Moving to Burlington ?'s (South Burlington: apartments, to rent, condominiums)

[quiltinqueen123]

We are a quiet young retired couple who want to move to downtown Burlington.
We will be renting for the first year and want to rent an apartment.
We would like a clean, modern looking apartment with the rent not to exceed $1,200.00 per month.
We have a 8 year old West Highland Terrier named Willie. He is under 20 lbs, and is definitely house broken.
We are looking for a place to live where we can walk to the downtown.

What kind of places are out there in the price range?

We are looking at moving on October 1st.

If the downtown area doesn't work, what other areas should we consider.

[Vermonr]

Based only on your circumstances, I would say that an apartment in the hill section of Burlington would probably be the best fit for you, especially if you are looking for peace and quiet. This is section that is (aptly named) on the southern higher-elevated area of downtown (around South Union Street, going east to Redstone and UVM). Unfortunately, it would be next to impossible to find a nice apartment in that price range.

If your price is firm you might want to look at some other areas of Burlington. In the downtown area 1200 will get you a decent two bedroom or a fairly ok one bedroom, but it won't get you anything spectacular. I have two rules that I tell people before looking for an apartment in the downtown area:

1. See the apartment in person and
2. Be a night owl.

You will not find a clean, modern apartment anywhere in downtown Burlington. All the apartments are old and many have warped floors and cracked walls. This is why you should always see the place in person and check for animals/water damage/etc.

I have heard that it is hard to find a place that takes in pets, but maybe someone else can chime in on this.

If you live pretty much anywhere other than the hill section you will have noisy neighbors. You will have college students out drinking on their porches, you will have drunk people singing down the street at 2 am on a Thursday, you will have homeless people up on your porch rummaging through your recycling if you put it out early, and you will have people steal your flower pots.

Now that I have scared you, I will say that there is nowhere else in Burlington I would rather live. The benefits of living right downtown far outweigh these little inconveniences that occasionally spring up. Burlington is an amazing city and it's safe here to walk at any time of the day. But note that I am 23 years old and my priorities may be quite different than yours. I think the best course of action for you would be to come to Burlington and check out some neighborhoods/apartments yourself.

[68vette]

Pets will be your biggest problem. Some of the outside towns charge additional rent for pets (pet deposits never cover the damage done). The issue with downtown as mentioned is there are not many new places and they will not have a modern feel, especially in your price range. One thing you will have to contend with in the next two months are the UVM students. Anything with two or more bedrooms get sucked up quick. It's cheaper for them to live off campus with roommates sharing expenses. An option that is available now would be the Quarry Hill East Condominiums. I think they are technically South Burlington, but they are just off Spear St near UVM. It's not an easy walk to the downtown, but they take pets (must be spayed/neutered) with only a $400 deposit, they are new, and there are 1-2 bedroom openings. The rent is close to your range, They are asking $1300-1550/month for two bedroom and $1075/month for a one bed room. They are not huge (<1000 sq ft) but they look very nice. The one big downside, and I think the reason they are this affordable, is that the building is on the side of the interstate. Which ever way you decide to go, as mentioned, see the apartment in person. The photos always show the best attributes and size is misleading.