IS Apartment Living really that Bad in Houston? (rent, townhomes)

[meet4]

Originally Posted by movingon08

Thanks for your reply, I guess your right, I will have to pay more in order to get peace of mind. I was hoping to find a place under 900.00 a month but I guess I have to pay between 1,000-1,200 in order to get a decent place. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do that because I am paying the same prices in california and that is one reason why I want to leave..lol I guess the cost of living really isn't cheaper in Texas.

I was in same situation as you like year ago. Forget about anything decent below 1100$ for 2bdr. People telling you it's "okay" have bit different standards.
Stone Canyon is not bad, it's bit old and on busy road in dumpy area, but not bad. I like more area north of 1960 tho, around HP campus for example.
You can flip the coin and go for some 700$ complexes and maybe nothing will happen to you ever... but ye, reviews are mostly right.

[scottweaver]

The bottom line on these apartment rating sites is that the people writing them are "pissed" about something that happened to them. Is apartment living perfect? Absolutely not! But it can be very convenient and allow you to live in some great neighborhoods without paying near what you would to own a house there. Take the reviews with a grain of salt. Remember, you don't hear about the good stuff. If you are happy with where you live, you don't log into a site and tell everyone about it. You are out enjoying your life. If you are pissed, you need to vent, and you'll try to vent in anyway possible.

[Kenpar]

I like apartment living. I live in a okay area. Actually the area as a whole is great. My rent is cheap, and I don't have to worry about any of the things I would with a house. My apartment is pretty big for one person and I have a big patio!

But, I would like a yard. I miss having a yard. But, I have come to realize that I don't need a big house. And I don't need the biggest yard. When I get to the point where I want to own something, I want it to be in the city! Forget the burbs, haha.

Oh and to answer your question OP, no it isn't that bad living in a apartment in Houston. If I had 8 to 9 hundred to, or even 1000 dollars to spend on a place, I would be living in a way better neighborhood in Houston. Trust me, you won't have any problems finding a nice place in Houston. Unless your standards are ridiculously high like most on this site. If they are, I will see you back here complaining in a few months, haha.

[Kenpar]

Originally Posted by scottweaver

The bottom line on these apartment rating sites is that the people writing them are "pissed" about something that happened to them. Is apartment living perfect? Absolutely not! But it can be very convenient and allow you to live in some great neighborhoods without paying near what you would to own a house there. Take the reviews with a grain of salt. Remember, you don't hear about the good stuff. If you are happy with where you live, you don't log into a site and tell everyone about it. You are out enjoying your life. If you are pissed, you need to vent, and you'll try to vent in anyway possible.

This is absolutely correct.

[jfre81]

Let's see....I hear the people upstairs, movement more than conversations or anything juicy like that. I don't hear anything from the lady next to me and she turns her TV up kind of loud. I hear it if I'm outside on the porch but not inside. Unless I turn off every source of noise inside my own apartment and concentrate on it.

If anything outside is bothering me that much, that's why I have headphones.

Everyone's mileage varies. I'm speaking as someone who napped through the back end of Hurricane Ike.

[CaroleF]

I've lived in the same apartment for almost 19 years. There have been issues with noisy neighbors and once (many years ago) a shooting in the parking lot below me, but on the whole I have been pleased with the place. It is cheap--under $800 and includes electricity; you can't beat that!

However, the apartment ratings for this complex are terrible. I believe that it is most likely to be when you're pissed off with your apartment that you will go and write reviews. How many happy apartment dwellers do that? So maybe it would be better to go to the complex and look around for a person who lives there and ask him/her about the place. I've done that and learned good stuff--like "my upstairs neighbor has a kid and I hear it at all hours", so obviously there isn't very good sound insulation there. That matters to me since it is an issue for me here. I have insomnia and can't cope with TV's through my bedroom wall.

That's why my house-hunting is so hard right now: I can't find a condo/townhome that has well-insulated walls and an elevator (multiple fractures in my right foot this year) and it's also why I am looking for a single family home, but that also brings problems with it. I am a little disheartened that I haven't found anything, but I am finding this forum helpful. And I have faith that my home is out there, but is maybe not listed yet.

l So MovingOn08, my advice is to go for the features you want and your gut feeling and if possible try to talk to someone who lives there.

[SteveArmy]

Originally Posted by CaroleF

I've lived in the same apartment for almost 19 years. There have been issues with noisy neighbors and once (many years ago) a shooting in the parking lot below me, but on the whole I have been pleased with the place. It is cheap--under $800 and includes electricity; you can't beat that!

However, the apartment ratings for this complex are terrible. I believe that it is most likely to be when you're pissed off with your apartment that you will go and write reviews. How many happy apartment dwellers do that? So maybe it would be better to go to the complex and look around for a person who lives there and ask him/her about the place. I've done that and learned good stuff--like "my upstairs neighbor has a kid and I hear it at all hours", so obviously there isn't very good sound insulation there. That matters to me since it is an issue for me here. I have insomnia and can't cope with TV's through my bedroom wall.

That's why my house-hunting is so hard right now: I can't find a condo/townhome that has well-insulated walls and an elevator (multiple fractures in my right foot this year) and it's also why I am looking for a single family home, but that also brings problems with it. I am a little disheartened that I haven't found anything, but I am finding this forum helpful. And I have faith that my home is out there, but is maybe not listed yet.

l So MovingOn08, my advice is to go for the features you want and your gut feeling and if possible try to talk to someone who lives there.

i am learning to play drums and during this phase I learned about sound deadening curtains. i guess what i'm saying is if the house is in a perfect spot you can always consider reconfiguring things to your needs

[one2admire]

We recently moved to the Houston-area (Webster). I worked with an apartment locator and did quite a bit of research. What I found was the apartments with the highest reviews I hated. I actually ended up leasing an apartment with very low reviews but I liked the apartment, community, and location. It wasn't even on my list of prospects, I saw it while going to another set of apartments. Reviews that mentioned things like bad management, rude staff, etc. I took with a grain of salt, those are personal opinions. Things like break-ins and buglaries, bug infestations, etc. I weighed heavy on. My apartment was rated low because of a management. The manager is no longer there and every issue I've had (which were minor things from the apartment being vacant for so long) has been resolved quickly. Also, my budget was $850 which was a bit unrealistic for what I was looking for. I ended up increasing it about $150. I wouldn't recommend leasing an apartment without visiting it first, I almost did and would have been extremely upset if I had.

[Texas Mack]

Originally Posted by scottweaver

The bottom line on these apartment rating sites is that the people writing them are "pissed" about something that happened to them. Is apartment living perfect? Absolutely not! But it can be very convenient and allow you to live in some great neighborhoods without paying near what you would to own a house there. Take the reviews with a grain of salt. Remember, you don't hear about the good stuff. If you are happy with where you live, you don't log into a site and tell everyone about it. You are out enjoying your life. If you are pissed, you need to vent, and you'll try to vent in anyway possible.

I tend to very much agree with most of this. By all means, heed what is being said in the reviews at least to some degree but also keep in mind that negative reviews on such media are usually the result of people who are disgruntled and have specific axes to grind and so they are a lot more passionate about what they say. Some of what they say may/probably be true but the degree could be exaggerated to some extent.

But as someone else also mentioned, never sign a lease to an apartment without seeing it first and getting a feel for the area. It's a must, no matter where you live, be it in Houston or any place in America.

[HtownHomes4U]

It's funny to read some of the reviews. My wife is an apartment manager and she says the ones that usually do leave the bad reviews are the ones that didn't pay their rent and got kicked out. Hardly any of those reviews are near the truth.