Another moving thread(but this one is alaska to denver) (Littleton: apartment complex, leasing agent)

[Wildchickendew]

Good Afternoon fellow forum folks,

I have been lurking around the forums for a while and have tried to do as much research as I could before making a post. I am 30 years old and am moving from anchorage alaska to denver late in July. I will be working near downtown Littleton. Since my spouse will not be working when we first move, my budget for an apartment is about 800-1100 per month.

I am flying down mid July before we move down at the end of the month but it is looking more and more like I will want to have a place lined us site unseen before I get down there. Alaska's rental market is even worse than Denver's so I know I need to act fast. Sadly I am knowing that I am going to have to pick an apartment complex. So here go the questions:

1. Any recommendations of an apartment complex? Every time I find one that's okay I go on apartment rater and see that it has a 27% rating. The two i have looked at recently are Copper Terrace and Camden Centenial.

2. Coming from alaska I have no concept of paying for water in an apartment. What is the average cost per month for a 2 bedroom apartment.

Any recommendations you might have on getting a place that does not suck would be very helpful.

Thank you

[blackmet]

1) Apartment Ratings are something you have to really read rather than just look at the percentage. If it's at 27%, but the comments are mostly "The people in the leasing office are rude" or "They kicked me out because my 65 pound coon hound made way too much noise," it's probably an OK place to live. My complex had a 40% rating when I moved in, but most of the negative comments were of that nature. And, yes, our leasing agent is kind of rude, but seeing as I deal with her maybe once every couple of months for 2 minutes, I can live with it.

If it's got a low rating, and the vast majority of the comments are things like "We had bed bugs and black mold" or "my car was broken into repeatedly by a group of thugs that sold crack outside my doorstep," then you might want to reconsider.

2) We have a one bedroom plus den, so basically a 2 bedroom. We get a Conservice bill each month for sewer/water/trash all rolled together. The total bill is usually between 35-40 dollars, the water part of it is usually about $16-$18.

I've also lived in a place with boiler heating, when I was there, the water bill would drop to as low as 15.00 in the summer, up to 40.00 in the winter. The energy bill would be as low as 25.00 in the winter (because your heat is coming from the water, so really it's just lights and electricity), but could get as high as $80.00 in the summer (when you had to run the A/C constantly to keep it remotely tolerable).

Copper Terrace looks like it has an 81% approval rating on apartmentratings.com, and is in a really nice area of town, a bit further from your work, but closer to light rail and the Denver Tech Center. Camden Centennial is going to be really close to where you work, has a 51% approval rating on apartmentratings.com, and is still in a nice part of town. Copper Terrace seems nicer, but it's still close enough for me to say to choose based on how much driving in rush hour traffic you're willing to tolerate.

[Wildchickendew]

Thank you for the information. That makes sense. I agree that as long as mold/bugs/crack selling thugs aren't occurring I can deal with a rude/heavily corporate complex. It seems that even though copper terrace has a higher rating, camden is only 4.6 miles from my work so that might be the best option since in the short term we will only have one car until my spouse gets a job. And since I will get a short lease, I can be in a better situation to find another apartment when I am physically living there, or if possible a house.

That utility cost seems pretty doable assuming I do not run the ac all the time which will be an interesting change. There is no AC in anchorage since the hottest it generally gets is the 70s with maybe one day or two in the 80s, though last summer the 60s was the average.

Thank you again for your answer