Apartment hunting/giving up...may sleep in car (Columbus, Dublin: apartment complexes, rental)

[Ashley111]

Ok, to start out let me say that I have researched like crazy before asking for help. I am looking for an apartment in Dublin/Hilliard/Powell area. I want to stay under $800 mo. and I have 2 small dogs (under 35 lbs. combined). I want a safe, clean, relatively quiet apartment. I would prefer 2 bedrooms but I realize that may cost more. I have checked so many websites I am not sure what my name is anymore. I found forrent.com and I would really like the apartment only to check the reviews on apartmentratings.com to find out that there are sex offenders, cockroaches, management from hell, will give you cancer...the list goes on and on. I know some people just like to complain so eventually I did a search on apartmentratings.com for any apartment in the area, any price, any number of bedrooms, anything but the only thing I put was an over 75% recommendation rate and suprise suprise I found 2 in Dublin, 1 in Hilliard and I believe 0 in Powell out of ALL the apartment complexes. So my question is...can someone PLEASE recommend an apartment for me. I am going to stay away from apartmentrating.com and with the help of you guys (hopefully) try to figure it out. All help would really be appreciated and I did try to read other threads before I posted a similar question. Thanks in advance!!

[Spac3d]

You have to remember that most people that go online to post reviews at ApartmentRatings.com do it because they had a negative experience ... looking for >75% reviews will get you no where (assuming more than 10 reviews). There are plenty of places that would be fine to live at that have mediocre reviews at ApartmentRatings.

Could you at least tell us which apartment complexes you liked/disliked?

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by Spac3d

You have to remember that most people that go online to post reviews at ApartmentRatings.com do it because they had a negative experience ... looking for >75% reviews will get you no where (assuming more than 10 reviews). There are plenty of places that would be fine to live at that have mediocre reviews at ApartmentRatings.

Could you at least tell us which apartment complexes you liked/disliked?

Good advice, I think a lot of folks place too much emphasis on the comments others make today. As you state, those with complaints (many which may be legitimate) tend to be the folks who comment, skewing the perception of potential rental places.

[Ashley111]

Thanks so far guys. I also want to clarify that I didn't start out looking for apartments with 75% recommendation rating I did it after I read so many bad reviews that I wondered if there were any that were good. I really liked Sawmill Ridge. In my maybe category: Sawmill Crossing, Sawmill Ravine, Bridgestone, Lexington Park, Island Club, Glenmuir, Arbors of Dublin, Fox & Hound, Sterling Place, Res. @ Sawmill Park and Village Brook. Thanks

[NewToCA]

I knew a couple who lived at Fox & Hound Aoartments a couple of years ago, and they really liked living there.

[Ashley111]

Or even Karric Place?

[1watertiger]

have you tried craigslist ? im sure you could even find a 1/2 duplex or small condo to rent. more privacy and your own yard for the dogs might work well.

[Athlete218]

I used to live in Asherton of Dublin.....very nice....several large ponds/lakes, a huge dock/deck on the main lake w/ paddle boats & a pool & fitness center.... lots of geese are a negative there & its a bit pricey..... but you could get a place under $800 easily, not sure about a 2BR though.

[OhioLawChick]

I visited Karric Place apartments just yesterday and that place smells like a zoo. There is a very strong fertilizer smell permeating the grounds and it really kills the ambiance there. The apartments themselves are dingy and the appliances and fixtures are old. The apartments are cheaply priced and you can see why. The office staff seemed liked they didn't know what was going on. The only perk was that some of the units have wood burning fireplaces which means no heating bill! However, that alone was not enough to get me to sign a lease there.

[cbusbuckeye]

Ashley, definitely check out Craigslist...there are a TON of places available for less than 800 in the NW Columbus/Hilliard/Grandview areas.

Of the list, check out Sawmill Crossing, Glenmuir, Arbors of Dublin, Fox & Hound, and Sterling Place. You honestly can't really pay that much attention to apartmentratings.com...because people usually only go there for bad reviews.

I live in Olentangy Commons, and that place is SLAMMED on apartmentratings.com, but overall, my experience there (two years) has been quite nice.