if they are not happy, they will let you know

See how many apartments still have the lights on.

Thanks!

Too many cars, fights in the parking lot, etc will make themselves obvious to you.

apartment complexes you're interested in adding 'reviews' in your search. People post reviews on lots of things these days... Also have a look on Facebook and see if there are FB communities for the interesting properties. Here is a website for you, right off the bat http://www.apartmentratings.com/ky/lexington/ .

And in the course of your research, it really is important to walk through the properties at critical hours, late weekend evenings, rush hour mornings and evenings, weekends, etc. Middle of the day during the week doesn't reflect the highest amount of activity, that's for sure. Good research pays off, especially for a long term committment.

Happy hunting!

but up here in Canada lots of apartment buildings.complexes are 55+. I would check and see if there are any in the city you're moving to.

Also...expect that there will be some amount of noise, unless you're in a concrete building. I wear foam earplugs to bed every night. I sleep soundly, don't hear a thing.

But that is no guarantee that the are will be sedate or quiet.

My parents had a condo in St. Petersburg, Florida, that was for seniors only. And those seniors loved to party. More than once the management shut down the pool because they were throwing suits optional swimming parties - and most of the attendees were bare assed naked. They also had problems with drunkeness and with swingers parties that got loud and rowdy.

Then there's this place in Florida;

Most of the activities are designed to separate seniors from their money and alienate them from their families. On one trip to Orlando we stopped in The Villages for lunch at a seafood place. While the food was good, it was as if we'd stolen some old people's table. We sat where the hostess directed us but a couple that came in after us was upset because she had given us "their table." If we had not already been served and partway through our meal I would have gotten up and left.

Most of the stores in the same strip mall were very upscale. We felt underdressed in our normal jeans and T-shirts - most of the people in the restaurant were wearing designer outfits and all the women had on makeup and heels whether they were in dresses or slacks. At a weekday lunch time this seemed way overdressed to me - but then my idea of dressing up is to wear clean jeans and a T-shirt with a nice picture on it.

(We're all way too young for The Villages).

I'm not exactly thrilled about them moving to the Orlando area. I try to keep that under wraps since it's their decision on where to live. I just don't have the desire to visit Florida.

Closer to Leesburg. Orlando has liberal and conservative areas and is more mixed in political views, racial groups and ethnicity than Leesburg.

I hate the development around Orlando but it does have good employment possibilities - so long as you're willing to work for low wages at the theme parks or other service industries. There are also a number of excellent colleges and universities. To the east is the Kennedy Space Center and all around the area are good wildlife preserves.

I'm a Florida native and grew up not too far southwest of Orlando but I prefer North Florida with the hills (itty bitty, toy hills) and trees to the beaches and tourists of Central and South Florida. I've lived in the Tallahassee area since 1972 and love it - but it was much better before Jeb, Charlie and Voldemort got into office and brought their minions with them.

She says there's quite a bit more money in Florida for pharmacists than there is in the Midwest.

And all will need their medications. Unfortunately, most of the pharmacists are probably employed by chains such as CVS, Walmart or Walgreens. Publix and some of the other grocery chains also have pharmacists and a lot of hospitals and nursing homes have in house pharmacists.

Tell her to look at areas other than right around Orlando - lots of the smaller towns are bedroom communities and offer low property prices and a quieter life style than Orlando itself. With a service industry like pharmacy she doesn't have to restrict herself to the places close to the theme parks and the high priced tourist areas.

For instance, the town I grew up in, Bartow, has lots of real estate available for great prices, has great schools, and is close enough to larger towns such as Lakeland, Orlando and Tampa that some people commute to work. There are plenty of other towns similar to Bartow that it's worth looking around and not just in the immediate Orlando area.

Where she works now they provide medicine to various nursing homes and institutions, they don't deal directly with the public. She's had her fill of retail pharmacy already - she worked at Walgreens before graduation then at another retail pharmacy after graduation. She worked there for about three months before deciding she wasn't that in to retail pharmacy and getting her current job. I can imagine her trying to find something like that in the Orlando area.

Yeah she'll probably look at the less expensive areas. She said what they'll probably do is rent for a year or so in order to build up some cash then buy a home.

It'd be worth checking it out. Outside of the cities, living expenses in Florida tend to be lower than in a lot of parts of the country. And fresh produce is available almost year round.

Tell her "Good Luck!" I hope if she does relocate, I hope she finds a place she likes.

Our primary doctors started asking us if we needed any updated education on safer sex about 3 years ago. The first time I was somewhat taken aback. He explained the geezers are getting it on even in nursing homes. Usually unprotected. People don't understand just because pregnancy is not an issue doesn't mean they are safe.

He said the demographic with the largest increase of HIV, herpes, Hep C and other STD's is over 70 yrs old.

My practice was to drive to the complex I was interested in on a Tues or Wed evening about 8:30, park my car and hang out quietly for an hour. Do this on different nights of the week, about three times and you'll get a really accurate picture of the place.

three times. Once in the morning to see if the parking lots are full and see if there are bottles strewn around the common areas.

Again in the late afternoon, early evening just to get an overall impression. Then go back later on, something like 11:00 to Midnight and see how the noise is.

It's no guarantee but it can give you an overall impression. Also keep an eye on parking after work, if the streets are jammed with cars it's a good sign that the place is overcrowded.

I avoid complexes that have more than 3+ bedroom apartments available. More bedrooms means more kids running around, tricycles in the sidewalks etc.

I also avoid complexes that offer efficiencies, which I've found are occupied by under 25 year olds that like to party to hard.

I avoid complexes where it's one complex after another. Too much population density.

55+ complexes are worth checking out. Some have sliding scale rents based on your income, but those usually have waiting lists.

In addition to the different apartment search websites like apartments.com and forrent.com, check out websites like trulia and zillow. You can find private rentals of condos, townhouses, duplexes, etc. Private lessors will often sign longer leases

If you find a complex you like, be sure and ask where your unit will be in the complex. My unit is near the smaller of two pools and noise isn't as big a problem as by the larger pool and by the playground.

Ask about the utilities. Most apartments will bill you for electricity and water. You have control of your , but the water isn't always submetered. My complex only charges $25 a month for water, but some I looked at charged as much as $75.

If you have pets, check the pet policies, deposits and "pet rent". Most apartments that allow pets only allow 1 or 2. There are often weight limits and breed limits.

If you want to stay long term, get a ground floor unit or a building that has elevators. Ground floor apartments will also have lower electric bills in the summer.

Over the past couple years they've taken a few of the old factories and are converting them into mixed used buildings (apartments/restaurants/shops/etc).

One of the buildings they converted was the factory where my Grandpa worked;

http://gronenproperties.com/residential/caradco-loft-apartments/

I went on a tour of the building once when they had an open house, the apartments seemed fairly nice. They were just starting to rent them out but already said they had a good mix of tenants ranging in age from their 20s up to 70s. If I was going to move into an apartment I think I'd like to live in a place like that.

(This all has caused and is causing some very amusing teabagger head explosions too. The teabaggers can't stand how the government is investing money in the community).

and ask the police their opinion.

Here are three

www.apartmentratings.com/

www.apartments.com/reviews/

www.rentersvoice.com/

I'm happy, and my cat is too.

But these are all good suggestions.

Those tend to be the worst in terms of noisy students. Having said that, most of the noisiest people I've encountered have not been student, but have been people with kids or dogs. Or liked loud music at all hours. Right now, the upstairs neighbors sound like a herd of elephants. I have no idea who is doing the running up there, but someone sure is.

But I echo the advice to spend time in the area and ask people who live there.