The Observation Deck

I have a friend that is moving from Chicago to Lakewood. She is just starting out and is looking for a place to live that is reasonable. She would like one bedroom apartment, heat and water included would be prefered. It does not matter if it is a duplex or an apartment building. It needs to be in an area that is safe. She is a young woman and want to be secure since she does not know the area very well.

She would also like appliances and a quiet area.

Does anyone out there have any ideas for this new resident to Lakewood?
She would really like to get to know our city!

Thanks
Rhonda Loje

hi Rhonda

"Reasonable" is a tricky word. One person's reasonable is another person's unreasonable.

Do you have any idea of her budget, income range, or profession? Rents in Lakewood for one bedroom probably range from about $200 on the low end up if you have a roommate (which I STRONGLY recommend against if at all possible) to $800 or so on the high end.

Most places include heat/water and appliances, but every place can be different. Some include everything. Some include only water.

Based on your post and my personal experience in Lakewood, I would recommend Winton Place, the Carlyle, or the Berkshire. If she has a ton of clothes, she should definitely consider the Berkshire, as they tend to be larger units. These are all condo buildings, however the condo owners are permitted to rent out their units. The trick is to check rent.com, forrent.com, cleveland.com, cleveland.craigslist.com, and also show up in person to the office (or maybe call) and ask for a list of units for rent (most cooperate with such a request). I know some of the condos along the lake have very good security with 24/7 guards, lighting, and cameras everywhere. The buildings west of Cove seem to be quieter, since they have longer driveways and are further back from the street. I would recommend against Edgewater Towers based on firsthand observation of noise and The Shoreham (apartments) based on firsthand observation of safety.

If she goes the duplex route, I would definitely recommend staying upstairs, for noise reasons. Most duplexes are two or more bedrooms, also. If she's worried about safety, stay away from birdtown (Dowd, Robin, Quayle, Lark, etc.) or the east end between Madison and Clifton, i.e. Newman (sexual predator central), Hird, Idlewood, Hopkins, Fry, Beach, Beach Parkway, Clifton Prado, etc. For noise reasons, don't get too close to Detroit or Madison (they allow truck traffic, unlike Clifton). Also stay away from the large apartments at the far west end. They are relatively cheap for a reason--hang out there for a couple hours in the evening or on a weekend and you will see what I mean. You could get something takeout from Harry Buffalo and sit on a bench in front of one of those buildings. Staying right on Clifton can be noisy, too, especially if your bedroom faces the street. Clifton has no trucks but it can be like a race track at times (as can Lake, if you are close to the street). The best bet for a duplex may be a side street between Detroit and Clifton west of maybe Cove or Bunts.

Also regarding safety, one of the good things about Lakewood is the extremely fast response time to emergencies by the Lakewood Police.

Good luck to your friend.

Sorry to anyone I may have offended - I know someone will probably respond that they live on one of the streets I criticized and say how it has been nothing but pure paradise for them.

Doug

PS To help her get to know the area well, I can hold her hand and give her a nice romantic walking tour just kidding.

There are some doubles that have third floor one bedrooms. They are usually pretty reasonable, but usually don't include any utilities except water. Our first double was a legal three family and the third floor unit was really spacious. My brother's first apartment was a one bedroom over a storefront. It was cheap and had a lot of character. The one downside was they didn't have control of their thermostat. I would make sure your friend is okay with having someone else control their heat. I know I wouldn't be so I always avoided places like that. Good luck to your friend on her apartment hunting.

Sure would be great if there was a landlord from the Deck's cast of characters with space available. Strange that there are no properties listed for rent in the classified section. I thought there was an over abundance of residential vacancies in town.
Depending on where this new tenant is coming from in Chicago, I'd guess that Lakewood's rates will be more than acceptable. My bet is on an apartment on the coast.

My very, very strong suggestion is to avoid any apartments owned or managed by Windsor Management. They are horrible. Don't fix things, don't take care of their properties, and will lie to you about when things will get fixed.

Until you actually threaten to withhold rent they won't respond. It took them 5 months to fix a hole in my bathroom ceiling that they put there. They'll lie and promise things, and never do them.

In my building they tore out the carpet in the hallways to "redo" them. It sat for almost 6 months with nothing but broken concrete flooring. Not until they needed to renew their building permit and the city was coming did they finally replace the carpet.

To be honest, the epitomize the term "slumlord". The building I'm in used to be great, I still love the location. But I think God every day that I'm moving out and will not be giving these donkey butts another dollar.