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Forgive my ignorance here, but how much room is 400 square feet in a one bedroom apartment? I found this apartment in Boston for a very good price but I won't be able to schedule a viewing because I currently live across the country. It sounds very small since I currently live in a house on a half acre with three roommates for $1400/month total (shoutout southern college towns), but I really have no clue how to judge the space. Any input is helpful on this issue.

Quite small but not atypical for an urban apartment for a student. At that size, it's more likely going to be a studio than a true one-bedroom apartment.

It's one room, 20 feet long and 20 feet wide. You are presumably between 5 and 7 feet tall. Imagine between 3 and 4 of you lined up, laying down, in a line. Imagine you're approximately 1.5 feet wide, there would be approximately 12-15 of those lines covering the floor of your apartment if it were covered with lines of hypothetical yous.

rpupkin wrote:Quite small but not atypical for an urban apartment for a student. At that size, it's more likely going to be a studio than a true one-bedroom apartment.

Yeah the listing gives it a studio vibe but the apartment itself is broken up into pretty distinct bedroom/kitchen/hall/living spaces, so I think that's better than a studio in the traditional sense, personally.

jkpolk wrote:It's one room, 20 feet long and 20 feet wide. You are presumably between 5 and 7 feet tall. Imagine between 3 and 4 of you lined up, laying down, in a line. Imagine you're approximately 1.5 feet wide, there would be approximately 12-15 of those lines covering the floor of your apartment if it were covered with lines of hypothetical yous.

This way of thinking about it is actually super helpful, thanks.

I live in a 1 bedroom apartment that's around 450 square foot right now and it's plenty big enough for me. My girlfriend lived with me for most of the school year and we didn't have any problems with space. Of course, the layout probably makes a big difference on how roomy it feels and such.

jstans wrote:

rpupkin wrote:Quite small but not atypical for an urban apartment for a student. At that size, it's more likely going to be a studio than a true one-bedroom apartment.

Yeah the listing gives it a studio vibe but the apartment itself is broken up into pretty distinct bedroom/kitchen/hall/living spaces, so I think that's better than a studio in the traditional sense, personally.

One more thought: you write that you currently live on half an acre, but the house in which you live is of course not taking up the entire property. Find out the square footage of your house. Or find out the square footage of the house you grew up in. It's not hard to find the square footage of houses and other buildings; the numbers are often available online. Use those as comparison points.

no showing ~very good price~ apartment sounds like a scam even if it is only 400 sq ft especially if they're marketing it as a 1br. my studio is around 490 and i can't imagine where a wall would even fit into an apartment of my size let alone smaller

OK picture 399 square feet in your head. Get a real good image of that.

Then add 1.

The Oval Office is 800 sq ft. Think half that space.

What part of the Boston area?

400 square feet is a spacious studio or a small one bedroom. Good for one person and maybe a cat.

Since you can't schedule a visit, can you have the landlord send you some pictures or a video? I was in a similar situation, and the owner offered to send me a video, which I found very helpful.

AnMzungu wrote:Since you can't schedule a visit, can you have the landlord send you some pictures or a video? I was in a similar situation, and the owner offered to send me a video, which I found very helpful.

I just did a video tour with the current tenant of an apartment in Cambridge and ended up signing the lease because it was a great deal for a good location (and I'm also signing from across the country). I was a little apprehensive but I'm pretty sure it was the right decision (won't know for sure until I move in obviously). I would definitely do a video tour before signing. 400ft is small but totally doable if you're by yourself.

NoDayButToday wrote:What part of the Boston area?

400 square feet is a spacious studio or a small one bedroom. Good for one person and maybe a cat.

Brighton

cannonballer wrote:

AnMzungu wrote:Since you can't schedule a visit, can you have the landlord send you some pictures or a video? I was in a similar situation, and the owner offered to send me a video, which I found very helpful.

I just did a video tour with the current tenant of an apartment in Cambridge and ended up signing the lease because it was a great deal for a good location (and I'm also signing from across the country). I was a little apprehensive but I'm pretty sure it was the right decision (won't know for sure until I move in obviously). I would definitely do a video tour before signing. 400ft is small but totally doable if you're by yourself.

Asked for a video tour, but was told that the property owner will only rent to people who physically view the apartment. Trying to get around that now.

For anyone pondering this, remember square footage isn't the sole determinant of how much effective space you have. Dimensions are far more important for that. A 20x20' room is far more annoying to utilize properly than a 12'x30' room, IMO. I'm sort of talking from a maximizing the space type deal (as we aren't exactly in huge spaces) more than a necessarily 'nice' design.