Pittsburgh 2011 Forum

[bport hopeful]

Case also got rid of the stipulations on all of their schollys. Ill still be in pittsburgh. Prolly comin in Monday to get some stuff done.

[balzern]

So where is everyone looking to live? Anyone in the Highland Park area with the lions and me?

[northwood]

i hopefully got a nice 1bdrm in shadyside. just waiting for the application to get processed and then have them mail the lease to me.

If not, then its back to PGH to find another place

EDIT- the company im looking at has 2 2 bedrooms available for 905 a month plus gas and electric, if anyone is interested

[bport hopeful]

Anyone want to share companies they have had success with recently.. maybe provide area and what not.

I know that this has been discussed, but I thought it might be rediscussed now that people have started the proccess.

[northwood]

Im working with McQuarters Realty- find out later this week if the apt im interested in is available in shadyside.( they have 2 2bedroom apts in the greenhill complex that were available, at least as of june 3) The lady seems very nice, and was the only one of the realators who I called that called to confirm my appointment for the apt viewing.

I cold called a few places- and the people were allright, but their apts werent what I was looking for. Squirrel Hill is pretty cheap, but its a very orthodox community- and can be a bit of a culture shock. I stayed away from N. Oakland as I heard a lot of UG lease there and Im not interested in living next door to a bunch of frat pledges or whatnot.

If you are going from out of town, i would strongly recommend going there during the early part of the week. I went on a friday and saturday- and it was difficult to get ahold of people on sat am ( as many are appointments only). There are tons of free apartment guides around to take and use if you arent familiar. I just cold called a bunch of places and tried to set up as many appointments as apossible. Ended up booking 8 appointments, but after driving to the places on my own cancelled a lot of them ( either bad location, or apartment looked too run down, old, etc). IM sure that I will find out more good places furing and after 1L, but I think right now its important to get a good location, even if you have to pay a bit more. FWIW from contacting the leasing companies, there will be a lot of people in the professional schools ( law, medical etc) looking for a place, so after june it may be more difficult. The suburbs are nice, but i dont know how bad the traffic is to commute from outside the city to LS- the complexeds are super nice and have everything, and are less expensive, but you pay for that by having to commute longer.

[gin]

On a related note, do you guys think you could PM or email me pics of the places you liked? I've tried with a few companies and they are all too hung up on having me "see the place". I've been looking at places around N. Oakland close to Shadyside and Shadyside that are for grad students only

[northwood]

you really do have to see the places in person. Its a pain, but i found that driving around the complexes and the neighborhoods really helped me narrow down my search. Online a lot of apartments look really nice, but in person they can be nasty- from a goul ordor, to a bad neighborhood, etc. I think its important to look at neighboring homes or complexes and see if they are well maintained or not. Its also nice to talk to current tennants and see for yourself what they think of both the managemnet company and their place. I used the graduate housing guide on the school website to get a good idea of where to start, and you can do more research by reading student reviews and comments( but you may have to user the back button or open up another tab to keep from getting lost). If you search back further in this thread, you will get a rundown of who to avoid ( think its page 51 or so- couold be off by 10 pages either way, but avoid mozart mangement and lobos to name 2)

It can be a pain, especially if you are coming from out of state, but i think its something that needs to be done. Contact the places and set up appointments before you go ( once you get the dates that you are staying in pittsburgh) so thats one less thing to worry about- and drive around the neighborhoods when you get there to cancel or confirm the viewing. YOu may need to fill out an application before you can sign the lease, so be ready with a guarantor ( basically a co signer that will vouch that you will pay the rent, or if you cant- they will help you pay) or be able to proivde some basic employment info ( who, where, how long, and montly salary before taxes).

[gin]

My problem is not the the time it takes, it's that paying $500+ for plane tickets doesn't make sense when I'm looking at all the other expenses I will have once I move there (deposit for the department, furniture...); otherwise I would have visited a a long time ago.
As for the area around the apartments, the first thing I did was look at google maps to scout the area around them and if I didn't like the area around it, I didn't even looked at anything else. The main problem is the inside and I will admit they do have legitimate concerns but to me its not that big of a deal since it's only for 1 year (I'm planning to hopefully try to find roommate(s) for the other 2 years)

[balzern]

The apartment company I am renting from is Mozart. The complex was recommended to be by a current law student at Pitt who told me about the Highland Park area. It is about a 5 minute drive from Shadyside and it is a developing community. It has some pretty cool wine bars and a Belgian place opened near my apartment that serves tons of authentic Belgian food/beer which I am excited about. There are two bus stops outside of my apartment that run every 4 minutes to Oakland during rush hour and I hear it is about a 20-30 minute bus ride. The apartment is a 1 br with full utilities and parking at 1050 a month and its 950 sq. feet. I thought it was pretty spacious and includes a full kitchen/ac/refridgerator.

[bport hopeful]

Thanks all. Im about to start making some calls to try and get some appointments on Monday and Tuesday.

[gin]

Right now the ones I'm liking the most is Sterling Land. They have a few apartment complexes at the border or N. Oakland and Shadyside. They are all walking distance from school and outside of they luxury ones they're reasonably priced

[kroger03]

I went up last weekend and saw decent 2 BR townhouse from Regent Square Rentals for 650/month. After I applied I saw some pretty bad reviews on the company which scared me, but I figured it'll only be a year I have to live there if it's really that bad. Regent Square seemed to be a nice area and I'm really excited to live there next year! Anyone on here play ultimate/disc golf?

[bport hopeful]

Right now the ones I'm liking the most is Sterling Land. They have a few apartment complexes at the border or N. Oakland and Shadyside. They are all walking distance from school and outside of they luxury ones they're reasonably priced

The walking distance part sounds great. Four blocks. Super manageable.

They seem fairly affordable also, which is important since Ill be living entirely off of loan money. Gotta make those 15g's last.

[mhd08]

This might help: --LinkRemoved--

Stay away from Meyers, their apartments were disgusting and they gave off a slumlord vibe. Almost everyone says horrible things about Mozart and Lobos. I rented from Walnut Capital last year and they were very good. I've also heard good things about Forbes Mgt. and Franklin West, although FW is pricey.

[bport hopeful]

This might help: --LinkRemoved--

Stay away from Meyers, their apartments were disgusting and they gave off a slumlord vibe. Almost everyone says horrible things about Mozart and Lobos. I rented from Walnut Capital last year and they were very good. I've also heard good things about Forbes Mgt. and Franklin West, although FW is pricey.

Thanks Dogg.

[BarbellDreams]

If you have $ Franklin West is pretty amazing. Mozart gets mixed reviews, Walnut Capital and Forbes Management always get rave reviews and Lobos Management may be the biggest slumlord on this planet (I currently am with Lobos and can't wait to move in with Walnut Capital August 1st).

As for neighborhoods, I say Shadyside if you have a little extra $ and want a nice area with lots of professional students and a bar scene. Take Squirell Hill if you like a safe quiet family neighborhood with some cool shops and stores on the large main street. Take N.Oakland if you really need to save money and don't mind all the undergrads and the noise. Take Regent Square if you need to save a bit of money and dont mind living a little bit further away.

Other random notes on neighborhoods:

1. Highland Park is ok, but not considered as safe as Shadyside or Squirell Hill.
2. Do NOT live in the Hill District unless you want to get shot.
3. Friendship, Bloomfield and Greenfield are all very good neighborhoods with some cheaper options for those looking to save money. If living in Friendship make sure not to go too far north because thats where Garfield starts and thats not a very safe area.

[bport hopeful]

Hey Gin, I def hear you about the pictures thing. I wish the Sterling Land Co. had them. Its close to campus and what not. Also, I wish that they told you what apartments cost what.

[gin]

The guy I talked to gave me his email and said he was going to send me some floor plans and how much they are but so far I've emailed him twice and I haven't gotten a response from him yet. I might have gotten his email wrong but they are going through so some random person might be receiving them (although I think that's unlikely). I was gonna call today but my boss had me running around town so I'll call tomorrow and hopefully I can get you more info

[bport hopeful]

The guy I talked to gave me his email and said he was going to send me some floor plans and how much they are but so far I've emailed him twice and I haven't gotten a response from him yet. I might have gotten his email wrong but they are going through so some random person might be receiving them (although I think that's unlikely). I was gonna call today but my boss had me running around town so I'll call tomorrow and hopefully I can get you more info

Yeah, Im going to try to make an appointment tomorrow to see them on Monday. If I do, ill take some pictures.

[bport hopeful]

After looking for apartments, I am reconsidering law school. I think that instead, I will just design websites for realty companies, who obviously dont know what theyre doing.

[northwood]

After looking for apartments, I am reconsidering law school. I think that instead, I will just design websites for realty companies, who obviously dont know what theyre doing.

in all honesty the only website that was worthwhile was the one from the school itself. It listed the realators, location and costs. When you go on most of the apts- they are horribly inadequate. They dont show good pictures of the units, or the complexes/ surrounding areas. What looked like a decent apt online- turned out to be a slum irl, and what i thought was meh turned out to be much better. I think the best way is to go to pittsburgh and walk on forbes ave( you can find a free apt and rentor guide), paw through it and start cold calling places. Or just drive around or walk around the neighborhoods. Yes you get a decent bit of info on the realty or management company's website, but not enough to make a decision.

[bport hopeful]

Anyone have any experience with Meyers Management?

[gin]

Anyone have any experience with Meyers Management?

This might help: --LinkRemoved--

Stay away from Meyers, their apartments were disgusting and they gave off a slumlord vibe. Almost everyone says horrible things about Mozart and Lobos. I rented from Walnut Capital last year and they were very good. I've also heard good things about Forbes Mgt. and Franklin West, although FW is pricey.

[bport hopeful]

Anyone have any experience with Meyers Management?

This might help: --LinkRemoved--

Stay away from Meyers, their apartments were disgusting and they gave off a slumlord vibe. Almost everyone says horrible things about Mozart and Lobos. I rented from Walnut Capital last year and they were very good. I've also heard good things about Forbes Mgt. and Franklin West, although FW is pricey.

haha thanks. Didnt read any of that, just clicked the link.

[bport hopeful]

Go Mets