I have a love/hate relationship with finding apartments. I love touring nice properties that are well beyond my budget and seeing all the fancy things they have to offer. I hate touring places that are within my budget. We’re looking to spend considerably more this time around however. We’re also looking for a place much further in advance than last time. It’s still tough hunting. A lot of places in the Milwaukee/Waukesha area are old. Even the fairly expensive places are 20ish years old. Some more. No matter how well kept the places are, you’re still going to get some signs of wear. Whether it’s the appliances, the cabinets or the tennants (lots of families with kids, etc), you can’t hide age.
A lot of places are just not worth the money. There are many 1,000-1,200 sq feet 2 bedroom places with minimal ammenities (small fitness centers, boring club houses, etc) that charge around $1400/month. It seems these places just charge high rent to ensure they have non-disruptive renters. Rent around the $1500 mark in other suburban communities will usually net you a rather glamorous lifestyle (assuming you’re not near an ocean or something). That isn’t the case around here.
The other problem is the damn income assistance. 1 person can make $27k/year or less and 2 people have to make less than something like $31k. More than 2 people and you have to be below the poverty line (or damn close). Even if one of us quit working, it wouldn’t happen. Almost the entire city of milwaukee is full of income assistance properties. You end up getting a super swanky place for like $700/month when everyone else has to pay double. One place we toured had a huge gym, basketball court, driving range, movie theater… but it could never be afforded due to our income. It’s not fair. There should be brackets or something… like “if you make between this and this amount, you get this percentage off the normal rent”. There’s no need for “poor” people to get ultra-exclusive apartments. There are plenty of places to live that are well kept and in safe neighborhoods that go for $500-700/month, why not have those people live there? I just don’t get it.
Anyway, I’m touring places tomorrow and Friday. Probably a bunch on Saturday. We need to get as many done as possible before school starts in a couple weeks. So far there’s only one potential winner. It’s off a super-busy road and neighbored by some trashy apartments. It’s a newer place and in good condition, but it doesn’t look THAT new. Still, tons more space than we have now and almost anything is better than living in Waukesha. Yuck.