Apartment Comparison

[juldea]

	Brighton Apt.	Cambridge Apt.
Rent	$1200/mo*	$1100/mo
Fees, etc	1st, last, security	1st, last, $500 security
Proximity to transit	On B line	On 69 bus, 15min walk to Central
Age, condition	Very new, clean, nice	Older, falling apart
Floor	-1/2 (partially under)	1
Closet space	4 closets	1 closet
Bedroom	Medium, window	Small, no door (alcove style), no window
Bathroom	Large, big mirror & lights, heated floor!	Small, small mirror
Kitchen	Newly redone, tons of cabinets, pantry	Small, few cabinets, larger pantry
Living Room	Large, windows	Medium, windows
Extras	Carpet, Dishwasher, Disposal	Hardwood floors
Pets?	Sure!	Sure!
Laundry	In building (next door), $1.25	5-10 minutes down the street, $?
Nearby friends	diego001, karlean7, chubbytroll, Wadsworth House	sandrylene
Nearby (walkable)	Whole Foods, restaurants, Washington Square...	Inman Sq, Central
Utilities incl.	Heat, hot water	Heat, hot water
Easy to get to:	Bellydance practice	SCA dance practice
* = Technically $1300, but comes with parking spot we will rent out for at least $100/mo since we don't have cars.

Well, I think that's obvious.

Comments

[wyndfire.livejournal.com]

Yay for lots of cabinets in the kitchen! I wish mine had more cabinets....

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a TOTAL plus for me.

[tpau]

meh, i'd go for the first one, except the other one has real floors!

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I prefer carpet.

[sandrylene.livejournal.com]

Awww, don't move to Brighton. Then all my friends in this city will be in stupid far places and I'll grump a lot.

*sigh*

Okay, go to Brighton. Just visit, okay?

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. :) *hugs*

[anitra.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the hunting is going well so far! (I suppose there's no reason for you to be looking out this way for an apartment, hm... you'll just have to come visit more often :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Nod, currently there's not much reason to look that way, since I have a steady job in Boston and he has a 'flexible' job online. Heh. Don't worry, we'll visit!! :)

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

B line sucks. you've been listening to me whine baout it for about a year now.

But the brighton Apartment does look like a good deal... and you'd probably be able to get a ride at least most of the way from Troy from dance practice. That's a downside to having moved to Dorchester.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I do know about the suckage of the B line. But I still consider it better than not being on a subway line at all... And there's more nearby that doesn't require the subway than the other place.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

Just be prepared to deal with annoying BU students up to the Harvard AVe stop- your commutte to Boylston (where I'm assuming you'll pick up the silver line to the Medical area?) will be around 45 minutes- on a good day.

And Fenway home games will provide with endless amusement for stupid tourists (remember russian roulette girl?), but they will stick their asses in your face. And they smell.

Brighton has the advantage that there are less students in the immediate area than Allston. It's cleaner looking, and the building are prettier.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Actually I'd take the B line to BU and then take the BUMC shuttle. Shorter train ride AND direct bus.

The apartment is near Warren, 3 stops further than Harvard... It in a nice, quiet place, nod. Not too many students. Happily.

Ugh, stupid sports fan tourists. :P

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

See whta happens when I assume? ::grins::

I was about to say "Make sure you get a seat (which you'll porbably get, being that far out) near the front of the train so you can fight your way out at BU" but you already know that.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Well, won't most of the train be emptying at BU?

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

No, actually. A lot of the early morning commute is going into town, and the often don't open all the doors at the BU stops (whihc is stupid). Just to make your life at lot easier, stay near the front. What time do you go to work?

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I have to be here at 8:30, means catching the Pleasant St. shuttle at 8:00.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

Yep, most of the poeple on the train will be going into downtown. I don't get it either, but that's how it works out.

If you get that apartment, I can make some reccomandations on take out places.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Mmm, takeout. Yeah, I was thinking this morning of how I'd probably post a sign on the front door saying, "New tenants want to know what's good around here!"

[kishpa.livejournal.com]

yup - no brainer there :) Congrats on finding a good apartment! :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) There are a couple more places to be seen, but I don't think they'll beat this one.

[skybabie.livejournal.com]

Scary atuff, where you living? we pay about that price for our housepayment (give or take a little for insurance etc each month) no matter what go for the tons of cabinents our house doesn't even have a pantry and I'm not sure why they did that it drives me crazy. :P

[wyndfire.livejournal.com]

yeah, the price is about what I pay for a mortgage payment here in Phoenix... buut I assume Boston is a more expensive place to be. (I assume most anywhere on the eastern seaboard is more expensive than AZ really.)

I have no pantry either, and the guy we bought this house from MUST have had something against cabinets. He installed these lovely maple cabinets that are beautiful to look at ... but too small for any kind of real functionality. And there are way too few of them. Its irritating.

[skybabie.livejournal.com]

Sounds like ours, I like our home, it's newer and in great shape but there are so few cabinents in the kitchen some have both food storage and plates all in the same one, talk about embarassing - I swear the next time we ever get ready to move I'm going to design the kitchen, the dimwits also put the fridge behind the entry door for the garage so whenever you open the door it marks up the fridge door and if you bring the groceries in you can't open both doors you have to stack them all on the floor then transfer them to the fridge, and if your cooking dinner and have it open and he gets home from work that's a big disaster, wasn't very smart - had to be single builder guys that designed that thing. :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

This is Boston - one of the most expensive places to live in the US.

[skybabie.livejournal.com]

Ah that explains it, dad ran the Marathon down there a few years ago and the price of a hotel was insane as well.

[goldbug.livejournal.com]

last i heard it was THE most expensive metro area.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Possibly... I don't know what to google for to prove it. heh.

[goldbug.livejournal.com]

actually, it appears i'm smokin' crack.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0883960.html
see also
http://www.finfacts.com/costofliving.htm

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Still, it's high up there. ;)

[caltren.livejournal.com]

Near Whole Foods would settle it for me. ;-) That and laundry in the building. ANd the cabinets. And the mirrow and lights and heated floor and... Well. Everything. Laf.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, like I said, no real competition there. ;) But those are only the first two apartments we've looked at... seeing another tomorrow and there are a few more I'm emailing/calling about. We'll see. :)

Also, the floor isn't REALLY heated.. it's just that the heat pipes run under it. But that's good enough for me! ;)