advice please on apt hunting for sept

[http://users.livejournal.com/__the_dude__/]

hi folks,

yes, sorry to say, another housing post. i'm currently in ann arbor MI but will be moving to the somerville/cambridge/medford/maybe even arlington area in sept to start a job in the alewife area of cambridge. i was all set to fly out the weekend of june 8-11 to look for sept housing when i noticed crazy high airfares and low hotel vacancies...and found out it's graduation weekend for MIT and harvard. urgh.

so my question to you locals: should i wait a weekend to avoid the craziness of two big graduations (tufts doesn't graduate that weekend too, does it)? or will i be able to drive around and look for apartments that i've found on craigslist (that's also assuming that landlords/realtors don't shut down for the weekend)? you might be able to tell from my questions that graduation here is a HUGE deal and you don't drive anywhere near the campus unless absolutely necessary (kinda like those GD football games at the big house...but i digress). more importantly, i suppose, is whether june 8-11 is a good time to find housing for sept 1 move-in, or do listings come up later/earlier...?

i read the post that the good apts are found by referrals from friends or, absent that, current tenants moving out, so if any of you happen to know of a 2 BR, 1-cat friendly apt "near" the red line for around $1500/mo, i would really appreciate hearing about it.

thanks in advance davis sq peeps!

Comments

[cold-cold-water.livejournal.com]

hey, i work in alewife too! i can testify that the davis-alewife commute is awesome no matter how you slice it. if you take the T, you're one of the only people going in the opposite direction and it takes maybe 5 minutes to get to work! then there's the bike path that other people have mentioned. personally, when i walk to work, i usually walk down rindge ave to alewife & over the bridge since it's more direct than the bike path from where i live - just throwing that out there. there's also a bus that goes directly down rindge.

when you start work, you should definitely check out cheddar's in the complex with the cvs and the newbury comics in alewife. it's like the soup nazi but with pizza/sandwiches/salads and is really awesome :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/__the_dude__/]

great info, thanks! i'm finding the MBTA website to be a bit of a black hole RE: bus routes that go to alewife. well, i've found some when you search by location and put in "alewife", but route 83 (which i'm guessing is the bus route you're referring to) doesn't come up since technically, it doesn't look like it goes all the way to alewife. grrr. anyway! thanks for the heads up - i'm now looking at the mbta website more carefully for other cambridge/somerville busses that go to that general area.

[cold-cold-water.livejournal.com]

ahh yes that's because it ends about a block away from the station. annoying!

you might also want to check out the i think 72 or 78 buses from harvard square? depending on where in alewife your work is, and where you get a place, that might be more convenient. they run right down concord ave to the fresh pond rotary area.