Apartment hunting pet peeves

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion) 07/20/2020 at 22:39 • Filed to: None

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1. Floor-to-ceiling windows.

Maybe it’s because I spent five years washing windows, but when I see “Floor-to-ceiling” windows advertised as a key selling point and I see win dows that are not in fact stretching from the floor to the ceiling... I get angry. Like this awful, awful example on Craigslist.

Here’s what floor to ceiling windows actually look like, grabbed from a 2 second Google search. This is a super common window layout in Seattle high-rise apartments built in the last two decades. A million times nicer than the *luxury* garbage that’s being built locally and offered for a similar price. T he windows are a key part of elevating the design.

2. Poor room layout s. Now this one is going to be dependent on the needs of the people living inside, but as I was scrolling through floorplans I realized some of these places seemed to be designed without ever once giving a single thought to the inhabitants.

Here’s an example. There was a 2bd/2.5bath townhouse I came across. Upstairs, behind three sepperate doors you had two bedrooms, and the half bathroom. Downstairs... You had a full bathroom next to the garage and another full bathroom at the other end of the floor. This place was built in the last decade.

WTF?! Having to go downstairs to shower, and having to share a half bathroom with a roommate when there are another two bathrooms basically wasting space? Ugh.

Here’s a *good* layout as a pallette cleanser. 2bed/2bath apartment. The entire left wing is a master suite. Bedroom, walk-in closet, private bathroom. The entire right side is a master suite. Bedroom, walk-in closet, private bathroom. Maximum separation for maximum privacy, and full suites for each person. It’s even symmetrical!

3. It seems like there is absolutely nobody currently building apartments at any price range with anything other than shit-tier workmanship and materials. From $600 1 bedrooms to $4500 1 bedrooms, these places are all using the same contractor-grade fixtures, cheap carpet, thin underlayment, rental-spec appliances, etc. And they look like they’ve been put together by a couple of drunk apprentices. Nothing like having a just-built luxury apartment complex charging $3000 a month for studios that have shower pans that are angled away from the drain and windows that fail within a month of installation. ..

4. All the cool industrial lofts are gone :( I count... Zero on seattle CL. I want to live in an old brick school. A firestation. An abandoned warehouse. *s igh*. Someday.

And number 5. You’d think prices would drop given economic disaster, insane unemployment levels, world-wide pandemic, etc. That does not seem to be the case. Maybe they’re just not rising *as quickly*

Woo-hoo.

CB > AestheticsInMotion 07/20/2020 at 22:44

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Question: when apartment hunting, what calibre rifle should I be using, or does that depend on the number of rooms?

AestheticsInMotion > CB 07/20/2020 at 22:48

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*the FBI has entered the chat*

CB > AestheticsInMotion 07/20/2020 at 22:49

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Oh good, they should know best practices. Or if they don’t, can one of the FBI guys call the game wardens?

shop-teacher > AestheticsInMotion 07/20/2020 at 22:54

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Wow. The one-bedroom you have with the rent listed ... my mortgage payment, including taxes and home owners insurance, is less than that. I live in a 2000 square foot house in a very nice neighborhood in a very nice town . That’s batshitcrazypants.

CB > shop-teacher 07/20/2020 at 22:55

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Back in university, my dad asked why he didn’t just put a down payment on a house down, have us pay him all the related fees, then sell it when we were done with it. It was a very good question that I didn’t have a good answer to.

facw > shop-teacher 07/20/2020 at 22:58

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I paid ~ $3200/month for my 700sqft one bedroom in Manhattan. My current 820sqft one bedroom outside of Boston is $2600. $1600 for a one bedroom, even a small one, in the Seattle area doesn’t seem too absurd to me.

For Sweden > AestheticsInMotion 07/20/2020 at 22:59

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I can find you a S tratus for a fraction of that price

For Sweden > AestheticsInMotion 07/20/2020 at 22:59

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Is this a HRT operator or a financial crimes lackey?

facw > AestheticsInMotion 07/20/2020 at 23:00

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Here’s a *good* layout 

Meh, I still want to punch anyone who thinks bar seating in the kitchen is desirable. Maybe in a tiny studio that doesn’t have room for a dining area, but here y ou’ve got the dining table right there already, so why further clutter the space?

AestheticsInMotion > shop-teacher 07/20/2020 at 23:00

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The worst part? It brings me pain to say this, but that price... Isn’t even thaaaaat bad. It’s not a bargain by any means, but you see a lot worse with a bit of casual browsing.

It's going to be a very sad time around here when all of the federal rent forgiveness programs end

AestheticsInMotion > For Sweden 07/20/2020 at 23:03

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Definitely the latter. Don't worry, we'll slip him a few bills under the table. 

MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick) > CB 07/20/2020 at 23:03

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AestheticsInMotion > facw 07/20/2020 at 23:04

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I like a bar a lot more than a wall, but yes in general just having it completely open would be preferable. It's not like it would be hard to put an island in if you desired. 

shop-teacher > CB 07/20/2020 at 23:07

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I know a few people who actually did that.

shop-teacher > AestheticsInMotion 07/20/2020 at 23:08

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I don't know how anybody does it.

shop-teacher > facw 07/20/2020 at 23:08

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I cannot square that circle in my head.

facw > AestheticsInMotion 07/20/2020 at 23:19

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As someone who likes to cook for friends, I am a big fan of having open kitchens, so you can socialize while preparing. This is my current plan:

The “island” is really just a table with the same stone countertop as the rest of the kitchen, so easy enough to not put chairs there.

I in the past, I had a similar two bedroom layout that I liked as well:

That came with two stainless steel Ikea tables with butcher block tops to use in the kitchen. It also had nice floor to ceiling windows in the living room (and unlike what you see in the render (and I hate places that give you these renders instead of real floor plans), both bedrooms had long, but narrow windows).

fintail > AestheticsInMotion 07/20/2020 at 23:24

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I was going to say, that price is almost suspicious, not bad at all. Most people don’t realize how crazy housing is here, if located in a decent area. Detached houses are still very tough for people under a certain age if they don’t have help.

I understand many buildings in Bellevue are not experiencing the almost mandatory rent increases this year, due to to the crisis. The quality thing gets me, too. I toured a building a couple months ago (to get a $100 Amazon gift card). 1 bedroom - $2500/month. Everything extra. Normal contractor grade everything, what I would expect in a 150 K flyover land tract house.

facw > shop-teacher 07/20/2020 at 23:25

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That $3200 was in 2013, so I’m sure it’s a lot more now.

In any event, for me I want the energy of a city, the walkability, the extensive food options, and so on. I would just feel trapped and isolated in a more suburban setting (or even in a car centric city, my (small) apartment in Houston was ~$1000/month, and inside the loop, but still in an area that too low density and car dominated for me to feel like I should save money by going back ).

dumpsterfire! > AestheticsInMotion 07/20/2020 at 23:26

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Search filter "manual transmission"...checks interior photos... see 75% with automatic shift lever... motherfucker... kind of the same?

ranwhenparked > AestheticsInMotion 07/20/2020 at 23:32

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All new construction is like that. From a $130,000 starter townhouse to a $500k McMansion, craftsmanship went out the window ages ago, it's all pretty shoddy now. 

shop-teacher > facw 07/20/2020 at 23:58

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I can't stand that kind of density.

facw > shop-teacher 07/21/2020 at 00:17

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Different things for different folks.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > AestheticsInMotion 07/21/2020 at 00:42

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Those are all awful layouts, but absolutely NOTHING can beat the sheer stupidity if the lake house my basketball coach rented once to house is during a camp. Four bedrooms downstairs, laid out so that there was one long common room. I got a single bed in a massive room. Other people had a few beds crammed into a tiny room. Some people had to sleep on the floor. Random changes in floor elevation. Translucent window from one bedroom so that light from the common room full of windows without curtains could come in, awful for sleeping.

Oh, and one half bath for the whole team with a non locking pocket door . And a third floor that didn’t have a single room. And half the second floor was an absolutely massive bathroom and there was a random tiny half bath off the kitchen.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ranwhenparked 07/21/2020 at 00:45

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You should see the cheap crap being thrown up endlessly in every direction o f Atlanta. Running out land is hard to do here but at the rate those things fall apart they are trying their best.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > dumpsterfire! 07/21/2020 at 00:46

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Or when you go to checking automatic Miatas in hope and there are lots of mislabeled ones.

There is a 20,000 mile NB that claims it's an auto but you can't see in the photos except the dash light for the handbrake is on. I really am intrigued.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > fintail 07/21/2020 at 00:47

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S Jackson St is a convenient location but a horrible area. Not that it matters anymore.

AestheticsInMotion > dumpsterfire! 07/21/2020 at 01:02

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Exactly. For whatever reason whenever I’m looking at scooters and bikes, automatics/cvts are always listed as “other”

AestheticsInMotion > facw 07/21/2020 at 01:04

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Ohhhh. I like that. Now all you need is a wraparound deck from the dining room to the bedroom! 

Saracen > AestheticsInMotion 07/21/2020 at 01:28

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Last time I was in your neck of the woods , I looked at a gorgeous, modern new construction in Edmonds. Excellent layout, top notch build quality inside. It also had a 1200 sq ft garage under the house, and RV parking.  

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make an offer on it, but the realtor said the home next to it was a project by the same builder and that it would be on the market soon.

Finally a couple of weeks ago, the home was listed. And it’s freakin terrible! It was listed for the same price as the first house, it’s 700 sq ft smaller, and the interior is nowhere in the same league as far as layout or build quality I was really disappointed. I think they had some cost overruns, and that resulted in cutting some corners.

AestheticsInMotion > fintail 07/21/2020 at 02:48

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Don’t get me started on paying extra for parking, laundry, and a storage unit on your own deck (yeah I’ve seen that one a few times now).

I struggled to find a single detached home under $500,000 locally a few weeks ago, and the few that were under that were one step above hovels. It's no wonder people are living at home longer. 

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > facw 07/21/2020 at 06:37

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The noise from the sink or dishwasher in that master would make me want to burn the place down. 

shop-teacher > facw 07/21/2020 at 08:43

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Absolutely.

facw > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 07/21/2020 at 09:17

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Never was a problem for me. Modern dishwashers are very quiet anyway (certainly quieter than the surrounding city).

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > dumpsterfire! 07/21/2020 at 10:26

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People who do this on car listings are the people who do not know what a manual transmission is. They just see you can “Select a Gear Anytime! ” and the brain shuts off immediately.

facw > winterlegacy, here 'till the end 07/21/2020 at 10:52

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Honestly, those probably should be a third option to discourage mislabeling .

facw > dumpsterfire! 07/21/2020 at 10:57

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My frustration is that none of the sites let you filter by horsepower/torque/power-to-weight/0-60 or anything like that. If I’m buying a car, I’d like to be able to be able to filter for some sort of performance. Instead, they just offer “number of cylinders” which in today’s automotive world of turbocharged engines is nearly meaningless.

Tapas > AestheticsInMotion 07/21/2020 at 12:29

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I have these same pet peeves and more!

What really gets me mad is this

Ad: “....spacious a two bedroom apartment.” Read a little more and it’s a 1+1.

Me: +1?

Ad: 1 bedroom and 1 DEN

Me: Den? Do I look like a fucking bear?

Ad photo: 1 bedroom and a closet

Me: *Facepalm*

Other pet peeves:

Sliding doors . If your room will be catastrophically compromised by removing 3' quarter circle of space because of a regular door opening - this space should not be a room.

No covered parking space. In a terribly cold country. EVEN IN 3 MILLION MANY DOLLAR HOUSES!

2 Bedroom / 3 Bedroom, 1 BATH. So for $750k + $800/ mo maintenance, only one person can shit or bathe (in a sanitary fashion) at any given time?

Oddly shaped rooms and layout.

“Master” bedroom with 10' x 10' dimensions.

FOUR storey townhouses that are fucking 15' wide but 60' deep. So you park and then go up to the living room and a half bath. Go up again for the kitchen and dining. Then go up for bedrooms and 1 SHARED bath.

Tapas > facw 07/21/2020 at 12:34

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I love this.

Sadly, it is an $850k apartment in Toronto, with about $750/mo maintenance.

MrSnrub > AestheticsInMotion 07/21/2020 at 14:42

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Is there any new construction that’s decent any more? My apartment complex is less than 10 years old and it’s not holding up well . Going by how easily sound transmits through the walls I’m pretty sure it was made out of paper mache. I’ve thought about buying but property taxes here in Texas are a real deterrent; they’re about half as much as the mortgage payment on a monthly basis.

AestheticsInMotion > Tapas 07/21/2020 at 15:10

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Oh man. Those tall four story townhomes that have like a single room per floor are the WORST. Luckily they’re not super popular around here yet but come on....

I like the dens only because that's the only way to find a "basically two bedroom" place at a discount lol

Tapas > AestheticsInMotion 07/21/2020 at 15:35

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I have let things slide in the past, not gonna lie.

Wore the t shirt once before? It’s basically fresh.

Milk past the “Best Before” date by 3 days? That’s fine.

This is one too far. I want my full room, god damn it!

I’m still baffled by limited bathrooms. Everyone needs to poop and bathe. Even the one shared bathroom is tiny. I don’t want to feel like I’m living in a hostel, carrying my towel and soap in a caddy in a house I s pent the better part of a million dollars to buy.

fintail > AestheticsInMotion 07/22/2020 at 00:01

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125-150/month or something on top of 2500 for a 1 bedroom was almost insulting.  I hope the crisis has slowed their roll a bit.

fintail > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 07/22/2020 at 00:02

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I think anything north of 90 is gentrified or gentrifying anymore.