Apartment Hunting Begins

So it begins... Apartment hunting. I'm looking for a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment that's at least 1000 square feet. I need good size closets and a balcony/backyard (to store things). It must be a single level or top floor (I can not live under anyone). I'm looking to spend no more the $1800 a month. I'm looking to stay in the valley area (Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Valley Village, Studio City, Burbank and such). I know getting a 2 bedroom place in decent area is a tall order. When I searched Zillow only a handful of places popped up and only a three matched my criteria.

I had already set up an appointment at 1pm with this really nice place, they actually had two places available. My buddy Brian came with me as a second pair of eyes. The first place a Triplex (house), 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. The place was small but very cute and every clean. I only shared one wall with a little old lady. Best thing about this place is it had a rather large back yard and side yard, especially for being an "apartment". Downside the closets were non-existence. But I was super excited about this place. When then walked about a block away to another apartment that was available. This one was 2 bedroom, 2 baths, it was bigger in size and had hardwood floors, the last place had tile floors. Both bedrooms had a bathroom attached. The closets were much larger then the last but there was no outside space. Best thing about this place is that it was a good size, downside to this place was the fact that it was the middle apartment. I would have people on both sides of me. But I liked both places so I didn't make a decision at the time. I grabbed an application and said I would let them know on Monday.

After lunch Brian and I drove around to other apartments that were available to check out the neighborhoods. Some were in decent areas, some were in not so decent areas. I called a few places to see if we could get in to see them but only left messages.

When we got back to my place Brian and I talked about the two apartments that we did see. I was leaning towards the smaller place because it had a great outside space where I could buy a small storage shed and store a lot of my things. As I looked around my house it dawned on me that I have alot of things, I mean I know I have a lot of toys and collectables, but I have alot of clothing, including lots of cosplay outfits and this smaller place had very little closet space and though it had a huge back yard I didn't want to have to go out back to get cloths every morning. So that place is out. The second place had two decent size closets but no place to store all of my empty toy bins once my toy room is up so that place is out as well.

This is going to be harder then I thought. Brian mentioned getting a storage unit to hold my excess and I'm good with that but then I was thinking maybe I can up my rent to $1900/$2000 and get a larger place that had storage area so I can't keep everything under one roof. Uping my rent from $1800 to $2000 had added a few more places to look at, so that's promising. .

Overall it was a good first day of apartment hunting. I know it's going to be difficult to find a place that's just exactly what I need but I do have a month to do it (or four weekends). I know what's important and what too look for. I'll keep you guys posted on how this hunt goes. If you hear of anything that meets my criteria please let me know.