home.

If I rent out my current house, exactly half of the rent will be going toward paying the mortgage and the other half would just be profit. When I reach the point where selling the other two houses would pay off my new one, I'll know that I'm essentially debt-free.

 

[Bible_Belt]

I lived in a place called Raintree Manor. It's on Fowler, just east of 56th Street. If you keep going on Fowler past I-75, it turns into a redneck town called Thonotosassa. It's white trash trailer town, but cheap as hell, and surprisingly low crime. Most of Florida is redneck.

Before that I lived way down south, next to MacDill AFB. Extreme south Tampa never scared me. It's old and forgotten.

One of my friends is the best mortgage broker in Tampa, if you ever consider buying property he's the best loan guy.

I moved back to Illinois in 2002. Right now I live rent-free in one of my grandparent's rental properties. I'm the maintenance man for the other rentals, but I don't do much work. It's a trailer, but a 3/2 newer one, nicer than most houses I have lived in. I gutted a lot of it and remodeled it when I moved in. This place would rent for $500-600 if we tried. The other rental houses and trailers go for $400/mo, which shows you how cheap it is to live around here.

 

[Atom Smasher]

OP, plexiglass has amazing sound-deadening qualities. You could put plexi sheets over your windows. It's the same stuff they make drummer shields out of to prevent drums from being too loud at a small venue.

Might be worth some investigation. I live in an ultra-quiet place now, but in the past I used to run my air cleaner in my bedroom. It made a pleasant "white noise" sound while cleaning the air. It helped tremendously in masking outside sounds.

 

[dustmuffin]

I live in one side of a duplex with a garage apt in the back.

Pros: it's mine and paid for, I receive rent from two tenants. It's a small one bedroom so the utilities are cheap. It's quiet most of the time.

Cons: it's in the Barrio so it's like living in mexico. Drunk mexicans drive the streets quite often. There are loads of hobos. I can't take a walk around the neighborhood because of safety concerns. Gun shots are heard from time to time.

I went from a 3000 sqft home in the most expensive part of town to this 600 sqft duplex. It was a drastic change but have learned to like it. I remodeled the inside, stainless appliances, washer dryer, tile in bathroom. It may not be perfect but it suits my needs.

When my dad passes I will move into his home. 800 sqft in a slightly better part of town. It's paid for. I don't plan on paying rent or a mortgage till the day I die. Better to be cash rich and have a modest home.

 

[BetterCallSaul]

Actually living at a place that's considered to be party central is an awesome idea when you're around 19-20. When you get a little older it typically doesn't appeal to you anymore. This is not unusual for you. So, if you bring a girl back to your place who's a smoking 8, and there's a huge party going on outside and suppose she looks out the window to take a peak...now what? All she has to do is say "Hey that party looks like fun, let's go check it out for a few minutes".

You lose.

You can answer only a couple different ways, but no matter which way you answer, you lose the lay. You say no, you're a controlling a$$hole. You say yes, you both go down there, and there's now a new venue for a sausage party. Location: your girl's pu$$y.

Find a new apartment.

 

[MatureDJ]

I moved back to Illinois in 2002. Right now I live rent-free in one of my grandparent's rental properties. I'm the maintenance man for the other rentals, but I don't do much work. It's a trailer, but a 3/2 newer one, nicer than most houses I have lived in. I gutted a lot of it and remodeled it when I moved in. This place would rent for $500-600 if we tried. The other rental houses and trailers go for $400/mo, which shows you how cheap it is to live around here.

How easy do you find trailer women?

 

[Bible_Belt]

I don't know what a "trailer woman" is. I have a nicer home than any woman I've fvcked in a while. Living in one of the poorest areas of the country, I am rich by local standards, or at least richer than most people around here.

 

[BlueAlpha1]

Actually living at a place that's considered to be party central is an awesome idea when you're around 19-20. When you get a little older it typically doesn't appeal to you anymore. This is not unusual for you. So, if you bring a girl back to your place who's a smoking 8, and there's a huge party going on outside and suppose she looks out the window to take a peak...now what? All she has to do is say "Hey that party looks like fun, let's go check it out for a few minutes".

You lose.

You can answer only a couple different ways, but no matter which way you answer, you lose the lay. You say no, you're a controlling a$$hole. You say yes, you both go down there, and there's now a new venue for a sausage party. Location: your girl's pu$$y.

Find a new apartment.

The other way to look at it is you meet girls by the pool on the weekend that are drunk and you don't have to go far to escalate. Forget leaving the bar and getting a 20 minute cab. 3 floors on the elevator.

And I wouldn't choose my apartment just for bang logistics lol

 

[Julian]

buy land, build compound to live. then rent apartment in the city to ball out and have fun.