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Renting an Apartment in Cincinnati
Cincinnati is a city in southwestern Ohio, United States that lies on the
Ohio River and is the county seat of Hamilton CountyGR6. The city's most common
nicknames and abbreviations include "The Queen City," "Cincy," "The 'Nati", and
"Cinti."
As of 2005, Cincinnati's population was 308,728, making it the third largest
city in Ohio and the 55th largest in the United States. It has a much larger
metropolitan area, commonly called "Greater Cincinnati", which covers parts of
Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. The Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington Combined
Statistical Area has a population of 2,050,175 people and is the 18th largest in
the country. It is home to major-league sports, including baseball's Reds,
America's first professional baseball team, the Bengals of the National Football
League, and the historic international men's and women's tennis tournament, The
A.T.P. Masters Series Cincinnati Masters. Cincinnati is home to major
corporations such as Procter & Gamble, The Kroger Company, GE Infrastructure,
Federated Department Stores (owner of Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Lord &
Taylor), Convergys, Chiquita Brands International, Great American Insurance
Company, The E. W. Scripps Company, the United States Playing Card Company, and
Fifth Third Bank.
It is considered to have been the first major American "boomtown", rapidly
expanding in the heart of the country in the early nineteenth century to rival
the coastal metropolises in size and wealth. However, by the end of the century,
its growth unexpectedly stopped and it was surpassed in population by many other
inland cities.
Cincinnati is also known for the architectural distinction of having the largest
collection of nineteenth-century Italianate architecture in the country,
primarily concentrated in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, just north of
downtown.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 206.1
km (79.6 mi). 201.9 km (78.0 mi) of it is land and 4.1 km (1.6 mi) of it
(2.01%) is water.
The Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington Combined Statistical Area has a population
of 2,050,175 people and is the 18th largest in the country. It includes the Ohio
counties of Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont, and Brown, as well as the
Kentucky counties of Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton, and
Pendleton, and the Indiana counties of Dearborn, Franklin, and Ohio.
Cincinnati's unique geography nestles its neighborhoods in small basins and the
hillsides that overlook them. Because of this, many of the city's neighborhoods
developed very strong identities. Today's outer neighborhoods such as Clifton,
Hyde Park, Mount Washington, Westwood, College Hill, and Carthage originally
were settled as their own villages, with individual downtown sections of their
own. Over-the-Rhine was an important neighborhood in German-American history.
Northside also has its own identity.
Also highly important to the city's landscape is the division into "East Side
and West Side." The division came about after the construction of Interstate
Route 75, which runs North from Kentucky towards Dayton. The rivalry has been
intense at times (limited violence or reported discrimination), but is
considered mostly light-hearted, although a good number of city residents take
the division more seriously. Accents, fashion, attitudes, city planning (i.e.,
the way the houses are laid out), financial demographics, and other items are
some of the stereotypes and behaviors that separate the two distinctions. One
description of such differences that many locals refer to is that East Siders
are "fake" and West Siders are not. Another description of differences is the
statement that the East side "has the money and spends it," and the West Side,
"has the money and doesn't spend it." Though this division is often pointed to
as a point of contention in the city, it has only led to limited incidents of
violence or litigious discrimination, and is considered more of a "charming
quirk" than a divisive hindrance to society.
Cincinnati has a number of nicknames, including the "The Queen City," "The Queen
of the West," "The Blue Chip City," "The City of Seven Hills," "The Nasty Nati,"
"The Nasty," "The Big Onion" and "Porkopolis." Cincinnati is sometimes
abbreviated to "Cincy," "Cinci," "Cinti" or "The 'Nati."
As of the census of 2003, there were 317,361 people, 166,012 households, and
72,566 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,640.5/km
(4,249.0/mi). There were 166,012 housing units at an average density of
822.1/km (2,129.2/mi). The racial makeup of the city was 52.97% White, 42.92%
Black or African American, 0.21% Native American, 1.55% Asian, 0.04% Pacific
Islander, 0.63% from other races, and 1.68% from two or more races. 1.28% of the
population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 148,095 households out of which 25.1% had children under the age of
18 living with them, 26.6% were married couples living together, 18.6% had a
female householder with no husband present, and 51.0% were non-families. 42.8%
of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1% had someone living alone
who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the
average family size was 3.02.
The age distribution is 24.5% under the age of 18, 12.9% from 18 to 24, 31.6%
from 25 to 44, 18.7% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who were 65 years of age or older.
The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 89.4 males. For
every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $29,493, and the median income
for a family was $37,543. Males had a median income of $33,063 versus $26,946
for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,962. About 18.2% of
families and 21.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including
32.0% of those under age 18 and 14.8% of those age 65 or over.
There has been concerted effort by the local government to stem the tide of
emigrants. The population of Cincinnati decreased by nine percent between 1990
and 2000. Many of those leaving are living in the suburbs just outside of
Cincinnati (often considered "Greater Cincinnati"). Several reasons are
mentioned for this phenomenon common to many American cities, including job
opportunities, entertainment, racial tensions, education opportunities and
others.
Although the the Jewish population of Cincinnati at the turn of the century was
estimated only to be about 15,000 -- roughly 1% of the national Jewish
population of 1,522,500 at the time -- Cincinnati had been a hotbed for the
American Reform Judaism movement in the 19th Century. Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, a
major contributor to the movement, immigrated to Cincinnati in 1854. Under his
supervision the Hebrew Union College -- the oldest Jewish Seminary in the
Americas – opened here in 1875.
Some Things to Consider When Looking for an Apartment...
When searching for a new apartment make sure to take your time to think
through what are the most important things to you in an apartment and plan your
search based on those priorities. Here are some things to consider when planning
your move:
1. Consider the areas where you would like to live
* What is the crime rate?
* If you have children - what rating does the local school system have?
* Is there area convenient shopping, health and recreation services in the area?
2. Make a list of your housing priorities
* Do you have pets?
* Do you need parking?
* Do you need to be on the ground floor?
* What amenities are important to you - swimming pool, fitness room, in unit
laundry?
3. Evaluate the building
* What is the condition of the unit and building?
* Are the grounds maintained?
* Are windows, steps, and railings in good condition?
* View the property at night. Is it safe and well lit?
4. The security of the property
* Are there security service? When is the guard on duty?
* Does the building have controlled access?
* Does each unit have secure door and window locks?
5. Talk to the neighbors
* Ask other residents whether they are satisfied with the building.
6. Amenities
* Who is allowed to use the amenities?
* When are they open?
* Are the fees charged to use those facilities included in rent?
7. Ask about Utilities
* Does the owner or tenant pay the utility bills?
* Are any utilities included with monthly rent?
* Do units have separate thermostats to control heat and air conditioning?
8. Review the lease
* How much notice must you give before moving out?
* Can the rent be increased? If so, by how much and how often?
* Are pets allowed?
* What is the security deposit and cleaning costs upon move out?
* What is the responsibility of tenants for damage to property?
* Is there a penalty for breaking a lease?
9. Information too bring to a lease signing
* Credit Report
* Pay stubs/tax returns
* Reference
* Application
More Apartment Information
An apartment (or flat in Britain and most other Commonwealth countries) is a
self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. Apartments
may be owned (by an owner-occupier) or rented (by tenants).
Some apartment-dwellers own their apartments, either as co-ops, in which the
residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development; or
in condominiums, whose residents own their apartments and share ownership of the
public spaces. Most apartments are in buildings designed for the purpose, but
large older houses are sometimes divided into apartments. The word apartment
connotes a residential unit or section in a building. Apartment building owners,
lessors, or managers often use the more general word units to refer to
apartments. Units can be used to refer to rental business suites as well as
residential apartments. When there is no tenant occupying an apartment, the
lessor is said to have a vacancy. For apartment lessors, each vacancy represents
a loss of income from rent-paying tenants for the time the apartment is vacant
(i.e., unoccupied). Lessors' objectives are often to minimize the vacancy rate
for their units. The owner of the apartment typically transfers possession to
the occupant by giving him/her the key to the apartment entrance door and any
other keys need to live there, such as a common key to the building or any other
common areas, and an individual unit mailbox key. When the occupant move out,
these keys should typically be returned to the owner.
Apartments can be classified into several types. Studio, efficiency, bed-sit, or
bachelor apartments tend to be the smallest apartments with the cheapest rents
in a given area. These kinds of apartment usually consist mainly of a large room
which is the living, dining, and bedroom combined. There are usually kitchen
facilities as part of this central room, but the bathroom is its own smaller
separate room. Moving up from the efficiencies are one-bedroom apartments where
one bedroom is a separate room from the rest of the apartment. Then there are
two-bedroom, three-bedroom, etc. apartments. Small apartments often have only
one entrance/exit. Large apartments often have two entrances/exits, perhaps a
door in the front and another in the back. Depending on the building design, the
entrance/exit doors may be directly to the outside or to a common area inside,
such as a hallway. Depending on location, apartments may be available for rent
furnished with furniture or unfurnished into which a tenant usually moves in
with his/her own furniture. Permanent carpeting is often included in an
apartment.
Laundry facilities are usually kept in a separate area accessible to all the
tenants in the building. Depending on when the building was built and the design
of the building, utilities such as water, heating, and electric may be common
for all the apartments in the building or separate for each apartment and billed
separately to each tenant (however, many areas in the US have ruled it illegal
to split a water bill among all the tenants, especially if a pool is on the
premises). Outlets for connection to telephones are typically included in
apartments. Telephone service is optional and is practically always billed
separately from the rent payments. Cable television and similar amenities are
extra also. Parking space, air conditioner, and extra storage space may or may
not be included with an apartment. Rental leases often limit the maximum number
of people who can reside in each apartment. On or around the ground floor of the
apartment building, a series of mailboxes are typically kept in a location
accessible to the public and, thus, to the letter-carrier too. Every unit
typically gets its own mailbox with individual keys to it. Some very large
apartment buildings with a full-time staff may take mail from the mailman and
provide mail-sorting service. Near the mailboxes or some other location
accessible by outsiders, there may be a buzzer (equivalent to a doorbell) for
each individual unit. In smaller apartment buildings such as two- or
three-flats, or even four-flats, garbage is often disposed of in trash
containers similar to those used at houses. In larger buildings, garbage is
often collected in a common trash bin or dumpster. For cleanliness or minimizing
noise, many lessors will place restrictions on tenants regarding keeping pets in
an apartment.
In some parts of the world, the word apartment is used generally to refer to a
new purpose-built self-contained residential unit in a building, whereas the
word flat means a converted self-contained unit in an older building. An
industrial, warehouse, or commercial space converted to an apartment is commonly
called a loft.
When part of a house is converted for the ostensible use of a landlord's family
member, the unit may be known as an in-law apartment or granny flat, though
these (sometimes illegally) created units are often occupied by ordinary renters
rather than family members. In Canada these suites are commonly located in the
basements of houses and are therefore normally called basement suites.
Staying in privately owned apartments rather than in a hotel is quickly becoming
popular with travelers.