From Craigslist searches to open houses
I'm aware that I'm one of those twenty-somethings who moved back in with Mom and Dad after college because student loans are the worst and English degrees don't equal Scrooge McDuck levels of gold coinage. That, and/or I'm a late bloomer and/or I strangely love my family. No shame here. But the time finally came to move on up to the east side (really!); Adam and I started apartment hunting a few months back and moved in to our new digs on April 1st.
While I'm only one person who has experienced only one recent round of apartment hunting in the downtown Milwaukee area, I did learn a few things along the way. So for those of you who are late bloomers like me — or even if you just want a reminder of things to consider as you shop — here are some tips.
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#1 Use Craigslist filters & new features.
Craigslist warrants some sub-tips:
* Photos first: You know apartment shopping is a visual process, so always select "has image" and view listings in "gallery" mode.
* Price range: Say your max is $1000 — make your maximum $1100. Why? Because some places will include cable, internet, heat, parking, etc., so a $1000 place with zero amenities will cost more anyway. Better to give yourself a bit of breathing room with your target price. Also include a minimum price; after lots of searching, I found that anything less than $750 is probably in a crummy neighborhood and/or is too run down or small for my taste.
* Square footage: Include a minimum square footage to rule out any shoe boxes. Adam and I figured we didn't want to live anywhere that was less than 800 square feet.
* Scroll through images on the home page: Craigslist recently installed a feature where you can scroll through a listing's photos right from the search results page (you don't have to open the actual listing). It's really nice, but I found it doesn't work smoothly in all internet browsers — if you don't get scrolling arrows on the gallery results page, try a different browser.
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#2 Scope out local property management companies.
Adam and I were looking for some old world charm in Milwaukee's downtown or east side. Some companies that cater to this ideal include Shoreline, Eastmore, and Edgewaterre. Some of their websites are more user-friendly than others, but it's worth looking into as you won't necessarily find all of these listings on Craigslist. Also, these places often have weekend open houses, so it's really easy to make a day of seeing firsthand exactly what's available.
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#3 Ask the right questions.
It's safe to say I'm still in the process of finding out whether or not Adam and I asked the right questions of our new apartment owners, but a few key ones to remember: If heat is included, ask if each apartment gets to manage their own heat or if it's centrally controlled. Ask about the other tenants — are they college students, young professionals, families, or a mix? I thought such info was supposed to be off limits, we got an answer every time we asked. Of course there's oodles more to ask — I actually Googled it to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything major.
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#4 Look up, look down, look behind curtains.
Surprise! Adam and I got into our new apartment and were all "Huh. Was that peeling paint and water damage always on the bedroom ceiling?" and "Huh. Were the base boards always such a crumbly mess?" Neither of us is sure. When we first toured the place, we were so caught up in how much we loved the eye-level view of the apartment that we never looked up or down. We also never looked in the shower, so black and white tile was also a total surprise.
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#5 Take pictures and measure.
Since the current occupants showed us the apartment, I politely took one or two pictures of each room; I wish I'd taken many more. More angles, more walls (to visualize where to hang artwork), more floors (to envision where and what size of rugs). Of course it's a work in progress once you get a in a place, but some things would have been nice to know in the weeks leading up to move-in day. For instance, Adam and I spent an afternoon searching for a living room accent chair — now that we're in the place, we see we really never had room for one. That would've been nice to know! If you don't measure the rooms yourself, ask the property manager if they have a blueprint of the apartment they can send you — most should be able to.
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