California-->Davis Sq...help?!

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

Hey everyone!
I'll be graduating from UC Berkeley next month and I'm planning to move to Boston. After ::extensive:: searching, I've absolutely fallen in love with Davis Square! Here's the rub: the same few places keep showing up on Craigslist, and most of them are awful.

Does anyone here know of an apartment opening up for 6/1?

Here's the details from my end:
*as close to the T station as possible... so less than a mile would be ideal
*cat friendly
*1-br (preferably), or studio
*laundry in building, heat included (ideally)
*parking would be awesome, but I can deal either way
*non-basement... it doesn't have to have a zillion windows, but I need SOME light, especially when adjusting to Boston winters! ;)
*I can pay up to $1200... although on a post-college budget, less is obviously better

If you do set me up with a place, I'm thinking some sort of compensation or homemade cookies would definitely be in order :)

Thank you guys in advance. I can't WAIT to move out there and experience all of the amazing stuff that everyone's been posting about on here!!

Comments

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

this is also way preferable to signing a lease on a place unseen. DON'T do this under any circumstances. A sublet, not such a big deal :)

[busylilbear.livejournal.com]

clevernonsense- trust me, after living in berkeley, i'm used to the low end. i'm willing to sacrifice having a nice/new place for convenience, location, and being able to have my cat. Also, I'm lucky enough that if/when I do find a promising place, I have family in Boston who will check it out for me :)

prunesnprisms- I know... luckily, my parents can help on the rent for a while. Either way, I'm going to be actively looking like there's no tomorrow :/

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

no worries then :) I'd still keep the sublet option in mind. There is such a glut of them for June-Sept that you can often get a great place in a great location for cheap.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Yes, I second the suggestion of getting a summer sublet and using the summer to find a place for September 1. It will give you time to check out the city and its various neighborhoods. For 8 years I lived in Spring Hill near Union Square and loved it, thanks to it being convenient to Market Basket (a very cheap grocery store- a good 30% cheaper than Shaws on a lot of staples), the expressway, and a bunch of different places.

Funny thing is that I now live in Winter Hill, only half a mile from my old place, and it's a totally different neighborhood.

And when looking for places, the refresh button for Craigslist is your friend. That's how I scored my ridiculously cheap apartment ahead of the other 50 people who responded to the ad. I was first.