Another apartment question (Columbia, Sumter, Forest Acres: renters, home, neighborhoods)

[Colokev]

My husband and I will be moving to Columbia this summer. He will be working around Sumter and I will be working closer to downtown. We are not looking to buy a home as we will probably not be here that long. We're also happy renters too. We've been looking into the Shandon/Rosewood, Forest Acres, etc. neighborhoods. We would love to live downtown but we have two cars that we need to park and really not interested in living with a ton of college students. But we're still young-in our late 20's, like to go out, and be in a lively, hip neighborhood close to shops and restaurants. We're mostly looking for a somewhat upscale, very safe, quiet apartment with parking and that allows pets. Our budget is in the $600-$900 range. We don't need anything more than a 1 bedroom. We have been looking into 42 Magnolia and Huntington Place. Any advice on those two?

I've heard there are a few quads and duplexes in the Shandon area? How do you go about finding those? We're open to private apts too but since we would like to know of availability for when we move, I'm not sure if that would work. We'll be making a trip down there sometime this Spring but I wanted to get some local advice from you all before we head down there.

Thanks again for all the great advice!

[waccamatt]

I would check out the rental ads in The State newspaper and on their website, craigslist and also some of the rental companies like the Wolfe Co. and Furman Fulmer Co - they have a lot of duplexes and Quadraplexes in the Shandon/Rosewood area.