Does Anyone Know of a Service that Helps with Researching Apartment Construction for Renters? (Evanston: condos)

[DallasReeves]

Question to those in the know:

Wife and I are game planning our next housing search. Although our current lease isn't over until the end of July, I figure it never hurts to start researching and preparing for that search early - especially in a (what seems like ) a competitive marketplace for good rentals.

Our current apartment is in Ravenswood. We'd prefer to rent a house in Evanston but with the single family home rental prices being a little on the higher end - we may have to get an apartment / townhouse / or condo for our next dwelling (either there or in the area).

My question is, Does anyone know of or have experience with a service / organization that will accompany you to viewings or research the construction of a unit? For example, say we find a townhouse or apartment we really like. But we can't get information or a feel for how the construction impacts soundproofing / noise levels. Is there somebody or some group out there can accompany you and inspect the premises, giving you info? Or if the construction records are available for public record, research for you?

Ambient city and street noise doesn't really bother us so much. It's the desire to not replicate our current experience(s): paper thin walls where I can hear my neighbor's speakerphone conversations about being raped by her father. Or hearing the joists in the (laughably) refurbished wood flooring creak and crackle so loudly you literally memorize routes in your apartment (think the Word of God scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) in order to avoid making you and other people feel like the floor is going to buckle.

[emathias]

I'm not aware of any service like that. You could hire a home inspector, but they are hundreds of dollars and don't really inspect for the types of things you're talking about. I'm not even sure how someone could do any more to check for things like thin walls than you could do yourself simply by asking the landlord and/or people who already live there. And I don't think very many landlords would want you intruding on other tenants privacy just to verify things like wall thickness. It's just one of those things you can knock on doors and ask current tenants, you can rent a house, or you can buy a place in which case getting deeper inspections is the expectation and the cost of which is more readily absorbable.

When I bought my current place, sound was a consideration so I bought a top-floor unit in a vintage building where the adjacent units are separately by literally 16 inches of brick because of the way it was originally constructed and then converted to condos 30 years ago. I still hear sound from my downstairs neighbor occasionally, but just by looking myself at how things were laid out I knew that most of my sound issues would not be issues. One thing people don't always think of that you can consider is how the HVAC system, if any, is configured. If there is ductwork that transits other units that will also be a sound conveyance.

[convextech]

Originally Posted by DallasReeves

Question to those in the know:

Wife and I are game planning our next housing search. Although our current lease isn't over until the end of July, I figure it never hurts to start researching and preparing for that search early - especially in a (what seems like ) a competitive marketplace for good rentals.

Our current apartment is in Ravenswood. We'd prefer to rent a house in Evanston but with the single family home rental prices being a little on the higher end - we may have to get an apartment / townhouse / or condo for our next dwelling (either there or in the area).

My question is, Does anyone know of or have experience with a service / organization that will accompany you to viewings or research the construction of a unit? For example, say we find a townhouse or apartment we really like. But we can't get information or a feel for how the construction impacts soundproofing / noise levels. Is there somebody or some group out there can accompany you and inspect the premises, giving you info? Or if the construction records are available for public record, research for you?

Ambient city and street noise doesn't really bother us so much. It's the desire to not replicate our current experience(s): paper thin walls where I can hear my neighbor's speakerphone conversations about being raped by her father. Or hearing the joists in the (laughably) refurbished wood flooring creak and crackle so loudly you literally memorize routes in your apartment (think the Word of God scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) in order to avoid making you and other people feel like the floor is going to buckle.

People who are renting usually do the legwork themselves.

[linicx]

Unless you rent/buy a 100 year old unit, you will find mose multiple unit buildings are built with 3/8"dry wall board.

If sound is an issue there are a couple of things you can do. Live in the rear of the unit that is the farthest away from the street. Another option is a duplex or single family home in a cul-du-sac or dead end street. The last option is to move out of Cook County where population density does not exist, and you will not hear your neighbors or noise from busy surface treets. It's a trade-off. You'll hear trains, cows, dogs, etc..

[DallasReeves]

Originally Posted by convextech

People who are renting usually do the legwork themselves.

Roger that.

[linicx]

Originally Posted by DallasReeves

Question to those in the know:

Ambient city and street noise doesn't really bother us so much. It's the desire to not replicate our current experience(s): paper thin walls where I can hear my neighbor's speakerphone . . .

The federal government, in conjunction with most telephone companies and most states, promote a program that provides an amplified phone free of charge to those who qualify. The only way, I know of, that you can be assured of avoiding all amplification devices at home, is to live in a single family unit not near another building. .

The amplified phone is a device that is used by, and is specifically made for, those of us who cannot communicate without some type of device that amplifies sound. We cannot *call* 911 or EMS without it for we cannot hear the verbal response to an emergency call over a non-amplified unit. Worth noting is not all cell phones have a loud external speaker.

If you are positive you are hearing a conversation from the caller to your neighbor, then I suspect your neighbor has a substantial hearing loss.