Things on this page are fragmentary and immature notes/thoughts of the author. Please read with your own judgement!
Fees¶
Utilities¶
Which utilities are included in the rent? Water, electric, trash, etc.
administration fee, application fee? I hate these fees.
Facing which direction?
South is probably the best, especially the sun room
Internet
everyone claims their internet speed is fast
TV cable is usually faster than phone cable
ask for the name of internet supplier
Century Link is very bad, slow, limited services
Time Warner Cable is bad
Facilities¶
Garage (In states where the winter is long and fierce, it is better get a garage.)
Laundry (Some apartments do not have a laundry room which is not convenient.)
Gym
Trash (get clear about where the trash can is and how to dispose trash)
sink (make sure it works, try it!, some sink might be clogged)
disposal (make sure there is disposal in the kitchen, some kitchen especially in cities don’t have one)
Floor¶
Generally higher floor is more quiet
higher floor is safer (security, flood, etc) and ususally cleaner (less bugs, etc.)
Safety¶
Gated Community or Not
Gated is safer though not convenient for driving
Location¶
Quiet or Not¶
too close to noisy road?
too close to airport?
too close to a pulic facility?
big apartment? smaller is usually more quiet
higher level is usually more quiet
Is the house in or close to woods? If so, there might be many bugs especially in southern states.
If a house/apartment is too close to a highway/subway, it might be too noisy. From my experience, two blocks (vertical distance) from the subway is acceptable.
Close to restaurant, shoppings, gym or not
How old is the apartment?