Time to Move Out!

PittSpeed Automotive PittSpeed Off Topic
1

Well, the time has finally come for the woman and I to move into our own place. She currently lives with her sister and their lease is not up until August, but her sisters boyfriend is moving in with them in April due to his lease being up. So around end of March begining of April we will be moving into our own place.

Now, I cannot stress enough how picky I am. Already working 60 hour weeks, I want something decent to move into. With our odd hours and locations at work we needed. I work in Coraopolis and she works in Forrest Hills, so finding that happy medium is difficult to say the least. We have been looking around Greentree, Crafton, Carnegie, Beechview, Brookline, Bridgeville, and the Dormont area.

Finding a two bedroom apartment or even a two bedrrom townhouse with a garage has been less then stellars. After searching on Rent.com for a few minutes, I found some nice complex’s that were decently priced (600-800/month). Searching still continues until the actual move in date.

Now, I am alittle lost as to what to expect to buy for the actual apartment/townhouse. I planned on having around $5,000 dollars saved up and I told her to expect $2,000 dollars from her savings. This would cover most things such as rent, renters insurance, furniture, kitchenware, bathroom necesities, and some other goodies. (Tv, Internet) I would expect $7,000 to be more then plenty to furnish a place with everything new, but I am also leary on how fast that money would be spent on things.

What I would really like from the forum is what should I expect to look for when I am ready to move in. Things as in:

Rent
Area
Unknown Expenses
Entertainment
Apartment vs. Townhouse
Things I am Missing

Thanks,
Sean

2

good luck to you sean.

3

good luck to you sean.

4

  1. Read the lease well, ask questions. Landlords make lots of money that way. (I should know, I’m one :eek3: )

  2. Be very clear what utilities are your responsibility. And ask for the past 12 month’s bills so there aren’t any suprises when winter actually gets here.

  3. Ask when and how much the past rent increases were

  4. Ask the landlord to report on time rent payments annually to the credit bureaus to build your score

A good landlord will respect and answer any questions you have.

5

If you spend more than a $1,000 dollars to move in to a apartment your an idiot. You can get so much if you just shop around keep an eye on craigslist theres always free furniture on there or could be bought for a small price.

6

cheap ikea furniture > free craigslist furniture.

think lice, bugs, mice, dander, etc…

7

Ikea sucks ass! its one-time use furniture… once you try to move it crumbles

im thinking of getting a townhouse also either rent or buy soon, so what bowtie is saying is a good help

8

ask the last time windows were replaced, and or if they will be replaced. (I live in a wind tunnel)

pests, such as mice, and or ants are just gross, look over the place well for dead bugs

they are going to ask for references, do the same, ask for the past tenants contact numbers, ask them how the landlord is with repairs ( The day after I moved in the toilet broke, they ran over fast as hell to fix it)

Water bill is re-billed to us every three months maybe ask about that

watch the ages of ur neighbors, ask if they complained about the last tenant

old ppl complain alot, young ppl make the old ppl complain.

parking.

check for overhead lighting, and outlets ( our place has no fixtures,)

check the doors, cause some tough guy blew a hole in one of ours with a fist before we moved in and I didn’t see it on the walk through, landlord says it wasn’t there…

Take pictures of the entire thing like its a crime scene before you move anything in, make sure the pictures display the date, (news on tv, or news paper) take pictures of everything, any little stain, any little mark, or nail in the wall, (I had a stain on one apt. carpets, it was HUGE, the landlord knew of it, said it had been cleaned and wouldn’t come out, well on move out he said i did it, i said wtf? he said well bring the photos from your move in date, and ill show you it wasn’t there… lol, needless to say i lost that security deposit.

oh and good luck, hope your ready for sacrifice,
live in tail is nice but living alone is soooooo NICE

9

:stupid: GREAT ADVISE i’m getting screwed on just about all the things u listed on the place i’m in now:greddy:

10

ya and alot of it is garbage and shit. You’re not an idiot if you spend more than $1000, you just like nicer things.

depends on how much room you have. If you guys have a lot of stuff… look for 1000sq/ft+ places. Trust me, you’ll thank me for that advice later.

My first place was 1380sq/ft and when my girlfriend came over a lot, and started to move her shit in, it filled up pretty quickly. (Although, we werent as efficient with our space as possible). But to give you an idea:

Living room: Sofa, Love seat, two end tables, some fake tree. Poppa-San Chair, coffee table, big screen tv. Misc shit/lamps on the tables

Dining Room: Table and 4 chairs. Wine bar

Kitchen: just stuff on the counter, and appliances

Main bedroom: queen size bed, dresser, chest, nightstand, 36" tv

Secondary bedroom: 2x computer desks, with a desktops. Cat litter box

so pretty much the essentials can fill up space pretty quickly. Especially with two people. Say no to anything smaller than 1000sq/ft

11

if you are moving in with a female, GET A BIG BATHROOM! chics take up all kinds of space in there, trust me, after 8 years living together now, she pretty much owns every closet in this place, the laundry room, 90% of the garage, (No car inside) the hallway, and the bathroom,
Best wishes to you.

especially finding a hiding place for your porn.

12

if you dont mind moving out to Washington our old apparment is up for rent soon. 450 all utilities but cable. But, you could probably just hook up your TV and you will get what hte ppl down stairs get LOL.

13

If you are thinking about living in dormont just tell me where you want to live and I will buy the complex! I am being serious too, let me know. Bob and I were thinking about buying another duplex soon. And we already have 2 people that want to rent from us and are waiting for us to get space. There is a house a few doors down to me, that seems like a good candidate. And it has a garage! Shoot me a PM or give me a call if you want to talk about it

14

Brenna and I looked at two places so far. Carriage Park on Greentree Road and Hyland Park. Both have a base two bedroom layout for 650-750 a month, but Carriage Park has a upper model for 780 that has alot more space and a garage you can rent for 30/month. I will call you John, I just have to get your number, as I got a new phone.

15

no offense but Carriage park is riddled with Hodgies, trust me I use to live down the road at Greenbrier village, which I had the pleasure of living below a family, and they stunk up the hallway and my bathroom with that nasty curry smell, if I were you I would stay away!!!

16

sounds offensive to me :dunno:

17

Ikea furniture does suck. quality > quantity

Make sure the smoke detector isn’t hardwired inline with another circuit or hardwired at all in case your roommate decides to make a fire that fills the apt with smoke, then having to rip it out of the ceiling killing the rest of the circuit.

Question the age of the structure, the insulation and windows. Overpaying for heating bills can and will suck.

Check the closet for dead bodies and/or blood stains.

Observe mexican neighbors for illegal immigration activity then proceed to notify the authorities immediately.

18

leave justin out of this… :hsdance:

but definately take pictures of everything before you move your shit in there.

19

my 1st apartment had radiator heat, that sucked, ants in the summer that sucked, shared hot water tank with other apartment downstairs that sucked, thermostat was in the downstairs apartment, and controled the entire houe, (4 units)
but i paid 475 plus electric, which the stove was, and the heaters the slumlord provided me with,

buy a house…

20