The Clifford

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The Clifford has a studio for under $500! I'm so happy that that still exists. Here is their picture-free craigslist ad. I don't really trust anyone that has to resort to specials like the $99 first month rent, but maybe this apartment is awesome. Their number is 503.232.5460.

Yamhill Apartments

I love it when an apartment building has its very own website. They have a one-bedroom for just $675 right now, but be sure to take your shoes off after stumbling home from the Speakeasy. You know, because it's carpeted.

804 SE 39th

This one-bedroom apartment is only $610/mo! What's the catch?
Basement level?
Facing 39th?
Ugly carpet?
No, it's one of those income-restricted places that make you prove you make between $14,640 and $29,400 annually. Which, with our current economic situation, probably includes about 90% of Portland.

1905 se morrison

This place keeps popping up on craigslist. Either no one wants a $550 studio anymore or this place is impossible to rent. Judging by the pictures in the ad, I'd guess the latter is true. Is that a stove in the living room?

More Zomerzet!

Please someone rent this apartment. They've been working on it for four years and I'm starting to feel bad for them. Not sure what's going on with their selection of kitchen flooring in the picture there but I'm sure their hearts are in the right place. Honestly, it's a much better deal than this.
Seriously though, I'm color blind and all but that kitchen floor looks like my aunt Peggy's house in Gresham. I think that's even the same faucet.

Zomerzet?

In the autumn of 2000, just months after I started this job, I was up in apartment 205 of the Warnell Apartments cleaning up after a tenant that had just moved out. It was about 10pm, but I was sober and poor so I needed the $55 to pay for ramen and bus tickets. I was scraping candle wax off the hardwood floors when I heard a weird thumping sound out the window. The picture you see to the left is what is now the Zomerzet. Back in the autumn of 2000 it was a home for underage girls that had been shunned by their families. And on this particular night the thumping I heard was caused by a topless sixteen-year-old girl attempting to escape from the second story window with a series of tied-together sheets. And she was having a lot of trouble escaping. Also I have no idea why she was topless. If it were me, I would have at least put a bra on, but then again I'm not a troubled sixteen-year-old girl so what do I know? She got about three feet down when the knot on her sheets gave way and she tumbled into the arbor vitae below. Unphased, she limped off into the crisp cloudless and evening. Two days later I saw the same girl WITH a top (and a cast on her right leg) edging the lawn on the eastern edge of the property. I'll never know if landscaping is an appropriate punishment for topless jailbreaking, but I will always remember that night as the first and last time I saw underage boobs on the lam. Unless you count that one time in college.
Call the Zomerzet (seriously? that's what you're calling it?) at 503.238.8551. But tell them to fix the dryrot in their gutters first. It's annoying the crap out of me.

Melcliff Apartments

The Melcliff Apartments at 711 SE 11th has a studio or five available. I've been wondering for a long time why they always seem to have something available in this market. Especially since they have studios for under $600. Turns out it might just be because it's a courtyard-style building and a good chunk of the apartments look right into someone else's studio. Give them a call at 503.813.9200 and see for yourself if you don't believe me. In related news, if you google "ipm melcliff" then I come up before IPM's website. Coincidence?

1628 SE 32nd

Pretty. You could eat at The Italian Joint every night. $850/mo all of a sudden seems incredibly reasonable compared to this other place.

Marshall Arms Apartments

Why is this studio only $565? What are they not telling me? I thought because of the address it was right next to the 405, but it's a block away so freeway noise can't be an issue. The streetcar is a block away. I don't know, maybe it's ridiculously tiny. At any rate, it's cheaper than anything I have on Hawthorne right now. Capital Property Management's phone number is 503-288-RENT, and I think their policy is to never call you back. Let me know if you find that to be untrue.

Melcliff Apartments

I've always liked the Melcliff. $560/mo will get you a small studio with hardwood floors and a clawfoot tub. IPM has a corner unit available right now (facing south and west--BONUS!). 503-223-6327

1237 SE 47th

This ad on craigslist looks pretty interesting: Someone from Orange County, California is advertising a 650 sq ft apartment w/ 650 sq ft garage for $750/mo on SE 47th and Salmon. It might be one of those buyer-beware type of situations because portlandmaps says it's only 432 square feet. But, really, maybe it really is 650 square feet and she added an addition. Although that would be weird as well because you'd think that the city would know about it. Maybe I just don't understand how these things work. Might be worth checking out.

Dream location

These people never take down their "studio available" sign even when they're full, so I'm pretty excited that they're actually advertising a vacant studio online. I've heard both good and bad things about this building, but it's a total dream of a location as long as you don't mind listening to people in drag doing the "time warp" on Saturday nights. I don't think I'd mind. It's kind of a funky-looking studio on the inside (with carpet) but it has a clawfoot tub and it's only $550/month.

Laurel Ash Apartments

UPDATE: Rented already.
Hey, I just ran into Kathy; she manages the Hawthorne Court and the Laurel Ash Apartments. She told me that she has a studio at the Laurel Ash coming up that is currently unadvertised. It's carpeted (ick) but it's huge (unick). Built in 1916, the Laurel Ash is an 8-plex on a dead-end street so it seems pretty quiet. The only downside that I can see from living in an 8-plex is the inevitable crazy cat lady that's lived there since probably 1981. And how you have to avoid her because she always wants to show you her commemorative plate collection. It happens.
Anyway, Kathy described the apartment as "funky," which is either awesome or seriously problematic. But for $530/month, you could do a lot worse. 503-233-8865.
As an aside, I think it's funny that Kathy has heard of this blog. Although, since she's not of my generation, she described it as a "log." Close enough.

1905 SE Morrison

I've seen this 5-plex advertised on craigslist a lot over the last couple weeks so I decided to walk over there today to check it out. They have a couple of units for rent here, but the ad linked above is specifically for the $650/mo studio. According to the mailman--and I figure he's just as reliable as any other source--the new owners are in the process of redoing the whole place. The outside looks pretty shabby, but the pictures in the ad look alright. If it were me taking the pictures, I would have painted over the graffiti and removed the almost-gone roll of toilet paper from the top of the toilet tank. 20th and Morrison is a pretty busy intersection, so keep that in mind if you call about this one. You might ask where in the building the apartment is located. Of course, they left no phone number.