My 3 roommates and I are looking to potentially lease a house for the next academic year. Couple of questions; is there some rule about how many unrelated people can live in a house in Ames and what do you recommend for location? Any other tips would be appreciated also! Thanks!
Houses in Ames
- Thread starter Clone5
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It depends on where you're at and how it's zoned. With 3 people I think you're fine everywhere, it's when you get 4, 5 and 6 unrelated people that causes problems. I lived with 4 unrelated roommates on Lettie Street and the city busted us for over-occupancy.
I think we got caught because of an old bag on West Street who apparently keeps VERY close tabs on who moves into her neighborhood and how many people are living together. It helps to live in a neighborhood with a lot of other students, and it also helps to have a landlord that doesn't bother you/care.
I think we got caught because of an old bag on West Street who apparently keeps VERY close tabs on who moves into her neighborhood and how many people are living together. It helps to live in a neighborhood with a lot of other students, and it also helps to have a landlord that doesn't bother you/care.
Yeah. I lived with 6 other guys (one was my brother though) at the corner of Hyland and Lincoln Way, and we actually fixed up the basement to make an extra bedroom. Our landlord was openly cool about it, and when the city wanted to inspect it (because it was a complete hellhole), he told us to "make the basement bedroom disappear for a week". Also, every single house around us was other students, so we never got noise complaints or any kind of BS along those lines. Good times.
I lived with 5 roommates on Ontario without problem, and 3 roommates on Wilmoth without problems. Both were houses, and Wilmoth didn't have anything but rental property on it as far as I could tell so no one really cared how many people were living there.
One sneaky way to get around the over occupancy is to have one person just get their mail at the post office in a po box. i did that for a year and no one was the wiser.
Just make all the roomates chip in, it really isnt that much.
Lived on stanton, hayward, and story street all good spots story st makes thumbs way to close
Just make all the roomates chip in, it really isnt that much.
Lived on stanton, hayward, and story street all good spots story st makes thumbs way to close
Try and find the independents. I lived in a place which was owned by 2 guys who had maybe a total of 4-5 properties. They actually gave a damn. Let us slide a few extra days on rent here and there, came out and fixed stuff right away. As a result, we kept the noise and parties to a minimum. Worked well both ways.
The "big boys" are only concerned with occupancy and that check on the 1st. Spent some time with Cochrane, Hunziker, PPM and Triplett. None of them have been as good as the "little guy".
Defintely agree with that guy :rolleyes5cz:
Little guy much better, and the place is in better condition
Arkae wasn't too bad
Little guy much better, and the place is in better condition
Arkae wasn't too bad
We had Martin Property Management and they weren't too bad...but we really had it in with them. We only got fined once for parties, and they dumped it when we re-signed.
As far as zoning goes, take a look at this site: Occupancy Rules for Rental Housing It really is a BS deal what the city of Ames does (as are many things they do) cause if you look at the zoning map, it really does differ from lot to lot.
As far as zoning goes, take a look at this site: Occupancy Rules for Rental Housing It really is a BS deal what the city of Ames does (as are many things they do) cause if you look at the zoning map, it really does differ from lot to lot.
Whatever you do...do NOT rent from Rainbow Properties. If I remember correctly, they rent out the last two houses on welch...I think it is 531 and 535 maybe. Do NOT rent from them whatsoever. Come by every weekend to make sure you don't have parties and what not and they will charge you for everything and not fix a damn thing. We got fined for stuff 3 years ago and we went into the house just a couple weeks ago and the stuff wasn't fixed that we were fined for...complete ********!
If anyone reads this, DO NOT RENT FROM RAINBOW PROPERTIES! Sorry, real bad experience
Former Cyclone great Clint Varley is the property manager for Jensen, and he is definitely not an *******!
I have bolded the statements above that are false.
I have bolded the statements above that are false.
The only real way that the city will bust you is if they have complaints from neighbors. We have a group down the street that I'm pretty sure is more than the 3 unrelated max and I really don't care because they're good neighbors. They don't have parties, aren't loud, and maintain their house and lawn. Why would I want to call the city about them?
We had another group of students that decided to put a pool table in their garage so they had to park all 4 or 5 cars in the driveway and the street. Plus they parked their motorcycles on the concrete pad for the public mailboxes. That got old real quick and they are not there anymore. So just as long as you realize that you if you live in a neighborhood that isn't full of students you shouldn't act like students.
We had another group of students that decided to put a pool table in their garage so they had to park all 4 or 5 cars in the driveway and the street. Plus they parked their motorcycles on the concrete pad for the public mailboxes. That got old real quick and they are not there anymore. So just as long as you realize that you if you live in a neighborhood that isn't full of students you shouldn't act like students.
I just moved out of 531 in July after two years of living there and have not got my deposit back. The landlord seizes to exist and took down their website. (cyclonerent.com - cyclonerent Resources and Information. This website is for sale!) Also, I see they have changed names since you lived there. Do you remember the name of your landlord? Was it Jo?
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CyBer
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Don't rent through Triplett, worst place I have ever rented from period. Can't wait for my lease to expire so I can get out of this ********. Anyone have any good recommendations on a good place to live for 600 and under with a washer and dryer in the unit?
I lived in 531 Welch during the '07-'08 school year. Jo (the landlord) was possibly the worst landlord ever. We were promised "free cable and internet" but had to get our own halfway through the year because she got caught stealing cable for her houses and she would only reimburse us for $25 dollars since that was the "deal" she was paying for through mediacom and we were paying $85.
I lived in the basement room and in May of '08 during the bad Ames floods, my room flooded and ruined essentially most of furniture and we called Jo several times and she never sent anyone over to clean up. There was black mold everywhere and she tried to take our whole deposit until we threatened to sue (we had documented everything) and she gave us our full deposit back. Looking back on it, we should of still sued because I had to replace a lot of stuff and my immune system still isn't back to normal.
And another thing that makes Jo an evil person is that her husband is the Ames Parking Division officer that writes everyone tickets, even if you're over by 2 seconds.
I think landlords, however big or small, should advise tenants about the Ames ordinances relevant to rental housing, but some don't do this. Here are the three big ones: one, depending upon the zoning area the house is in, you cannot have more than three unrelated people living in the house; check and see what zone your house is in. Sure, some people get away with more than three, but the fines have increased, and now I believe it will cost the tenants $500 bucks if they are in violation. Two, do not park cars on the front lawn; you can do this temporarily, I believe, on the side yard but not the front. Three, make certain your garbage cans or containers have lids that fit snugly; this is to keep out critters and of course to avoid spreading garbage around the neighborhood should a container fall over.
In Residential Low Density zone, which would include most houses, you have an absolute limit of 3 unrelated people.
In Residential Medium or high zone, you can have the number of bedrooms plus 1 up to a maximum of 5. So a 3 bedroom house/apartment can have 4 unrelated people (provided that there are enough off-street parking spaces for every person).
There are a few minor deviations from that, but that's the general idea.
City of Ames : Occupancy Laws for Rental Housing
In Residential Medium or high zone, you can have the number of bedrooms plus 1 up to a maximum of 5. So a 3 bedroom house/apartment can have 4 unrelated people (provided that there are enough off-street parking spaces for every person).
There are a few minor deviations from that, but that's the general idea.
City of Ames : Occupancy Laws for Rental Housing
