Looking for an apartment

Hawaii is different. Not only in it's weather, awesome landscapes and sunsets, the random turtle sitings whenever you go to the beach...but the day to day mechanics of living a life here is different from anywhere I've ever lived. That's saying a lot because I've been overseas. Seanny mentioned some things last night while we were discussing this issue again... He is more saturated in these differences than I am because of his work. Everywhere else I've been, you are given the tools to help you adapt OR adaptation is easy and smooth. Here it's a guessing game on what you should do, what verbiage you should use, what areas to go to, etc. and even if and when you have the great luck to figure all of this out, it doesn't mean that you now fit in but you are allowed to survive here in paradise.
It is defiantly another world... Seanny was talking to a coworker about things and Obama came up. You'd think that this state is proud of one of "theirs" being president, and most of them are... as a group, but this individual responded when Seanny made a comment like "well Obama is from here", the guy was like "not really, he was born here, went away for a few years and came back for school" How is that NOT from here?! He was born here! When people get down to the nitty gritty I tell them I'm from/born California. So no longer how long Seanny and I live here, and even start a family here... we will never been seen as local.

Anyway... that has nothing to do with apartment hunting. First off, as in most other states there are apartment complexes that you can go to any day of the week and ask for a showing or at least get a floor plan. If you like the place you can come back and usually set in a move date down the road, it doesn't have to be tomorrow or the next day. A nice relaxed apartment shopping experience. I haven't done a lot of apartment shopping, but that was my experience thus far.
Now in Hawaii... it's different. There are really no apartment complexes, you find places (with NO floor plans) in one little makeshift guide (which also sells houses) or craigs list or you can do a lot of Internet browsing and find random places that may have pics. So, this week I start making appointments to see some places to get a feel for what we have to deal with. For one.... parking is a joke if even possible. I'm getting use to swallowing that "oh I'm parked in an bad/illegal/or none parking spot" gut feeling. The first day I looked at 3 places, 2 of them by myself and Seanny met with me for the last one :D

#1: nice breeze (it was a high rise, 9th floor), washer/dryer in a closet of a bathroom, no storage (got real excited about a big cabinet in the bathroom but it was the hot water heater, small kitchen with dark cabinets (hello! makes the space look smaller) with old/not sure if even usable kitchen appliances, big lanai, one square room that can be divided by a folding according of a screen for two small rectangle rooms that cuts off access to the bathroom from the "living room"(thus the 1bd/1bath claim), this dream was $1095/mth.
*most places don't list square footage cuz that's a joke

#2: right across from my school :), nice floor plan, no lanai (something on our what we really want list), washer and dryer on each floor, pretty view, in the middle of downtown, nice open/light colored kitchen, doable... $1245/mth plus we still have to pay utilities... so it's somewhat out of our price range

#3: separate rooms (no stupid dividers), 575 sf, a covered secure parking stall with room for a bike, washer and dryer in basement (we got Mom and Dad's place too), new appliances, awesome view from the lanai... defiantly very doable. It's in the middle of his work and my school and straight up the road from the beach (a quick bus ride and I'm there), oh and it's $1175 plus utilities... yes I know it's expensive for little space... you don't have to point that out. I guess it's comparable to other major cities?!

#4... I was suppose to check this place out yesterday afternoon but the asshat realtor no showed and when I called him he said it was Friday. BS... if he can't track appointments he defiantly can't track my rent checks. Plus it had no lanai and it was right on the H1 (A LOT of highway noise). We aren't even going back to look at that place.

I have #5 and #6 to look at today, and depending on those we may be stopping at the rental agency and putting a application in for #3. Granted we are taking a risk by not applying next day for that apartment but we were the only ones at the showing so hopefully no one else is applying. This rental place says you HAVE to view the place before applying.

Let's all hope that after today we aren't in the market anymore....