Santa Monica / Venice Apt Recommendations (West Hollywood: apartment complexes, rentals, how much)

[iama30something]

Hello!
The girlfriend and I are moving from West Hollywood to the Westside to be closer to work. Our budget is $2400 for a 1 bed / 1 bath and we are looking around the Santa Monica / Venice area.

Does anyone have an recommendations on apartment complexes to look at? Every one I read about on Yelp has bad reviews.

Any insight would be helpful, thanks!

[SpaceMonkyPunks]

You can easily find a good place with that budget, but yelp isn't good for apartment hunting IMO, only the big corporate buildings show up. There's plenty of nice smaller/older buildings that are run by private landlords, just look through the craigslist map, or padmapper.

[iama30something]

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkyPunks

You can easily find a good place with that budget, but yelp isn't good for apartment hunting IMO, only the big corporate buildings show up. There's plenty of nice smaller/older buildings that are run by private landlords, just look through the craigslist map, or padmapper.

Is Padmapper just as good as Westside Rentals?

[bpeeps]

Originally Posted by iama30something

Is Padmapper just as good as Westside Rentals?

Yes. Also check out hotpads.com and smartphone apps RadPad and Lovely for postings.

[Geometry]

Westside seem to have dispointed quite many, personally I know a couple of ppl, they are owners though. But if you check their reputation on yelp, you'll see it's a place that is more a miss then a hit. Plus the concept of paying for something on a very competitive open market is a bit anal, IMHO ....

[Dunbar42]

Originally Posted by iama30something

Is Padmapper just as good as Westside Rentals?

Padmapper just doesn't show much IME. You can browse West Side Rentals for free, it just won't show the address or contact info of the listing agent unless you are a paying subscriber. If you're really cheap you can usually find the same ad on Craigslist if you're crafty. Although some ads are only available on West Side Rentals. Since I have better things to do than stalk Craigslist multiple times per day I'd personally pony up the money for West Side Rentals. Craigslist is a good example of something free that isn't truly free (you waste a lot of time using it.)