This looks like a nice place, but you'll still want to have a talk with the management and/or the police about the crime levels. If the place takes HUD residents, you might be more at risk. Also, before you count on that media room, make sure that you'll be able to use it for commercial purposes. At my last apartment, the lease prohibited running a business out of the apartment. Of course, a bunch of us did, but nothing that involved extra people coming on the property in obvious ways. How that would have been policed, I don't know, but if you have to tell the management what you want to reserve the media room for, you might have an issue.

And if dad didn't say it, I will: don't leave stuff in your car.

Not a bad area at all. But there might be a lot of college students due to the proximity to OCC.

Something that was recommended to me was to drive around/through the complexes you are looking at after the leasing office is closed (Fri and Saturday nights/Saturday afternoon) to see how people really are. Also good to drive around at night to see the parking situation.

A good site to look at is apartmentratings.com. Yes, it is mainly negative reviews but you can get a feel for the community as well. Is everyone complaining about bugs? Or are they just griping that the management gives them a hard time for paying rent late and partying all the time.

If you plan to check it out, my advice on that one is, how much is the media room? That can get pricey if you actually have to rent it.
At my fathers place the media room is $100 a pop for a day, and they dont do hourly rates.

So you can pay $100 for 9-11am, then someone else can pay $100 for 6-12pm

Or you can have it all day for the same $100 you used in the morning.

This doesn't solve the problem of broken windsheilds but, um, don't store anything valuable in your car in any neighborhood.

Just a thought.

There are a lot of car dealerships in that neighborhood as well. They have bright security lights in their back lots. This may seem a little more secure, but it also makes midnight as bright as noon. My first apartment ever was in that area and I didn't think about things like that. I never needed a lamp in my room.

Like BTD said, drive the neighborhood at night and other random times to get a feel for noise, parking, security, etc. Good luck!

Our VP of sales had his laptop stolen out of his rental car because he left it on the seat. In "daylight" in a business district. We told him cars aren't invisible in daylight! And thieves are going to case it looking for electronics left out.

Well, lend us some good prayers/energies, please.

For $1,550 per month, I have found a newly renovated (they gutted it to the studs) pet-friendly condo rental in a nice neighborhood. Some of its features:

• 2-car private garage in a gated lot
• 2 bedrooms/2 full bathrooms
• fireplace
• all new plumbing (pipes and fixtures)
• all new appliances (including fridge - guess we'll just stow ours in the garage)
• our choice of flooring, since it hasn't been installed (either hard wood or carpet or combo - the landlord is really easygoing, and said he'd be happy to let us pick)
• 50' x 12' patio (new cement being poured tomorrow)
• all new cabinets/countertops
• paid water, gas, and trash

Cons:

• no AC (but it's a ground floor unit in a 3-story complex with lots of shade)

The make-over won't be finished for another week or so, but we can still take a look tomorrow. I'm a very visual person anyway, so I should be able to envision how it will be. (And yes, I'll take photos.)

With the updated appliances, etc., our utility bills will be almost nothing compared to what we have now. This will save us a lot of money in the long run. :)

So, anyway, if it looks like a good place, we'll apply. My biggest worry is if we'll qualify, since our credit is really not good. But, I hope they'll look at my rental history and see that it's been perfect for the last 13 years.

I'll post some pics tomorrow if we like it. :)

I like option 1 combined with a 12 guage pump action shotgun. There is no mistaking that "chick-chick" sound for anything else on earth.

Fingers crossed for you DP!

What area is this new place in?