Atlanta Apartments Blog

Along with the rising cost of rent these days, the rising cost of security deposits catches most people off guard. Since most deposits are a half month’s rent, you have to not only come up with first month’s rent but also a deposit, and sometimes a second deposit if you have a cat. Here are a few good tips for getting your deposit back each and every time.

The biggest thing you can do is to leave your apartment as clean as possible. More and more corporate leases now require you to steam clean your rug to ensure that all the stains are out, but even if they don’t require that, do it any way, especially if you’ve had a cat and you’re worried about pet stains. Even a beat up old rug looks nice once it has been cleaned, so it is always worth the cash to do so.

Invest in a few of those magic eraser things and take to your walls with a vengeance. This is especially important if you smoked in your apartment, since residual smoke often leaves brown or black stains on the wall that become apparent once you run some clean water down the wall. If you clean the walls, your landlord probably won’t have to paint, which can save them time and money.

Check your lease to see if you are required to fill any holes in the walls. If you are, do it, and ask for some paint from your landlord to fix the fills.

Depending on who you ask, a top floor apartment can be the greatest thing since sliced bread or it can be a hassle that just isn’t worth it. Some people welcome the idea of vaulted ceilings, but others would rather not pay the extra cost every month. Some people love the views, but others hate the fact that they have to troop down dozens of stairs every time some one pulls a false fire alarm. Let’s look at the pros and cons of living on the top floor.

Perhaps the biggest benefit to living on the top floor is that you reduce the number of places where noise can come from. You may still have noisy people living on both sides of you and below you, but not above you and that minor reprieve is more than worth it to most people.

The biggest drawback to living on the top floor for many is the extra cost. Not only do you have the cost of vaulted ceilings tacked on to your rent, but there is often a second fee for a better view. Not only that but if your building doesn’t have elevators, or if they are broken on a regular basis, you have many, many stairs to climb. Add into that the idea that you can’t use an elevator during a fire drill or a fire alarm, and many people would rather live anywhere other than the top floor.

We’ve all had emergencies in our lives that have sapped our bank account and left us struggling to make ends meet. It could be an unplanned trip to the hospital or it could be our car dying at exactly the wrong time. No matter what you reason is, if you can’t pay rent next month, here are a few helpful tips to get you through in one piece.

First off, honesty really is the best policy here. If you deal with an individual landlord, sit down and talk to them and be completely honest about your situation. Don’t expect them to forgo rent this month, but they are likely to be more sympathetic if you’re honest up front than if you simply don’t pay rent and don’t return their phone calls. If you deal with an apartment complex that is run by a professional company, again, honesty is the best policy. If you have a solid payment history with them, they will likely let you go a few days late, although you will likely have to pay a penalty to do so.

Next, talk to your job. Many corporations have short term loan programs for emergencies in place to help employees. You may not even know your company has a program like this in place until you ask.

Finally, ask family and friends for help. No one likes someone who is constantly asking for money, but if you need help once in a while, someone should be able to come through for you. Avoid short term loan companies and pay day loan services. They charge outrageous interest and can put you in a deep hole you might never get out of.

As anyone who has lived in an Atlanta apartment for any length of time can tell you, there are a whole slew of apartment fees out there that you might have to pay. Each one comes with its own set of rules, so let’s take a look at some of the most common apartment fees you might run into.

Almost every apartment comes with a deposit that you will be required to pay before you move in. A deposit is usually half a month’s rent and is charged so that any damage that happens to the apartment you rent can be recovered. If you take care of your space and clean it properly before you leave, you will receive most if not all of your deposit back.

A second kind of deposit that is very common is a pet deposit. With a pet deposit, you are paying for the right to have a pet. This cash goes to help protecting the apartment complex you live in against the eventuality that your pet ruins the carpet in your unit or causes any real damage. Again, if you take care of your pet and do your best to ensure that they don’t cause any problems, you will get your pet deposit back in full.

Finally, some apartment complexes have a processing fee that they charge once you fill out an application. These fees are mostly to cover things like a credit check, but not every complex charges them. Some good places will actually take that fee and put it towards your first month’s rent.

Depending on which part of Atlanta you call home, you’ve seen dozens of competing Atlanta apartment complexes all trying to get your business at the same time. Some of these complexes offer enticements to get you to move in with them and not their competition. Let’s look at some of the most common deals you will find as you head out to look for an apartment.

Perhaps the most common, and the most helpful deal, is a free month’s rent. This is the cream of all apartment offers, and you can spend it many different ways. Some apartment complexes will simply let you not pay a first month’s rent, while others will allow you to divide out the savings over the length of your lease, which allows you to save each and every month. Make sure you check with the complex offering the deal to see how they do it.

Some apartment complexes will allow for free upgrades to apartments as an enticement for you to move in with them. You can get free vaulted ceilings, free water views and free security systems that other units don’t have. Sometimes these upgrades only save you $20-$30 dollars per month, while other upgrades can be quite significant. Don’t let yourself be sweet talked; get out your calculator and make sure that you are getting the best deal you can.

Finally, some deals can be negotiated when you are filling out your lease. Don’t be afraid to ask for minor upgrades or reductions in cost when filling out your lease; the negotiations can be very similar to signing a mortgage with a bank.

If there is one universal truth when it comes to kitchens, it is that they seem to be shrinking at a drastic rate. The cause for this is easy to pinpoint: apartment space in general is shrinking and since more and more people only use their kitchen to heat up leftovers they got from take out, why waste space on large kitchens. For the rest of us who enjoy cooking, however, we have tiny stoves, no kitchen counter space and reduced size refrigerators. Here are a few general tips you can follow to help yourself get the most out of your reduced sized cooking space.

If you own a microwave, try to utilize it on a push cart that can stand just outside of your kitchen so it doesn’t take up what little counter space you have. Failing that idea, try to bolt it to the bottom of your cabinets so you can at least use the space below it. Microwaves are essential, but nothing else in the world eats up more space.

The same is true for things like coffee makers, toasters and toaster ovens and anything else you sit on your counters. Try to move them up or out to maximize space.

This one can be chalked up to common sense, but do your dishes as soon as you use them, even as you cook, to help reduce clutter and maximize counter space. Not only is this the best way to keep food from crusting on, it helps to keep the after dinner work load to a minimum.

As apartments get smaller and smaller, finding enough places for your belongings can be a bigger and bigger challenge. Some apartments don’t let you install new shelving without express permission, so that reduces your options even further. Here are a few space saving options you can implement in your new apartment.

One of the most popular space saving tools in recent years are shoe holders that can be suspended from a bar in your closet. These holders turn the horizontal storing of shoes or knick knacks into a vertical solution and can be used all over the house in bedroom closest and in hall closets.

If you live in a large city and websites like Craigslist at your disposal, you can find hundreds of cheap, used bookshelves and other portable storage units available for almost nothing. Now, no one wants an apartment filled with nothing but bookshelves, but it does beat storing all of your stuff in a big pile on the floor.

You can also look into installing shelving units that don’t put holes in the walls. You might want to refrain from putting too much weight on these types of shelving units, but they are better than nothing. You can also check with your landlord and see if they are okay with you putting holes in the walls as long as you pledge to fill them in and paint over them once you do.

Storage is a huge problem in today’s apartment world, but there are some common sense solutions out there.

With today’s less than ideal economy, more and more people are dealing with the consequences of having bad credit. You may not realize it, but having bad credit can even endanger your chances of getting the apartment you’ve always wanted. The key to avoiding this problem is finding a no credit check apartment. It may sound impossible, but more and more complexes are disposing with the credit check since so many people tend to fair poorly on it. Here are a few tips to the perfect no credit check apartment.

The first place you should look is at apartments run by families or individuals or even subletting. These apartments obviously aren’t going to run your credit, and although it may be a bit more comforting to rent from a large company since you will have a place to complain to, you won’t have to deal with a credit check. You might have to dispose of searching online for an apartment like this since most individuals don’t rent from major sites, with the exception of sites like CraigsList.

Check your local newspaper for no credit check apartments. Many large complexes are now taking ads proclaiming the fact that they no longer run your credit, so they should be easy to find. Worse comes to worse, you can always pick up the phone and call various apartment complexes in the area in which you want to live in and ask if they run your credit or not. Don’t give your name or any personal information so there is no chance of embarrassment later on.

Even with the mild winters that are common in Atlanta, the first breath of spring is a welcome sign that warmer and more wonderful weather is on the way. If you live in a stuffy apartment that has poor air flow, spring cleaning can seem like a natural thing to do, but where to start? Here are a few essential tips for spring cleaning your apartment.

The first tip in cleaning is to work your way down from the top to the bottom. Dusting is probably the least popular form of cleaning and is often done infrequently even by people who vacuum twice a week. Start with things like bookshelves, than work your way down to the television and desks than dust low shelves until everything is pushed onto the floor. Then, and only then, do you even consider vacuuming.

Get some help and move heavy furniture out of the way so cleaning can be done behind them. You may not think that the space behind your couch or loveseat is that dirty, but once you move it, you’ll see it is dust bunny heaven back there. No one expects you to move your couch once a week, but twice a year is a good idea.

Chemicals like Febreeze are extremely popular and can be a big help if you have lingering odors, but you don’t have to soak your house with it. Cleaning doesn’t have to mean covering everything in chemicals. A little of that stuff goes a long way.

Of all of the different kinds of insurance floating around out there, it is safe to say that renter’s insurance is likely the most obscure of them all, and since so many people don’t know about it or use it, it is naturally assumed that you just don’t need it. Let’s take a look at a few circumstances in which renter’s insurance can be a lifesaver.

While a fire can be an absolutely devastating experience to suffer trough, it can be significantly worse if you lose all of your belongings and you have no legal way to recoup your losses. With renter’s insurance, you do. Almost all renter’s insurance policies protect against fire and they can write you a check right away so that you can replace your lost possessions.

Another important eventuality that you need to protect yourself against is theft. Depending on where you live, theft can be a pretty big threat and the only way to truly protect yourself is with renter’s insurance. In most cases, proving your theft, with the help of a police report is simple and you can go about getting your things back since you will have the money in hand to do so.

Finally, if you live with a clumsy roommate or landlord, renter’s insurance can protect your belongings against accidents done by other people. Policies vary in this category, but in most cases, you can recoup the money from a lost or broken belonging if it was done at the hands of someone else.