Imagine if you will, looking for an apartment in a new city and you come across the following ad:
$1195 / ...Spacious 2 Bedroom...Near Warner Center...
Wall to Wall Carpet, Balcony, Walk-in Closet, Stove/Oven, Ceiling Fan, A/C, On-site Laundry, On-site Manager, Swimming Pool, Covered Parking, Professional Management, Covered and Assigned Parking, Everyday Maintenance Availability, Controlled Access, Landscape and Courtyard
And pictures inclusive of this one:
Now if you’re anything like me, you say to yourself...”hmmm, looks and sounds like it may be a winner”, especially being in California where the prices are sky high for a studio! So you call and talk to a nice lady who tells you “You have to bring your own refrigerator”…Skirrrtttttt (that’s the wheels screeching to a halt), back up, “Could you repeat that??” She says the same thing again, as calmly as telling you that it is 75 degrees outside. I’m immediately then drawn to the picture again and notice one glaring thing that I completely overlooked...if you look closely there is NO REFRIGERATOR in the picture!!! Now one would think that this is a fluke of some sort, maybe they were in the process of updating the appliances or maybe it was moved for them to clean behind it or maybe it is hidden in the dark wood paneling you see on the back left..But no, as I continued my search I came across several more apartments in which you were required to bring your own refrigerator. Now I may be a woman of many talents but pulling a Kenmore out of my back pocket is not one of them. I’m not sure how many cities you have lived in, but with my move to Los Angeles this will make my 8th (shout Outs to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Tallahassee, Dayton, Birmingham, Atlanta and Cincinnati) and in none of those places have I ever, upon looking for housing, had to bring my own non easily moveable appliances myself (and by easily moveable I mean by myself-Microwave, toaster, George Foreman grill..you get the picture). I mean I would think that my monthly payment to stay in your fine establishment should at least warrant me the decency of having common household appliances provided...what the heck am I paying for from $1000-$2000 a month Los Angeles?? I like to entertain and was looking diligently for a 2 bedroom so my family and friends could be comfortable when they came to visit but sadly enough, this spacious jewel was crossed off my list, and many others bit the dust upon my actually driving to the locations where they were and seeing the neighborhoods, buildings, parking, closet space, etc. Lesson #1 for the day-what looks good on paper is not always as good in real life especially if you have a lot of stuff. Lesson #2-If a pool is dirty at the property you are looking at-run for cover cause that probably means other stuff is dirty too. Lesson #3-If none of the people trying to sell you on their place actually live there, that may be a red flag. Lesson #4- If you can get covered parking in hot Cali-Take it!! Finally, I have to go from my spacious 2 car garage home to a small apartment in which I now have to share washer and dryer facilities with other tenants. The gem I finally found didn’t have one of my bigger wants (W&D in the apartment) but did have a bit more closet space and size, unfortunately, I had to choose between square footage/closet space and a W&D, guess which one won…I’m still trying to figure out where some of my stuff is gonna go…