Finding new apartment--comes with moldy bathroom? (apartments, renters, tenant)

[jjj321]

I've been apartment hunting and noticed a lot of the apartments I looked at had moldy bathrooms--bathtubs with black gunk in all the cracks in the walls and pink stuff too, and brown circular stains where I'm guessing the old tenant put their shampoo. The landlords seemed to have done some repairs around some of the units, but otherwise didn't clean it at all other than some light sweeping and vacuuming. Is this normal in SF? I remember when I first moved here, and back in the midwest, the apartments were all pretty clean--definitely no visible mold. And some of these recent moldy ones I've seen are not cheap either, small studios going for over $2000 a month! Have landlords just realized there are so many renters they don't even have to make an effort anymore? Will I be able to find an apartment that doesn't have mold in the bathtub barring renting an outrageously expensive newly built luxury unit?

[candalf]

These are landlords you do not want to rent from. We have those here like anywhere else.

There are definitely clean apartments in SF Bay Area, we just found one.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by jjj321

Have landlords just realized there are so many renters they don't even have to make an effort anymore?

For the most part...yes. Although I think what you're describing might be more extreme...?

Originally Posted by jjj321

Will I be able to find an apartment that doesn't have mold in the bathtub barring renting an outrageously expensive newly built luxury unit?

They still exist, they're just harder to find these days. Often some luck and random timing is involved.

[tikkasf]

Originally Posted by jjj321

I've been apartment hunting and noticed a lot of the apartments I looked at had moldy bathrooms--bathtubs with black gunk in all the cracks in the walls and pink stuff too, and brown circular stains where I'm guessing the old tenant put their shampoo. The landlords seemed to have done some repairs around some of the units, but otherwise didn't clean it at all other than some light sweeping and vacuuming. Is this normal in SF? I remember when I first moved here, and back in the midwest, the apartments were all pretty clean--definitely no visible mold. And some of these recent moldy ones I've seen are not cheap either, small studios going for over $2000 a month! Have landlords just realized there are so many renters they don't even have to make an effort anymore? Will I be able to find an apartment that doesn't have mold in the bathtub barring renting an outrageously expensive newly built luxury unit?

Are you sure it's not mildew, if it is in the shower or bathtub? I think there is likely less effort by landlords being put into cleaning up apartments that are in the lower tier pricing catagory. I recall not all that long ago helping a coworker look for a studio in SF. I recall on time giving him a ride to look at one studio apt in the Outer Sunset Dist....what a dump......and it was not the only place he looked at that was like that. He got lucky and found a freshly painted, cleaned up, studio not far from USF that was slightly larger and lower rent then the dump of a studio I had driven him to look at after work one day