Apartment Hunting

So I've been apartment hunting and have completely given up. Wanting to live near NY just isn't worth it. Everything I see on apartments.com and rent.com looks decent enough, but when I go to apartmentratings.com I'm disappointed and surprised by the reviews. Either the place is a roach motel, has bad and neglectful management or is in the hood. I know I didn't leave one ghetto to willingly move back to another. So basically, in this market, a 1 bedroom/studio apartment in North Jersey that is in a decent neighborhood, has no bugs, and near The City, will cost you over $1000. I'm sure people in Wisconsin or Indiana are laughing at us for using a good chunk of our paychecks just to pay for a place to sleep. It sounds pretty ridiculous to me. Maybe I can just move into a cardboard box in Jersey City or someone's crawl space in their home.

Which reminds me... if you currently are living in an apartment hop on apartmentratings.com. It has helped me a whole lot and saved me time from driving to all these places to be disappointed. Sadly, some of the rating are from years ago or the places haven't been rated yet.

This experience has taught me alot. Such as:

1. NJ being one of the most expensive places in the US to live.
2. Always find a place offers heat and hot water as part of the rent.
3. Make sure everything they promise is in the lease. It's the only legally binding paper that can help you in a dispute.
4. Parking, parking , parking. There's nothing more annoying then coming home from work and having to hunt for a parking spot.
5. Also, if a real estate management company is giving you grief (i.e., they haven't supplied the utilities promised in your lease, they ignore your calls to fix problems, they claim you owe more or haven't paid your rent) don't lie down and take it. File a complain with the Better Business Bureau. That way other comsumers can see their BBB score and avoid renting from them. Either that, or they'll realize you mean business and handle your complaint to avoid a bad score.

I'm checking out a place tomorrow afternoon eventhough I already know I can't afford it. Wish me luck! :)

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