The Truthful Apartment Reviews

If you are considering a move into a different apartment, apartmentratings.com is an indispensable resource.  But I suspect that many landlords know this and write false positive reviews for their complexes.  False positive reviews tend to paint the women who work in the rental office as beautiful, cheerful, and helpful.  It's their own vanity that gives them away.  In a sea of suspicious positive reviews, the "no" reviews on apartmentratings.com become much more important.  When we are considering an apartment complex, my wife and I look at the negative reviews first.

 We tend to discount all reviews that are written by people who pay their rent late or who were hassled for making noise.  If the person got into a hassle with the rental office because they didn't pay their rent on time, the issue lies with them.  If you are playing your stereo too loud or hosting large parties, the police should simply take you out to the trash compactor and summarily execute you.  You'll get NO SYMPATHY from us.

But, if a negative review addresses problems with bugs, vermin, crime, noise, or maintenance, we'll tend to listen and file it away.  When we can identify with a tenant's complaint, it triggers our spidey senses and we listen. If the apartment complex responds, we want to see an aggressive solution to the problem.

All the Tools You Need

I've been carting a full-sized toolbox from apartment to apartment as we've moved around the country for job opportunities.  It's kind of crazy.  All the tools you really need are contained in an inexpensive Fixa tool kit from Ikea.  Here's a complete review:

Tool Review:  Fixa Tool Kits from Ikea

The Trash Fairy Doesn't Visit This Apartment Complex!

Sometimes people in our apartment complex are just plain gross.  Lately, some residents in our building have decided that they should just put their garbage bags out in the breezeway.  While this makes local vermin happy, it makes the apartment complex look very trashy. 

There's no place like the dumpster!  There's no place like the dumpster!

 Since our wooded apartment complex is home for plenty of possums, raccoons, and rats, trash in the hallway can easily attract pests.

Possums Love Garbage!

Since the trash fairy doesn't come in the middle of the night to magically whisk garbage away, people should keep their their trash inside and take it to the compactor or dumpster when the bag is full.  It doesn't go in the hall.  Are we the only adults living in the complex?

Don't Do These Things In An Apartment

I was 24 and stupid once.  Buying a big stereo was one of those things.  I was proud of my stereo.  It looked cool.  I set it up.  It was awesome.  However, I couldn't crank the volume up above 3 or so because I lived in an apartment!  Here are some other things you shouldn't do in an apartment:

Seven Things Not to Do While Living in an Apartment

A Solution for Mail Theft at Apartments

A few years ago, we had problems with mail theft in our apartment complex.  We moved away and when we returned the problems with mail thieves had been solved.  It's mail in a cage!  However, we still use the UPS store for important stuff!

Rents are like seats on a plane

We toured an apartment complex a few weeks ago and an apartment manager told us . . .


Rents are like seats on a plane.  When the plane is full, ticket prices go up.  When the plane is empty, ticket prices go down.  When we have a lot of vacancies, you'll see specials.


It's a common sense observation about the price of rent at any apartment complex.  It's something to keep in mind if you are looking for a new apartment or even if you are anticipating a renewal notice from your current landlord.

Reducing Energy Bills in an Apartment

These are the hottest days of summer and it seems like the air conditioner is running non-stop.  We can only imagine what our electric bill will look like.  When you live in an apartment, there doesn't seem to be much you can do to save on electricity.  But, actually, there are quite a few things that you can do that will reduce your power bill.  Read more at -

Six Energy Saving Tips for Apartment Dwellers

A fan really helps!