Okay, well, I'm planning on trying to get an apartment for this summer or potentially just the next school year. I'd like to get an apartment in the NCSU area, but I know nothing about apartments or any in the area. I've heard a few mixed things, but nothing to draw a good speculation from. As far as Wolf Village goes, I've heard bad things, but I'd like to know more, and if it's worth my money.

So yea, I'm new to this game. Tell me how to play it. What should I expect, what's proven good for you, good price ranges, et cetera. I have a pool of potential people I'd be living with, and preferably it would a 3+ person type of arrangement.

In other words, I'm not looking for actual listings, but more or less advice.

10/14/2009 11:39:35 PM

Google. Craigslist. Newspaper. Internet. Friends.

10/14/2009 11:41:37 PM

I lived at Wolf Creek when I was in college & finally got my own apartment. That way, you pay for your own rent/room and if you have roommates, they are responsible for their own part of the rent as well. I liked that the check included everything, so the roommates and I didn't have to figure out who pays how much, etc. I think when I lived there it was around $475/month (everything included). You could also try looking at College Inn, University Woods, etc.

10/14/2009 11:46:08 PM

^^I'd Google it, and hopefully it'll lead me to this thread after you fill it with specifically tailored community-tested advice. Craigslist is listings. Newspapers are less effective listings. If it's not on Google or Craigslist it's not the internet. I'm asking you.

^How many roomies can places like that generally cater to?

[Edited on October 14, 2009 at 11:48 PM. Reason : ^^]

10/14/2009 11:47:06 PM

actually, it is on craigslist

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

10/14/2009 11:48:54 PM

Wolf Village is fun, if you like living next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids.

Its fucking awesome, go for it.

10/14/2009 11:49:08 PM

Quote :

"^How many roomies can places like that generally cater to?"

It caters to 2-4 roommates generally.

10/14/2009 11:50:23 PM

What kind of guy calls roommates "roomies" ?

Sounds like you like giving these "roomies" "handies", "footies" and "blowjobs"

10/14/2009 11:51:57 PM

The Links

[/thread]

10/14/2009 11:52:23 PM

just give some fucking advice or stfu, shit

::Irony::

10/15/2009 12:01:59 AM

^^^Minorities need love too.

I just looked at Wolf Village's page on NCSU, and in my apartment virginity it seems perfectly acceptable aside from me trying to determine how much more expensive it is than an apartment anywhere else.

I'm about to check out Wolf Creek.

Any concerns or obstacles you've had with pricing, location, permits, et cetera. Everything can be covered, I want to KNOW your experience.

10/15/2009 12:53:35 AM

Meh.

10/15/2009 12:58:52 AM

Advice mongrel demands you to step forward.

10/15/2009 1:44:25 AM

Wolf Village is generally going to be way more expensive than an actual apartment somewhere else.

Just avoid things owned by the Priess (or Preiss?) Company.

Trinity Properties (owns Kenzington Park and Gorman Crossing) is generally very good.

10/15/2009 1:47:57 AM

If you know your roommates are going to be responsible adults about bills then Champion Ct. and Avery Close are two places I have lived and would suggest. Cheap and good enough, lots of summer sublets available.

10/15/2009 1:49:53 AM

I liked Wildwoods a lot. Stay away from Centennial Ridge and Centennial village though. Don't rule out houses either.

10/15/2009 2:52:21 AM

wolf village is a complete waste of money.

if i could do it over again, i would have gone in on renting a house with 3 or so friends.

10/15/2009 6:36:33 AM

Quote :

"Wolf Village is generally going to be way more expensive than an actual apartment somewhere else."

correct. $475 a month is overpriced if you have 3 roommates! I lived in Centennial Village (which was pretty nice & new) for $375 everything included. I also lived in University Commons for $325 everything included, but those buildings aren't nearly as nice. Prices have probably gone up since then.

being on the Wolfline was the most important thing when I picked out apts. Driving on campus sucks and I never wanted to deal with it. Wolf Creek is waaaaaay off campus practically in Cary. They might have their own bus, but the hours are pretty limited IIRC. Why give yourself a 6 mile commute?

10/15/2009 6:50:38 AM

my gf stayed at wolf village one year and it sucks. the rooms are tiny. the bed they give you sucks. you can't get digital cable or dvr. no dishwasher. you have to share a bathroom. you have a fucking RA.

get a real apartment. wolf village apartments are dorms with little kitchens. there's not even anywhere to put a table in those apartments.

after bills and everything, i pay about the same as what wolf village costs. i only have one apt mate. we each have our own bathroom. my bedroom is big. i have a nice big kitchen with a dishwasher and room for a kitchen table. and i have a big living room and a little patio where i can grill. and so far as location, i can walk to my friend's place at wolf village in 5 mins.

[Edited on October 15, 2009 at 7:51 AM. Reason : you can get so much more for your money]

10/15/2009 7:45:45 AM

I enjoyed living at Wolf Creek. I once had a sketchy roommate that the management had "matched" me up with. Boy were they wrong! At least I got the chance to meet her though, before she moved in, but she seemed okay at first! Anyways, the apartment was in good condition when I first moved in and I never really had any major problems living there. Sometimes, parking was an issue because so many people would have friends over/parties, so sometimes I had to park further away then I would have liked, but it wasn't too bad.

10/15/2009 8:01:29 AM

i loved wolf village, but i'm in the minority...my roommates (people i had never met before) ended up being great friends and i still keep in touch with them now that we've all graduated

apartments are cheaper, but you can keep those college slums like wolf creek...if i'm not staying in a REAL apartment, it had better be on campus where i can walk or bike to class (which is why i loved wolf village)

if you're not going to live right on campus, drive 10 minutes away and stay in a gated community like i did...keeps the riffraff down to a minimum

10/15/2009 8:20:40 AM

The only real advantage of Wolf Village is that it is within walking distance of campus.


btw, the couches they put in the rooms are hideously ugly.

10/15/2009 9:30:51 AM

Kensington Park is hit or miss, but if you get lucky, it can be really good--the apartments are very spacious, it's close, and the prices are good. But there are also problems with bugs in a lot of them, they're old, and I've heard of flooding problems with the ones nearest to Trailwood (get an upper level one).

Preiss Co. places suck. I lived at U. Oaks when it was brand new and the place was falling apart, must be even worse 8 years later. I personally also would not want to live in a place like Wolf Creek, University House, or really any of the places that claim to be "nicer" "student living" but that's just me.

It's nice to be on the wolfline, especially if not everyone has a car. But if you don't mind driving, look a little farther out. You're not going to find many 4-bedroom places, but you can find some nice 3's. I've heard almost uniformly great things about Wild Woods of Lake Johnson (on Jones Franklin near crossroads). Or you could look for a rental house rather than an apartment. It's nice not to share walls with your neighbors, to have a yard, and 4-bedroom houses are not at all uncommon. But do be aware that they'd be slightly more expensive, it's much more important not to piss off your neighbors if you have homeowners and/or families nearby, and it's more work in that you actually have to mow your lawn and keep the place up.

As to search methods besides this-here thread, the two best ones I've found are a)drive around areas you want to look in and check for "for rent" yard signs and/or visit the leasing office of apartment complexes, and b)look at the web site of some of the major property management companies in the area--Wilson, Rhyne, Preiss (they're not too bad to work with if you're not in their college hamster housing complexes), etc.

10/15/2009 9:52:00 AM

if you don't mind something a little dated, ivy commons was my favorite apartment. cheap and nice and quiet but not ghetto or run down.

10/15/2009 9:57:12 AM

So, I have a group of friends for pooled roommates, and I trust and know all of them.

We can either have a suite with four or two suites with three (because we can find the numbers to populate it).

And on the off chance, are any of these ever co-ed?

10/15/2009 5:57:37 PM

uh, they're apartment. you're an adult, you can live with who you want.

10/15/2009 5:58:36 PM

fuck an apartment. if you have 3+ friends find a house to rent somewhere off of Hillsborough Street. you can walk to class. you'll be in a house. and it's just a better overall experience imo

10/15/2009 6:08:15 PM

Quote :

"Trinity Properties (owns Kenzington Park and Gorman Crossing) is generally very good."

wtf, are you kidding? those places are ghetto. they dont call it "Gorman Droppings" for nothing.

Kensington is marginally better, but thats not saying much.

10/15/2009 6:33:58 PM

Quote :

"So, I have a group of friends for pooled roommates, and I trust and know all of them. We can either have a suite with four or two suites with three (because we can find the numbers to populate it). And on the off chance, are any of these ever co-ed?"

i'm not sure you understand the wolf village layout. they're 4 bedrooms and 2 baths with a common kitchen/living room area. they will not do co-ed.

[Edited on October 15, 2009 at 6:45 PM. Reason : or maybe you're wondering about suite style dorms in which case i would LOL at you hard]

10/15/2009 6:44:57 PM

^No, suite is a more than appropriate synonym for "apartment unit", and yes, I understand that Wolf Village is not Co-Ed. Let's just forget about Wolf Village right now, since I've all but ruled it out.

^^^Okay, so I've been hearing that renting a house is sometimes a good idea, but I've always heard they're more expensive and usually have less amenities--but this is all second-hand bullshit. What are the advantages of renting a house with 3-4 people?

10/15/2009 8:26:05 PM

Avoid the Preiss Company like the plague.

10/15/2009 8:26:34 PM

Quote :

"I'd Google it, and hopefully it'll lead me to this thread after you fill it with specifically tailored community-tested advice"

haha

10/15/2009 8:30:42 PM

There seems to be a continued theme on tdub to avoid Preiss like a plague, yes.

10/15/2009 8:32:04 PM

HOUSING BUMP.

10/15/2009 11:29:26 PM

^^ pass on things i've learned?

that doesn't make any sense

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

10/16/2009 12:17:46 AM

In my experience houses often come out cheaper than apartments, decent apartments anyway. And the "amenities" are going to vary case by case. What exactly do you include as amenities?

10/16/2009 1:39:31 AM

Quote :

"wtf, are you kidding? those places are ghetto. they dont call it "Gorman Droppings" for nothing. "

2 bed / 1.5 bath, hardwood floors, freshly-repainted walls, with a Wolfline stop less than 15 yards from the door. Nothing leaks or is broken in any way, and the one problem we did have (a fucked up lightbulb in the closet) was repaired within the first week of moving in, before we'd even put in any sort of work order for it.

Maybe I just got lucky, but there's really nothing at all to complain about in this place besides the general lack of cute female neighbors.

10/16/2009 1:44:32 AM

Quote :

"What are the advantages of renting a house with 3-4 people?"

-No sharing of walls means you don't have to monitor your noise (within reason of course)
-No one above you or underfoot, except your housemates if it's a 2 story
-A yard is a nice thing to have (you have to mow it in most cases though)
-A driveway is a nice thing to have, no competition for parking spaces
-Deck/patio is likely to be bigger, and you can grill there
-More likely to have things like a garage, den, bigger kitchen, actual dining room, full size washer/dryer, attic/storage areas, fireplace, hardwoods (YMMV)
-at least to me, feels more independent than apartment living
-can be cheaper
-4 bedroom apartments are rare once you leave the immediate campus vicinity, whereas 4 bedroom houses are common all over the place

Disadvantages are the lack of "amenities" like a pool, tennis/bball courts, clubhouse, fitness center, community grill areas, etc. But not all apartment complexes, especially ones close to campus, have those anyway. Also you have to pay your own water bill most of the time, and you have to mow your lawn/rake/trim weeds. And as I said in an above post, your neighbors are more likely to be homeowners or families, so a little courtesy goes a long way. You have to be careful/smart about having parties, and just generally try to be a good neighbor as a family with little kids will *not* be afraid to call the cops if a party next door is keeping them up at midnight.

10/16/2009 9:50:02 AM

you will almost never use the "amenities" so don't use that to make a decision

10/16/2009 9:53:44 AM

Quote :

"fuck an apartment. if you have 3+ friends find a house to rent somewhere off of Hillsborough Street. you can walk to class. you'll be in a house. and it's just a better overall experience imo"

10/16/2009 10:36:59 AM

^^^^ hmmph. maybe they've done serious renovation since i last looked at one. guess it has been 10 years.

10/17/2009 1:31:41 AM

rhyne management is the best around the college

10/17/2009 1:52:09 AM

Next door, Rhyne is renovating their apartments. They're directly across from Wolf Village.

10/17/2009 1:54:37 AM

Bump bump.

10/18/2009 1:42:34 AM

^did u make a decision a/b where you wanna live?

10/18/2009 4:12:08 PM

Not even vaguely close, which is why I'm hoping one page isn't exactly exhausting tdub's advice yet. I want to live within reasonable distance of campus, though probably not Wolf Creek-distance at this point (it matters less for me and more for my potential roommates). An area near a Wolflink stop would be great, but doesn't seem to be a prevailing trait. A house sounds okay, but I'm not so trigger-finger to be completely in control of everything exactly--an apartment is fine with me, but if I can't find a 3-4 bedroom one that's decent then I'll probably have little choice.

I have no idea about pricing, or whats good and bad, only that Wolf Village is certainly overpriced.

10/19/2009 2:03:17 AM

get a townhouse in northshore on centennial campus... they own

10/19/2009 2:19:53 AM

Sounds extremely affordable!

10/19/2009 2:24:55 AM

A house will give you a much higher quality of life than most of the apartments around campus.

Quote :

"If you know your roommates are going to be responsible adults about bills then Champion Ct. and Avery Close are two places I have lived and would suggest. Cheap and good enough, lots of summer sublets available."

Beware of the indians at these locations. It depends on who you've got living near you. Some are normal folks. Others are smelly obnoxious fuckwads that stay up all hours of the night and should be dragged out into the street and shot. If you're interested in Avery Close, though, get a second floor townhome unit, make sure that it's an end unit, and don't rent from Wilson Property Management.

In fact, when looking for a place, just don't rent from Preiss, or Wilson Property Management. Ammons Pittman isn't a bad choice, as they're the ones that manage Ivy Commons. Ivy commons is nice, but it has smallish/darkish outdated 2br/2ba apartments. For $600/mo I couldn't find anything wrong with it besides that, because the apartments were clean, bug-free (minus the odd spider), and your neighbors were quiet.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=raleigh,+nc&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=58.467737,80.068359&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Raleigh,+Wake,+North+Carolina&ll=35.749264,-78.689463&spn=0.003714,0.004887&t=h&z=18

I've got a friend who lives in that general vicinity. That's a decent neighborhood to live in for a house, except they have been dicks about parking as of late.

Looking at houses/apartments along or just north of hillsborough st right by campus would be a good idea for your group. Convenience, student neighborhood, not as ghetto as it could be, walking distance to bars, nice drafty ass houses.

10/19/2009 6:37:07 AM

I can't say enough good things about living at Kensington. Very clean, right on the wolfline route, huge and spacious, very quite and cheap (545 split between two people). Trinity properties, the folks that own it are also very nice, I've never really had an issue with them. The only negatives I've experienced are that that the apts aren't very energy efficient with the huge sliding glass doors and the neighbors are all chinese or hispanic so you can't really talk to them because they don't speak english (which I guess is a good thing because they are loud college kids).

10/19/2009 7:05:12 AM