Looking for a place to stay while at FSU (Tallahassee: apartment complexes, rentals)

[xfr2fsu]

I'm transferring into FSU for my last 2 years of college and I'm looking for a nice quiet place to stay, however it seems that every place that is affordable is a garbage.

Does any one know of a good 1br apartment in tally that includes either furniture or utilities that is not a piece of garbage. It seems I've searched every complex around and they all get horrid ratings. However all the complexes with good ratings don't offer utilities or furniture and are quite expensive. If any one knows any place that is decent or has had a good experience, please let me know.

[Smalleyster]

Feet on the street is your best plan.

Searching for rentals on the internet is just the tip of the iceberg.

It took me 2-3 months of almost daily search driving down every road in Tally is to finally get what we consider to be a fair value.

[xfr2fsu]

What did you find was the best?

[Smalleyster]

We ended up way out of town and pay the difference in gas and time. My point was that everything we thought we learned from the internet only ended up being background info that helped the on the ground decision.

[EscAlaMike]

Rental housing in Tallahassee is fairly expensive due to the high demand. If you want something nicer that will include furniture and utilities, expect to pay for it. There aren't many bargains unless you have an "in" with somebody with a house or something.

[Nolegator]

My advice to you is to search Craigslist and deal with individuals instead of apartment complexes. When your landlord is just an ordinary person they have less incentive to be jerks. When I came to Tallahassee for school I didn't know a soul, but I secured a room with a young couple who own their own house. I only had to pay them rent and not deal with Tally's extremely high utilities. My place right now I also found on CL and I love it. On the other hand, most of my friends here live in apt complexes and change them every year because they hate how they are treated.

On a side note from the experiences of people I know: Student Housing Solutions and Phoenix South are some of the most exploitative housing management companies in Tallahassee that target students. I would recommend not renting any of their properties.