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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Exactly. I don't want to move in somewhere that's been neglected by the owner and we have to hound them about fixing things they should have addressed through regular upkeep and maintenance that aren't super obvious during an initial walkthrough like wiring and heating/cooling and whatnot. We'll be moving in the spring so we won't be able to see the houses during any temperature extremes which is my biggest concern to be honest-- signing a lease in the spring/early summer then winter rolling around and the house being drafty as hell. Your previous post made me laugh because I saw Omaha and thought that is SO exactly what older houses in the midwest are like. One bathroom in a 3-story house? A two-bathroom house where one of the "bathrooms" doesn't have a toilet? A bedroom that was once the garage? Doors on both sides of EVERY room, including closets, so you can walk around the entire house going through each room without ever turning around? All hilarious. It's going to be very cold in the winter so I'd say looking at the windows, doors, and other points of heat loss should be pretty high on your list of concerns.
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Oct 14, 2013 02:52
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What are people's experiences with mounting a TV on the wall when they're renting? I asked my landlord about it and he said it was fine if I got the holes filled in again by a professional. How expensive should I expect this to be in CA. Also, I had used a stud finder to check the wall we were putting the TV on, but now the stud finder is being really inconsistent with when it's going off, I'll run it along the wall and it will beep, then it won't. Now I'm not sure where the studs are and I'm paranoid about drilling into the wall.
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Oct 15, 2013 01:57
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I don't mount on the wall, I have an entertainment center that has an adjustable rod that the TV mounts to in a similar method to wall mounts. Better for renting, and offers a much wider swivel angle. Something similar to this, but much nicer for just 60 bucks more at Costco.
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Oct 15, 2013 03:11
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Raar_Im_A_Dinosaur posted:What are people's experiences with mounting a TV on the wall when they're renting? I asked my landlord about it and he said it was fine if I got the holes filled in again by a professional. How expensive should I expect this to be in CA. Also, I had used a stud finder to check the wall we were putting the TV on, but now the stud finder is being really inconsistent with when it's going off, I'll run it along the wall and it will beep, then it won't. Now I'm not sure where the studs are and I'm paranoid about drilling into the wall. Replace the batteries in your stud finder or buy a new one if it's finding a stud and then not finding a stud in the same place. Once you're able to find them reliably there's nothing to be paranoid about. I mounted my TV on the wall once and the hardest part was lifting the thing. As long as you have a good drill you'll be fine. Oh, and hopefully you have a level or at least a leveling app on your phone, because a slightly skewed TV is obnoxious as hell. Getting the holes "filled by a professional" is equivalent to "fill the holes with spackle and make sure they're smooth." Check your lease – in some cities/states your landlord may be required to paint the apartment when you move out, so all you'd need to do would be to fill the holes.
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Oct 15, 2013 14:17
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:We've started looking at houses to rent in the city we're moving to next year (Omaha, NE) and it appears that all of the houses in our price range (sub $1200/month) within a reasonable commute to work and downtown are OLD AS poo poo. Meaning the most "modern" ones were built in the early 60s with many being built in the 20s. I found one that looks almost identical on the interior as my parents' house before they remodeled which kind of gave me a Dude, I feel you. Omaha houses are ridiculous, and mostly 60-70s era split levels, which I hated. Our rental had some serious water issues in the basement, and we finally ended up buying since we knew we were going to be here for a few years/didn't mind renting it out later. Not sure where you'll be working, but if you can go down to the Bellevue area there are some military families who go overseas that rent their newer houses occasionally for around 1200/month. I'd just keep up with Craiglist/Zillow, and I can keep an eye open if you want. If no one's told you yet, don't spend a lot of time looking around in North O/near the airport (unless you enjoy dealing with lots of property theft).
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Oct 16, 2013 03:43
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nostalgic feeling, then I thought of all the old house problems that led to the remodel and it made those warm fuzzies evaporate immediately.
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kedo posted:Replace the batteries in your stud finder or buy a new one if it's finding a stud and then not finding a stud in the same place. Once you're able to find them reliably there's nothing to be paranoid about. I mounted my TV on the wall once and the hardest part was lifting the thing. As long as you have a good drill you'll be fine. Oh, and hopefully you have a level or at least a leveling app on your phone, because a slightly skewed TV is obnoxious as hell. I finally got a place  Yeah, the holes thing goes back and forth depending on landlord. They get filled either way, but your deposit might get dinged if you don't do it yourself/get it done. They're filling in the holes from the prior tenant's shelving this week, and probably painting. Seems kinda silly, since we will probably be installing shelves, too, but whatever. Fresh paint 
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Oct 16, 2013 13:21
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Here's something weird I thought I'd share: Probably the oddest floorplan you can get in an apartment. Had a relative live in this place years and years ago when it was called Bellevue Towers: http://thepinnaclememphis.com/floorplans.html  The layout is crazy like this because the building is round: http://www.aptselector.com/tn/44163.html
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Oct 16, 2013 21:53
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rysfade posted:Not sure where you'll be working, but if you can go down to the Bellevue area there are some military families who go overseas that rent their newer houses occasionally for around 1200/month. I'd just keep up with Craiglist/Zillow, and I can keep an eye open if you want. We're going to be one of those  We're looking around in case we can't get on base housing at Offutt. Fiancé's an officer so it's not a given we'll get a house, we're getting on the list now 8 months in advance but we need to keep a Plan B in mind just in case.
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Oct 17, 2013 02:04
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:We're going to be one of those So are we! If you guys actually want to be in base housing, you shouldn't have the slightest issue. Rising View is actually pretty desperate to get people in there, to the point where the Offutt welcome packet is just a giant advertisement for base housing. When they condemned one of the dorm buildings last year, they just moved all the Airmen into the older houses. They should welcome you guys with open arms. I'd definitely check out some non-military rentals in Bellevue too, especially if you have 8 months to kick around online beforehand. Might find something better than Rising View while you're at it.
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Oct 17, 2013 03:01
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Vanagoon posted:Here's something weird I thought I'd share: Weird building but holy crap rent is cheap in Tennessee for what appears to be a halfway decent apartment. This in Fargo would probably be at least $800.
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Oct 17, 2013 03:03
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rysfade posted:So are we! I'm not a huge fan of the floor plan we're eligible for (mostly because of the drat closet in the bathroom, that CAN'T be good for clothes constantly being exposed to that much moisture) but it's a hell of a lot better than the off base housing that's currently available in our price range. I'm gonna keep poking around Zillow/Craigslist every couple weeks just to keep an eye out for stuff.
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Oct 17, 2013 03:12
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:I'm not a huge fan of the floor plan we're eligible for (mostly because of the drat closet in the bathroom, that CAN'T be good for clothes constantly being exposed to that much moisture) but it's a hell of a lot better than the off base housing that's currently available in our price range. I'm gonna keep poking around Zillow/Craigslist every couple weeks just to keep an eye out for stuff. Bathroom closets aren't that bad, I have a buddy who lives in the best apartments in my area (he's paying 1250 for a 1bd with attached garage in the 'burbs) and he has a massive walk-in closet attached to the bathroom. He and his girlfriend don't have any moisture issues in there. Just make sure you keep the closet door shut and the vent on when running the shower.
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Oct 17, 2013 04:43
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Tab8715 posted:Weird building but holy crap rent is cheap in Tennessee for what appears to be a halfway decent apartment. I live in Boston and it is physically painful to see a one bedroom (not even a studio!) apartment for $635. You'd be lucky to get a room in a house with four other people for that here.
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Oct 17, 2013 14:18
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I have half of a decent two bedroom for $225/mo. My apartments are managed by a private landlord and he is really great about getting things fixed if they break. We didn't have appliances for the first 24 hours, but we also only had a week's notice from our previous scumlord to get out. The neighbors are lovely, but that's true of anywhere in this town. And the kitchen is awesome. Every complex in town but this one (and most houses) have a two-sided galley layout for the kitchen. Ours is open to the main living area. There's not much space for a dining table, but we're students and don't care.
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Oct 17, 2013 20:11
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Ashcans posted:I live in Boston and it is physically painful to see a one bedroom (not even a studio!) apartment for $635. You'd be lucky to get a room in a house with four other people for that here. That's what I was thinking. Around here in CT, most high rises are high end, and those floor plans would be $1200 for the 1BR and $2000 for the 2BR. Although a 2BR would usually have 2 baths here.
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Oct 17, 2013 23:51
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smackfu posted:That's what I was thinking. Around here in CT, most high rises are high end, and those floor plans would be $1200 for the 1BR and $2000 for the 2BR. Although a 2BR would usually have 2 baths here. 1350 for a studio near me 
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Oct 18, 2013 14:44
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quote:rent talk  Decent, average complex studios here go for about $650, one bedrooms about $775. Or, if you're moving into the type of place that doesn't check your credit like I had to, $5-700, depending on dumpiness of the property/proximity to the FATAL CRESCENT.
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Oct 18, 2013 18:23
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$895 for a 3 bed/2 bath duplex with a yard and garage  But I live in central Texas I was interviewing for a job in the Bay Area in California and looked up the rent for places in the area. My desire to get that job evaporated with the ad for a $2000/month studio apartment.
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Oct 18, 2013 21:38
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I just moved into a new place. It's a studio, with an open floor plan and the kitchen on one wall. I've set up the living space next to it, with the back of the couch creating a divider between the two areas. My problem is kitchen smells, or at least paranoia there of. Especially ever since I cooked that salmon I got from H Mart. I've been trying to be more diligent about washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen in a timely manner; I've been turning on the vent fan when I cook; and when weather cooperates I open the windows. Still, every time I come home it seems to smell like the last meal I cooked. Any advice?
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Oct 19, 2013 04:47
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Make sure you are taking out your trash regularly. It doesn't do any good to wash and scrub all the dishes if you still have a pile of chicken bones sitting in the trash can.
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Oct 19, 2013 12:12
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Odor "eating" things like baking soda help, too. And some sort of scented thing, too. I use bath and body works wallflowers because I think they're pretty and there's always a ton of smells. If you don't like really scented things, those cone shaped air fresheners that people keep in the bathroom are really good for being adjustable.
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Oct 19, 2013 20:33
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sweet_jones posted:I just moved into a new place. It's a studio, with an open floor plan and the kitchen on one wall. I've set up the living space next to it, with the back of the couch creating a divider between the two areas. My problem is kitchen smells, or at least paranoia there of. Especially ever since I cooked that salmon I got from H Mart. I live in a really small house that I guess you could call a "studio", it's just one room and a bathroom. But the one room is WAY smaller than a regular studio, I'd guess it's maybe 15x15 feet, basically the whole house minus the bathroom is crammed into a largeish-bedroom sized space. Anyway it's tiny so everything is really close together, I'm never more than about 12 feet from any other thing in the house. What I think helps the most is opening windows and getting a good air flow through the house. Opening all the windows on either end of the room if you can would help tremendously. Also be really good about cleaning appliances and wiping down countertops. I clean our microwave, toaster oven, coffee pot, stove top etc. probably three times as often as when I lived in a normal house. Otherwise it gets really dank in here, and I mean FAST. Also, if all your stuff is in one room, food smells and whatnot can settle on your furniture, bed, carpets, anywhere. I'm an obsessive vacuumer and usually vacuum daily. I hang our comforter and rugs outside to air out regularly. And yes good candles really help. You'll probably find out that the cheap candles are cheap for a reason and suddenly you'll realize why there's a marked for $30 candles. They work soooo much better. I also really do believe that fans with an ionizer remove smells. And plants can also purify the air, get a couple nice ferns in decorative pots that will make your place look good AND smell better! razz fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Oct 19, 2013 |
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Oct 19, 2013 20:51
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razz posted:And plants can also purify the air, get a couple nice ferns in decorative pots that will make your place look good AND smell better! Peace lily (Spathyphylum) and mother-in-law's tongue (S. trifasciata) are especially good for air purification, and both require minimal light and water. For the spergically inclined, NASA actually did a study to look at the air purification abilities of plants (as part of research into a closed ecological life support system for long-term space habitation). There's a handy Wikipedia article summarising the results. For that matter, the guy who conducted those studies wrote a book that's not too expensive to buy on Amazon.
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Oct 20, 2013 22:04
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sweet_jones posted:I just moved into a new place. It's a studio, with an open floor plan and the kitchen on one wall. I've set up the living space next to it, with the back of the couch creating a divider between the two areas. My problem is kitchen smells, or at least paranoia there of. Especially ever since I cooked that salmon I got from H Mart. I picked up this trick from my grandparents. If you have stuff that's gonna stink, but don't have enough trash to take out the trash yet, then wrap your fish skin/chicken bones/whatever in foil and put them in the freezer until it's time to take out the trash. Just Sharpie a letter 'T' onto the side or something if you're worried about forgetting it in there.
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Oct 21, 2013 12:53
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A friend of mine has to do the same thing-- his HOA won't allow them to have trash cans outside unless it's trash day for some stupid reason so he keeps his food trash in plastic grocery bags in the freezer. Seems to work decently, I've never smelled food that wasn't actively being cooked whenever I'm over there.
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Oct 21, 2013 13:51
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sweet_jones posted:I've been turning on the vent fan when I cook; Unless your vent hood is the 'real' kind that actually exhausts to the outside, that's probably just making it worse. In apartments it's usually the type that just blows the exhaust out the top back into the kitchen, which is useless for odor prevention.
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Oct 21, 2013 19:35
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I wanted to see about setting up a lucha libre wall in my living room with a row of masks on foam heads or some other apparatus, perhaps a set of them on a rack. Does anyone know of a good way to do this? Unsurprisingly, searching luchador mask rack on google did not yield much results. I would prefer not to have to drill into the wall, nails are fine. Appreciate any suggestions you guys have.
Raar_Im_A_Dinosaur fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Oct 21, 2013 |
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Oct 21, 2013 20:09
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Raar_Im_A_Dinosaur posted:I wanted to see about setting up a lucha libre wall in my living room with a row of masks on foam heads or some other apparatus, perhaps a set of them on a rack. Does anyone know of a good way to do this? Unsurprisingly, searching luchador mask rack on google did not yield much results. I would prefer not to have to drill into the wall, nails are fine. Appreciate any suggestions you guys have. Maybe look into wig mannequin heads? http://www.amazon.com/Male-Mannequin-White-Styrofoam-Head/dp/B00214AMTW/ref=pd_sim_bt_3 If you're careful you could probably just mount them on dowels, head-on-a-pike style.
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Oct 21, 2013 21:05
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the nicker posted:Unless your vent hood is the 'real' kind that actually exhausts to the outside, that's probably just making it worse. In apartments it's usually the type that just blows the exhaust out the top back into the kitchen, which is useless for odor prevention. Those generally have a replaceable activated charcoal filter which is there precisely for odor removal. They can't vent smoke though.
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Oct 22, 2013 01:36
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the nicker posted:Unless your vent hood is the 'real' kind that actually exhausts to the outside, that's probably just making it worse. In apartments it's usually the type that just blows the exhaust out the top back into the kitchen, which is useless for odor prevention. I highly doubt it would be considered the real kind, it's really just the vent on the microwave:  Furthermore, the shelf above the microwave has gotten greasy when it's been run. It's loud so if it doesn't do much good I'll leave it off.
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Oct 22, 2013 02:12
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Moving again inside two months of moving into this place. Recently sold our old apartment that we owned because we're building a house. We decided to rent while building and got a cheap 48m2 apartment (390e/month) but it was in a pretty lovely state and now we found mould so with some help from the municipality they found us a new apartment half a kilometer away that's 60m2 and 420e/month and newly renovated and it has a garage! Yay!
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Oct 22, 2013 08:59
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sweet_jones posted:Furthermore, the shelf above the microwave has gotten greasy when it's been run. It's loud so if it doesn't do much good I'll leave it off. Yeah, if you turn the vent on and feel that top lip of the microwave you'll feel air blowing out there - just leave it off. Also, you know it's perfectly normal for any house to smell like the last meal you cooked for the next few hours after.
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Oct 22, 2013 19:01
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Lead out in cuffs posted:Peace lily (Spathyphylum) and mother-in-law's tongue (S. trifasciata) are especially good for air purification, and both require minimal light and water. Also called a snake plant if you go to like home depot or something. They're pretty easy to maintain.
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Oct 23, 2013 04:13
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What is a good way to get your landlord's contact info without looking incompetent because she gave me her email/cell number but i lost the paper i wrote it on. ;[
Occams taser fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Oct 24, 2013 |
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Oct 24, 2013 18:18
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Occams taser posted:What is a good way to get your landlord's contact info without looking incompetent because she gave me her email/cell number but i lost the paper i wrote it on. ;[ There could be some contact info on your lease, have you checked your copy? Either that or ask a neighbor. Or swallow your pride and ask your landlord because you were actually incompetent.
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Oct 24, 2013 19:46
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Occams taser posted:What is a good way to get your landlord's contact info without looking incompetent because she gave me her email/cell number but i lost the paper i wrote it on. ;[ Is it on the lease?
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Oct 24, 2013 19:46
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Why would it be weird? Just say 'Oh, my phone was broken/stolen/etc, can I please have your number again so I can update it? Thanks!' Nobody gives a poo poo, your landlord isn't going to sit there fuming that you had the gall to lose their number, the loving nerve of you. Also I would strongly advise you not to touch your furnace at all. If you have questions, ask your landlord. If something seems to be wrong, tell your landlord. Furnaces are both expensive and potentially hazardous, and if you gently caress with it you are creating a nice big liability for yourself.
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Oct 24, 2013 19:50
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Ashcans posted:Why would it be weird? Just say 'Oh, my phone was broken/stolen/etc, can I please have your number again so I can update it? Thanks!' Nobody gives a poo poo, your landlord isn't going to sit there fuming that you had the gall to lose their number, the loving nerve of you. haha idk i guess i could say that, just being my first place i didn't want her to think that i'm -insert negative quality that stems from disorganization- also i figured the whole furnace thing out, my thermostat was hosed up i just had to open it up and fix it. but thats why i asked before i did anything in case that was a huge issue. the contact info wasn't on the lease, that was the first place I checked. thanks for your replies! i think i'll leave a note in my next rent envelope asking to call or text me so I have the number (i legit don't have any way to contact her at the moment besides snail mail).
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Oct 25, 2013 01:55
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My living room kind of needs a couch, but I'd rather not blow $600+ on one if it can at all be avoided. My first stop (the local consignment shop) didn't pan out, so I figured I'd check craigslist, but it looks like everyone on the internet is constantly freaking out about bedbugs in used sofas. Has anyone here had luck with buying a used couch?
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Oct 26, 2013 22:55
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Well we've finally moved into the new place. Strange that this kitchen is so much bigger, yet we can't fit all our stuff into the storage compartments, which we easily could in our old kitchen that was so small that we couldn't have a table in it. Still unpacking everything and trying to figure out the optimal placement for things. View's nice though: 
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Oct 27, 2013 09:13
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