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Old 02-20-2012, 05:25 PM
 
2 posts, read 19,611 times
Reputation: 11

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Hello,

My first post! This summer, I am moving to Philadelphia. I'm a female in my early 20s looking at 1br apartments in Bella Vista, Queens Village, Center City, University City, Fairmount, Rittenhouse Square, etc. It's imperative that I be centrally located and close to transit. My price range is $600-900/mo.

Two questions:

1. What would be the best way to go about apartment hunting? I've read on here that some people use realtors...isn't that really expensive? Worth the extra money? Do most people in Philly rely on Craigslist to find apartments? Are there rental/management companies that I should DEFINITELY avoid? Are there other resources that list apartments? What are they? Is it possible to walk around and take down phone numbers from listings? Which neighborhoods are best for this?

2. When would be the best time to search for apartments for a July 1st move? I've started looking on Craigslist now, and most listings are for March/April. Do most people secure housing at the last minute? I'm afraid that everything decent and/or affordable will be gone if I wait too long.

Please advise!
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Old 02-20-2012, 05:57 PM
 
Location: Midwest
1,283 posts, read 2,226,091 times
Reputation: 983
1) Landlords will typically require 30, 60, or 90 days notice before leaving an apartment, so that is typically how long before hand the landlord will be able to show apartments to prospective tenants.

2) Plan on being towards the extreme upper end of your price range, IF you're lucky. Not sure what exactly your priorities are and what you consider centrally located and near transit - but consider, for example, that you can live deep in South Philly or in some of the nicer Parts of Kensington and find something within your price range and live right on the Broad Street Line or Market Frankford Line, and on the other hand, could live in Queen Village or Fairmount and be centrally located, but dependent on the bus network instead of rapid transit.

Not that there's anything wrong with your plan. In fact it was my plan as well. We moved to Philly 2 years ago, settled for a relatively cheap place in Rittenhouse (just barely above your price range) and got a real feel for the city. Now we're a lot more familiar and are getting set to move out of Center City in a few months and into any of a number of neighborhoods we feel are good on the value/public transit/walkability front.
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Old 02-20-2012, 06:41 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
8,700 posts, read 14,694,435 times
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Any apartment complex will have a website with contact/rental information and all of that fun stuff. Avoid Realtors for renting an apartment, that would just be a waste of money.
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Old 02-21-2012, 05:31 AM
 
Location: Center City
147 posts, read 353,718 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Summersm343 View Post
Any apartment complex will have a website with contact/rental information and all of that fun stuff. Avoid Realtors for renting an apartment, that would just be a waste of money.

I didn't pay a dime to have a realtor show me apartments. It's possible she did it as a favor, but I know I didn't pay one penny to her.
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Old 02-21-2012, 11:04 AM
 
Location: South Philadelphia
40 posts, read 98,956 times
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Realtor's services are free for the tenant. We get paid our commission by the landlord's agent which is typically half month's rent each. The tenant never pays anything ever.

600-900 is an unrealistic range right now for center city unless you want a tiny studio and pay 900+. I would look in South Philly or Fishtown, still close to the action and accessible to public transportation.

In general Craigslist is your best source as everyone posts there, but I would start looking in mid-may for a July 1 move in.
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Old 02-22-2012, 09:38 AM
 
2 posts, read 19,611 times
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Thanks for all of the replies so far! South Philly...where in South Philly? Please provide details if possible, I'm not familiar with that area. The reason why I list connection to public transit as number one is because I won't have a car. If there are other neighborhoods where I could live carless and still get to work and have a life, please tell!
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Old 02-22-2012, 01:24 PM
 
Location: Bella Vista
2,471 posts, read 4,017,847 times
Reputation: 2212
Quote:
Originally Posted by n__jones View Post
Thanks for all of the replies so far! South Philly...where in South Philly? Please provide details if possible, I'm not familiar with that area. The reason why I list connection to public transit as number one is because I won't have a car. If there are other neighborhoods where I could live carless and still get to work and have a life, please tell!
As long as you are on the east side of Broad it's all at least fairly safe and decent although some areas are better than others. I would just try and concentrate around broad street Bella Vista or Passyunk Sq, this way you'll be convenient to the subway and you'll be able to find a 1BR place for under 900.

Start looking as early as possible but be patient. Get a handle on prices, get an idea for how long places have been on the market. Contact the person renting it and let them know when you're looking to move in, sometimes they'll be willing to delay the move in date, sometimes it's even worthwhile to start paying rent earlier than you need to in order to secure a good place that will save you money in the long run.

Just make it a daily chore to check out craigslist, I'd honestly get started within the next month or so. You probably won't find the place you want until June, but it doesn't hurt to be checking early.
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Old 02-22-2012, 03:34 PM
 
Location: Midwest
1,283 posts, read 2,226,091 times
Reputation: 983
Quote:
Originally Posted by n__jones View Post
Thanks for all of the replies so far! South Philly...where in South Philly? Please provide details if possible, I'm not familiar with that area. The reason why I list connection to public transit as number one is because I won't have a car. If there are other neighborhoods where I could live carless and still get to work and have a life, please tell!
South Philly is everything south of South Street. Bella Vista and Queen Village are part of South Philly, the most gentrified areas of South Philly. Besides having the Broad Street Line subway running down Broad, there are a multitude of bus lines that run often and make pretty much all of south philly very easy to be transit dependent in.
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Old 10-02-2018, 06:59 PM
 
1 posts, read 1,345 times
Reputation: 11
Default Check out this new apartment guide site

It has good neighborhood guides for some Center City neighborhoods. rentersway.com
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Old 10-02-2018, 07:31 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia Pa
1,213 posts, read 955,181 times
Reputation: 1318
Also, check out a real estate site called philly.curbed.com. This site runs a regular segment titled, "what $XXX will rent you in Philly." Here are two links to several places near your budget. This will at least give you a visual idea of what you're looking at and you can google the addresses.

https://philly.curbed.com/2018/9/24/...al-1000-philly

https://philly.curbed.com/2018/6/18/...ook-germantown
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