You know whats harder than becoming an actress in Hollywood? Finding an apartment there. Now don’t get me wrong. Craigslist will have quite the list of possible homes for you to pick and choose from. Some will be way out of your price range, some will be just a little over and others will probably be a crazy low price. Well here’s the lowdown. The apartments that are really expensive are really nice. Most of them anyway. They are the places you wish were cheaper because if they were, you’d hop on that faster than you would at the chance to be wined and dined by Ryan Gosling. As for the ones that are in your price range or just a little over, well most of those are not going to be so hot. Now listen to me. There is never the perfect apartment when your price range is under $1,200/mo. I’m serious. It will either be a semi nice apartment in a sketchy neighborhood, or a super small, odd scented, box in a pretty decent area. There really is no win win when you search on Craigslist. And as for the ones that are a scary low price…DO NOT TRUST THEM. if you find a one bedroom for anything under $1000/mo or any studio under $800/mo….. there’s something up.

Here’s an example. Before I moved out here, I was searching online and found this great deal for a one bedroom for only $900/mo and it looked half decent! Naive little me was thinking, “yup. this is it.” That was up until I called. I spoke with a really nice lady who was convinced my name was Chelsea no matter how many times I repeated “My name is Renee”. So eventually, I just accepted that to her, I will be Chelsea. Not a bad name. I’ll take it. When she started off telling me about the apartment, it sounded perfect…”It’s a beautiful one bedroom with a view. It’s quite spacious and you will have great closet room.” See? sounded great at first. Until…”But I do have to disclose some information to you. There was a passing here. The last owner passed away in the apartment. And I do have to tell you it was not from natural causes. It was a homicide. You might have heard of this murder. But anyways, it is a safe, gated complex with a great view.” I’m sorry…Safe? Someone was murdered there. How can those two things go hand in hand? So… on to the next! I mean can you blame me? Would you be able to live in a place knowing someone was murdered right where you sleep at night? I can’t even watch scary movies by myself. Let alone living alone where someone was KILLED.

Now here’s a little secret I found out on how to actually find a nice apartment at a decent price. It’s all about finding one through the grapevine. They won’t be listed on craigslist and they for sure won’t be able to be googled up online. It’s all about knowing someone who know’s someone who knows of a place that just opened up. I mean it’s LA. How else would you expect it to be done?

Which leads me to some good news. Thanks to the grapevine, I think I finally found my apartment! And it allows cats so we’re good.

And for those of you searching for a place out here, I wish you the best of luck!

Happy Apartment Hunting,

Renee