Apartment Hunting Sucks! (Image Heavy)

[Solitary]

Funny thing is growing up in lily white suburban Amurka our place was broken into multiple times. As an adult living in crime infested cities I've never been broken into.
Maybe it's the permanent scowl on my face when I go out that scares em off.  

Or it could be the swastika tattoo on your fore head. :shock:  :P    Solitary

[stromboli]

Funny thing is growing up in lily white suburban Amurka our place was broken into multiple times. As an adult living in crime infested cities I've never been broken into.
Maybe it's the permanent scowl on my face when I go out that scares em off.  

That makes sense if you think about it. Less stuff worth robbing in the ghetto. the good stuff is out there in suburbia.

Wolf, I suspect the area you live in is fairly upscale, which means a house is out of the question. My only thought on apartment hunting is thank bejeesus I don't have to do that anymore, because it really sucks. Good luck on your quest there, O gallant knight!


Gaily bedight,
 A gallant knight,
 In sunshine and in shadow,
 Had journeyed long,
 Singing a song,
 In search of Eldorado.

 But he grew old-
 This knight so bold-
 And o'er his heart a shadow
 Fell as he found
 No spot of ground
 That looked like Eldorado.

 And, as his strength
 Failed him at length,
 He met a pilgrim shadow-
 "Shadow," said he,
 "Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"

 "Over the Mountains
 Of the Moon,
 Down the Valley of the Shadow,
 Ride, boldly ride,"
 The shade replied-
 "If you seek for Eldorado!"

 
Edgar Allan Poe

(um, just for information, "gaily bedight" means fancily attired)  :-D

[AllPurposeAtheist]

It's all a matter of probability In a good neighborhood you have a lower chance of crime.  In a bad neighborhood you have a higher chance.  I for one lived in a middle-class white town growing up and never once had come across any crime committed against us personally.

I moved to a lower class neighborhood and in a matter of weeks my radio and subwoofer were stolen out of my car.  Then my friend about 1 minute from my house had all of his tires slashed and his top slashed.  The crime rate in the local area was horrible (hence why I left the minute I could).

There was my taste of living near the low class, ghetto-ass hoodlums... No thanks!

Yeah...the key is to not advertise that you have stuff to steal.
I understand the fear, but it's the same argument the right wing gun nuts use. I suppose I could move to the white enclaves and pretend that it's all crime free, but it's illusionary.
I'm not faulting you at all, just know there's plenty of crime in the burbs too. The difference is how they steal your stuff. They tend to do it with paper where you never see a face to connect to the crime.

[wolf39us]

I have two extremely nice scooters... where shall I put those.  Or how about my brand new car and the 2 12inch woofer in the back?

Not exactly something I can "hide".

Currently I turn down my bass before I pull into my complex to reduce advertisement.  Doesn't stop some jerk from trying to break into my car or just simply walk off with my scooters.

[hillbillyatheist]

right wingers do prey on peoples fears, and even invent things to fear, like gays and atheists or mexicans.

but some fears are justified. I don't want shot in a driveby, or mugged and have my iphone stolen from me while waiting on the bus, I don't want burglarized, or anything else.

now its true that crime can happen anywhere. but as wolf said its also true that some neighborhoods have a higher probability, and I'd like to lower my odds as much as possible.  

This means finding a neighborhood where crime is low. I check crime stats at potential places and to my never ending frustration every place that looks affordable has sky high crime and/or is rundown ghettos.
at least in Denver. In Norman Oklahoma, theres places I can afford that are nicer and safer, but I'd be stuck living in the most republican state in the union. a state where the teabagger crazy governor is being challenged as not republican enough in a primary, and where the democrats aren't even sure they'll bother to even field a candidate since it's a hopeless cause.

This does not bode well.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Well there's the rub. Cities are becoming gentrified and poor people are being forced slowly away from city centers where access to services and infrastructure are usually not well thought out or in many cases non-existent,  older suburban neighborhoods that are crumbling and nobody is in a big hurry to develop the infrastructure to serve the people. The rentals are overpriced,  crime rising and thus the illusion.

Thinking about crime infested cities I have to walk across the street to go get a pack of smokes.  :shock:   :-k

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Good news.. I survived! I only had to kill 20 people.  :-$

[hillbillyatheist]

LOL I sense sarcasm. Try waiting on a bus late at night in a shady place and have an iphone 5S out. try walking out of your house to a guitar lesson with a nice 700 dollar guitar you couldn't hope to replace if stolen because you're broke. Assuming my mugger lets me live.

I have a few simi nice nice things I've managed to scrape up over the years, and I don't have money to replace them. So for me this is a big deal. Its a fully justified fear, and one which makes me resent our current economy where poor people are forced to live in undesirable locations, full of roaches, bed bugs, thugs, and drugs and where the heater, AC, water, fridge etc doesn't work half the time.

unlike the middle class and rich who live in safe homes with working appliances, no constant bug infestations,  and relative safety. and where they can afford insurance just in case they do get robbed.  

I have a friend who has offered to let me move in with him as a roommate. if I stay here thats a serious option. otherwise Its more than likely back to oklahoma for me.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Try Columbus hba.. Rents aren't to bad and crime isn't over the top.. Like anywhere you go there's always gonna be some crime,  but the real shitty hoods are fairly easy to avoid. It's a big college town so it's wired and most bus routes are safe for the most part.

[hillbillyatheist]

I have no means to get to Columbus right now. LOL If I find a place here in Denver, my sister will help me move. if I move back to oklahoma my dad will drive up here and help me move back.

if I wanted to move to columbus I'd have to leave all my stuff behind and hitch hike. LOL

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I have no means to get to Columbus right now. LOL If I find a place here in Denver, my sister will help me move. if I move back to oklahoma my dad will drive up here and help me move back.

if I wanted to move to columbus I'd have to leave all my stuff behind and hitch hike. LOL

LOL.. Sounds like my life man.. I showed up here with the clothes on my back then lived in homeless shelters for a year. I did more than my share of hitch hiking back before gray hair.. :-$

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Get an apartment in Atlanta, the cockroaches come preinstalled!

[Johan]

I'm only looking to rent --

Is there a reason you want to pay someone else's mortgage for them instead of your own?

Yes, because I enjoy convenience.  And for me it's convenient to have to only pay rent and not worry about things like taxes, maintenance, other mortgage related fees.  Not to mention I am not one to stay at one place for long.

Well that's all valid. I don't agree with it for myself obviously but its valid and it works for you which what's important.

This on the other hand....

Also, I don't like to gamble... taking out a mortgage for someone who likes to move around is a gamble on the housing markets.

This statement makes no sense at all. Its absolutely true that housing markets ebb and flow and therefore there is always a certain exposure to risk when buying a house. But the risk exposure is loss of value/money. So its true that renting does not carry that gamble. But renting does not carry that gamble because when you rent, it is guaranteed that every dollar you invest into renting is a dollar that will be lost. Guaranteed no return on investment beyond the 30 days you're living there. Whereas with owning, its a gamble that might not get a return on your investment. But even in cases when you take a loss, it is extremely rare for the loss to be 100%.

So sorry Charlie, but this dog just won't hunt. I know it sounds like I'm arguing with you here but I'm not. You don't need any reason to justify your preferences beyond 'because I want to' so you're good no matter what. But that gamble for owning thing just does not fly. No matter what the market does, you can always sell any property at any time so long as you price it properly. So that could mean taking a loss on the money invested. But when you compare that to renting where there is a 100% chance that you will take a 100% loss on every dollar invested, it just doesn't make sense as a reason to justify renting. Lots of other reasons make sense and you've touched on some of them above. But not this one. Any way you stack it, taking a guaranteed 100% loss on your money will never make sense from a dollars and cents standpoint when the alternative is significantly lower than a 100% chance of taking a 100% loss.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I'm thinking of building a micro house, but the idea of a storage container has some appeal because they're actually pretty well built. Just add insulation and cut out holes for windows. They're stackable too. I worked in a factory that built them.
The hard part is transporting them.

[Johan]

The hard part is transporting them.

They're shipping containers. Being transported is pretty much the only thing they're designed to do.