Thinking you may be right, most of the places with a 1b + den are around the same price as a 2br. Avalon is a good shout though, their den looks like it has hardwood floor and a window which would be just what I need for an office space. Towards the top end of my budget but I'm saving them, appreciate it!

I am saving for a place of my own and not super far along with that yet, so I have been waffling between a low budget around $1500-$1600 and nicer places around $2000-$2100. I'm trying to find a nice middle-ground but to be honest, the reviews for almost every place I look at are awful. Double true for anywhere that is priced reasonably, but even the nicer places have very poor Google reviews. I know it costs extra to live in this area, but when I see mention of bugs/pests and car break-ins, it just seems like it sort of defeats the purpose of paying the high price you know?

Originally I was looking at 2br apartments but many of them are priced a little higher than I would like. I'd like to be able to have rent/utilities come in under $2k. I'm still considering 2 bedrooms, but the den/other bedroom would be an office workspace. It doesn't matter to me if it has a closet or door, I just don't want my workspace in the bedroom if that makes sense. I had not considered that dens don't have windows though, that is helpful to know. The main things I am interested in are hardwood/vinyl floors if possible, in-unit laundry, and I guess a balcony would be nice but I'm easy to please- I could go without. I just want to live somewhere clean and relatively nice without unwanted bugs or smoke in my living space.