Comment by godzillabrennus | Hacker News Reader

Comment by godzillabrennus | Hacker News Reader

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godzillabrennus

I had a positive experience living in two different Greystar properties from 2013 to 2018, first in Chicago and then in San Francisco. That said, my expectations for property managers/landlords are extremely low. I learned in college how predatory they are when the small landlord I had didn't refund my deposit despite us keeping the place immaculate.

Tips:

1.) Read the lease. You probably have to notify them early that you are not renewing, or they can automatically renew you, or charge fees for not telling them. 2.) Never expect your deposit back. Consider putting your last month's rent into escrow until they refund your deposit. The NY Bank of Mellon offered this service at the time. 3.) Expect neighbors to complain if you have a dog, even if they are not loud or rambunctious, so see if you qualify to get an emotional support animal prescription to negate most legal issues. 4.) Things will break, document them in writing, use their "buildinglink" or whatever property management software they use today, but take screenshots and document it for your own records, including in email, so they can't delete it on you and say you didn't tell them. 5.) Every large landlord is a financial services business trying to extract fees out of you for everything they can think of to make a profit. They are the fast food of housing. Low labor costs, low expectations, not good for you in the long term. You should try to find a home to buy at some point to avoid enriching their shareholders.

> 3.) Expect neighbors to complain if you have a dog, even if they are not loud or rambunctious, so see if you qualify to get an emotional support animal prescription to negate most legal issues.

This sounds like you have a dog, who is loud, and you are causing a bother to all of your neighbors. But you aren't willing to be responsible about this situation. You probably shouldn't have a dog if you are living in an apartment building in the first place.

Even a dog that doesn't bark makes a lot of noise, and that's just part of living in an apartment. In my last place, my upstairs neighbor had 2 dogs and whenever they wagged their tails when sitting, they would knock on the floor in a way that sounded exactly like someone knocking on my door. They also ran around and crashed into furniture fairly often, but it was hard to tell when it was the dogs or the children. I would counter that if you're not willing to live with a little noise, you shouldn't be living in an apartment building in the first place.

We have a lot of dogs in the building. I can't hear the barking, even when had neighbors next door, so no real complaints there! I do have a complaint that the hallway carpets are disgusting, mostly due to being soaked with dog pee and poo. Smell/sight. Management won't replace them. The elevators also have puddles 30% of the time, and smell bad from dog pee.

> You probably shouldn't have a dog if you are living in an apartment building in the first place.

Why?

Dogs need space, and locking up a dog for 10 hours in a 1 bedroom apartment while you're at work is borderline cruel.

About a quarter of dogs in the US are adopted. Their alternative to apartment life is often death.

Large, high-energy dogs definitely need space. Smaller and lower-energy dogs can do well with at home stimulation and consistent exercise.

I also don’t know why you’re assuming any of this: 10 hours locked up in 1 bedroom.

My experience couldn't have been more different. They started insisting I didn't have renter's insurance midway through the second year. I provided them evidence every month for the remaining 7 months of the lease, which they would "lose" by the next month. Didn't matter how well I recorded providing them the information.

When I moved out, they exercised their unannounced walkthrough clause two weeks before the actual date, when I still had property in the unit. These photos were used as evidence that I had left things behind to keep my deposit, despite being provided photos of said items at my new place.

They pulled the same renters insurance thing with me too! I submitted 10 different variants to their automated system before it was accepted. Part of it was to changing the company name they needed on it mid way through.

> 3.) Expect neighbors to complain if you have a dog, even if they are not loud or rambunctious, so see if you qualify to get an emotional support animal prescription to negate most legal issues.

So sad to see the high trust society we live in slowly degrade because of people doing stuff like this.

Pretty sure it Has Degraded at this point, past tense.

> 3.) Expect neighbors to complain if you have a dog, even if they are not loud or rambunctious, so see if you qualify to get an emotional support animal prescription to negate most legal issues.

Can't tell you how much I hate this in principle. So many people "game" the emotional support animal system that it's impossible to tell if the dog you're seeing at the mall is going to be a trained service animal or someone's 100lb "fur baby" that will try to jump on you when you get close. I can't imagine how people with fur allergies or fear of dogs deal with this stuff.

I'd rather deal with a dog over most kids at the mall any day.

Plot twist: you were never a kid. Just a puppy that grew into a cranky old mutt.

Hilarious.

Thank you, Sir.

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