(no subject)

[spryng]

Back from the wedding. Despite feeling out of place most of the time, it was fun. People actually danced and food was good and thunderstorms were had and people were seen. A little tuckered out after all the festivities because there was something going on every night that we were there and we got there Wednesday. And aside from a horribly drooling child on the flight up there, it was mostly uneventful.
Now I have to scramble to get together an itinerary of apartments to see when we go to Seattle on Thursday. And get a list of people to call tomorrow on my day off. So much to do! So little time! It has all pretty much exploded as I expected it would back when I was originally making all these plans in January. And it's so hard to keep everything in mind. I need to just write out a list... need a list of apartments with phone numbers, need a map, need times to meet the landlords, need to either rent a car or deal with the bus system. I haven't decided yet which. Car is faster, but costs money and gas is expensive, but bus would mean having to learn the bus system, a system we have to learn anyway. So do we want to spend the extra few hours learning the bus system and making sure we have the available coinage on us or do we want to hop around in a car? We'll have three days... mmm. What do you guys think? Anyone apartment-searched before in a different state?
Worried a little bit about some of the apartments that want pay stubs and all that. I haven't had a full week of work yet, and how can I prove I'll have a job in Seattle when I haven't applied to one yet? Ugh. I just hope my good looks and charm win them over. ^-~
I really can't wait until this coming weekend is over with, actually. Unless, of course, we fail in our apartment search. But hopefully we won't? Hopefully, all goes well and we'll have an address by Sunday. Oh gods. I can't believe we're getting that close. And after that, when we have an address, I need to start planning out the actual trip. Which is in less than two months. Meanwhile, another wedding. Meanwhile, accruing as much monies as possible. Meanwhile constantly questioning whether this is a good or a crazy-ass idea.

Comments

[audesapere.livejournal.com]

i just looked for an apt. in indiana ... this was my strategy:

* I looked up several places beforehand (in my new home, complexes are easier & better to deal with than rooms in houses etc). I made a list of places I really wanted to see.
* I looked at apartmentratings.com to rule out a few that apparently really sucked.
* I went to 5 (this turned into 7 or 8 or 10 because the mgmt companies were like, here! look at all 5 of our properties!)
*I made a spreadsheet and compared rent, utilities, distance from campus, amenities, size, pet policy, all the stuff that was important to me.
*then, I made a livejournal poll.
* I am not making this up.

The internet chose my favorite almost unanimously. So I went back and applied for the lease. Compared to NYC it was SO EASY!

YMMV.

[spryng.livejournal.com]

Sounds a lot like what I'm doing, actually.
* look at places online
* tally them in a word document
* try and find reviews
* map the ones I like with google maps
* email landlords/mgmt
* profit! call when no one emails back, make appointments?

[audesapere.livejournal.com]

YOU WILL NOT FAIL.

although excel is more badass than tallying in word. ;-P

[innocentwater.livejournal.com]

Hm, I don't really have a recommendation, but I will add ideas for your consideration:

If you take the bus, there might be sketchy people! That might make it more exciting! This might be a pro or con.

A bus will probably give you a better view of the neighborhood around you, unless you got lost in your car. So you might be presented with new options. A bus will never get lost (being lost thus providing a lot of miscellaneous areas), but then it'll never waste gas, and you won't be frustrated from people cutting you off or anything.

Also both of you can be meerkats, as long as you have a window seat. The downside is, you might only get to see the side of the road you're sitting on, and the bus may have those dark, semi-painted over windows (in which case you'd probably just not take it?).

Also, you can't stop at each apartment with a bus. If you do see something really nice, and you leave, you have to worry about how often busses come through that area.

A bus will probably take a lot longer. Also it may have crying babies and strong odors. However, a bus will probably never get trapped in a turn-about like your car might, if there is one, and you can always get off one bus and go to another. But there's no guarantee that it will have any fewer babies or smells. But also the busses in seattle might be nicer than the busses around here, and contain less smells, but not necessarily lesss crying babies.

Hopefully something in all this will help you decide which kind of trip you might want.

[innocentwater.livejournal.com]

That is, being in a bus might show you more apartments, because of not always going straight to your destination, but you'll probably turn up at least one more prospect just from your car, no?

[nani.livejournal.com]

http://tripplanner.metrokc.gov/cgi-bin/itin.pl

Also, Google Maps has a choice of using the Seattle public transit system directions. Usual fare is $1.50, busy time fare is $2.00. I advise the bus because driving/parking in this city is an adventure in frustration, as well as being ludicrously expensive. It's also REALLY easy to walk around. The transit system is incredibly easy to navigate and is really reliable.

I think that the apt finding system you have set up is very workable. You won't find a decent studio for less than $750-$800 a month. Any less than that and you should run as fast as possible in the opposite direction. One bedrooms usually average somewhere around $800-$1000 for something that's not in a really shady neighborhood.

I don't think you'll run into a problem with the paystubs thing. You've been working in Florida and if you have a decent history with your money, you're going to be okay. I got into my two-bedroom with the roomies while I was/am seriously in the hole debt-wise and had/have a huge black mark on my credit. Besides that, the other person whose name is on the lease is something like $20,000 in debt. You'll be fine.

[spryng.livejournal.com]

Cool! Seattle totally wins with the whole public transit thing, doesn't it? I can't even find a time schedule for SCAT. I think you have to go to city hall to pick one up, which slightly defeats the purpose.
Yeah, prices in town are pretty... well, pricey. It would be real easy to find an apartment for over 1k/mo, even 2k/mo. But thank goodness for the internet, which has unearthed a few 800-900/mo ones which seem to be in the "better" parts of town. What I've come to understand is that north is generally good while south is more ghetto, right? I mean, we'll see when we actually get out there, of course.
Also, yay. Thank you for making me feel better. I guess it's just the more "professional" apartment management companies that ask for that. I'm cute and it should be okay. xp

[nani.livejournal.com]

It's more that west of I-5 is not generally as pleasant as east of I-5. The University District, Capitol Hill (east of I-5!), and Queen Anne Hill are all pretty nice. First Hill and Beacon Hill are kind of hit-or-miss. Pioneer Square is nice, but there's a LOT of homeless people all over downtown, which is kind of a turnoff. I mean, I thought I saw a lot of homeless people in downtown Tampa! I haven't really seen anything nice in the International District, but I haven't really been around there much, honestly, and I don't know anyone who DOES live there. My heart is in Capitol Hill, but University Village or somewhere in the rest of the U-District might end up being where my next home will be.

And yeah, it's really easy to find bus schedules pretty much anywhere--not a lot in most stores, but in various places downtown and there's pretty much the entire layout of King County Metro at UW.

$800-$900/mo is basically average. You can find a pretty nice place for that in city. It would be so much more affordable if I could manage to live in Everett again or Federal Way and still be able to work in Seattle, but I wouldn't be able to stand it. This city has a stronghold on my soul and I LIKE it that way! I'm thinking that I'll end up trying for a $750-$800/mo studio when Justin's coming up. So I get to figure out how to find an apt for myself and someone who (inconveniently!) lives over 3,000 miles away!

[nani.livejournal.com]

Whoops! Here's the CORRECT url for the public transit page!

http://tripplanner.metrokc.gov/cgi-bin/itin_page.pl

[thezhen.livejournal.com]

I came to New Zealand with no where to live and it all worked out some how. I vote learn the bus system.

[innocentwater.livejournal.com]

Hey Kai, do you remember those sites you really liked for socks? A long while back (and I think it was second year), you posted some sites with a lot of really awesome, long socks, all in funky designs, and I just can't find the link to show Ven. When you get a chance, do you remember any of those, or could you recommend some sites? I think at least one site had a section of plaid socks.

Good luck tomorrow in your apartment shopping!! :D

[spryng.livejournal.com]

http://www.sockdreams.com/_shop/edit/index.php
Sock Dreams!

[innocentwater.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you! I'm not quite sure if this is the one I was thinking of, but I really like it! Much appreciated!!