Tag: unsolicited answers

I know you are currently dealing with apartment things so hopefully this won’t stress you out, but any advice/suggestions on renting an apt? I’m hoping to move into my own place soon, but I’ve only ever lived with my parents. Suggestions? Advice? You are the best person I know at adulting, so anything you have to share would be awesome.

copperbadge:

No, this is actually kind of soothing, I think. I do have advice on renting an apartment! 

Read More

Lemme add a few things:

When looking at places feel free to bring a friend if you like. They’ll help keep the pressure off and ask questions that you may not think of.  They’ll also keep you safe®.

If you’re that sort – snap a few pictures with your phone. It really helped me to have a visual later.

The apartment itself – 

An easy way for me to tell if a building is maintained is to look at something like the window screens – they aren’t important per se but you can tell if the landlord cares about the little details if the screens are in great shape.

Run the sink and flush the toilet. Does the water pressure drop in the sink? Having low water pressure will probably affect the shower and that could be a problem if you are on a schedule with other folks in your building.

Enough outlets – in older buildings I’ve always ended up running extension cords. Not the end of the world but annoying. Keep an eye out for a single outlet in a room with a two prong plug. You might be popping circuit breakers, especially in the kitchen if they’ve never modernized the electricity.

Does it face west? I had a fantastic apartment – that turned into an oven in the afternoons and didn’t have a cross breeze. The only fix was to talk the landlord into a big screen that ran across the entire front of the apartment.

Sound – How sensitive are you to noise? Everyone has different standards for that. If there are hardwood floors throughout the building keep in mind that you’ll probably hear your upstairs neighbors/they’ll hear you.

Neighborhood – 

If you’re getting close to a decision go at different times of day to check the place out.  Mid day on the weekend is going to be very different from evening that’s different from a weekday.

Transit/parking – make sure it suits your needs. Close to the bus/train? Are you on a line that runs early/late enough for your needs? Have space for parking? 

Google the address and see if there have been complaints about the landlord.

recidivae:

MARVEL, I’VE GOT BEEF. Been doing some research on WW2 army serial numbers. For reasons *coughtattoocough*. And then I was doing some research on WW2 dog tags, for other reasons *coughgraphiccough*. (PS, Bucky’s service number actually belonged to a Peter A Stoll of New…

Not sure if this is helpful or not:

1. It was not uncommon for someone that was drafted to then enlist (my uncle did it for Vietnam). Enlisting gets you much better assignments and sometimes a choice of duty station. You often get to pick your MOS (military job) or at least apply for one of your choice. It’s possible that Bucky did this for exactly those reasons. There was definitely a culture in the Vietnam era that led to guys enlisting for the longer hitch (3 years instead of 2 for a draft) if it was a far less shitty job.

2. Next of kin – (I’m a US Army vet from the 2000’s). I can tell you that to the best of my knowledge you can designate anyone as your next of kin that you like on the form.  If you don’t, they look for living relatives next, and follow your state of residence laws after that. You are rstrongly urged to list *someone* on the next of kin forms, especially going into an active combat zone. That person gets notified if you are hurt or killed, gets your death benefits, etc.