When it says an apt is in a "charming community" what do you think?

[BlueTaelon]

Is that code for run like h*ll? Apt hunting and some places look ok but the wording is making me wonder, what can I say, I'm a skeptic who's lived in to many crappy apts.

[AK_Mom4]

I don't think that "charming community" means anything at all.  Those are just filler words in the ad to make the apartment sound more desirable.

[In the Rain]

I don't think that "charming community" means anything at all.  Those are just filler words in the ad to make the apartment sound more desirable.

:iagree: It sounds like a fluff description. 

[Ravin]

Sounds like total fluff filler to me.

[NicAnn]

Could mean older or touristy. We love in a college town with a Main Street that is often described as charming. Could also mean small town or eclectic.

[Rosie_0801]

I'd think it meant there was no one home from 7-7 every day, so don't move in here if you want to make noise. If your kids want to play, join Little Athletics and do it elsewhere.

 

Or it could just be fluff.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

I don't think that "charming community" means anything at all.  Those are just filler words in the ad to make the apartment sound more desirable.

AMDG

 

'fraid so.

[Arcadia]

Here it tends to mean that noise is not welcomed. We looked for those that say "kid-friendly" community when we were renting. The noise tolerance for kids playing were higher and there were more kids facilities in the rental community. The one we stayed in had free Sunday brunch, Thursday game night, free tennis lessons for kids of renters, family movie nights, family yoga sessions too.

[Crimson Wife]

My first thought was Stepfordish with lots of nit-picky HOA/complex rules, but after reading the other responses, I do agree it's probably just filler.

[Catwoman]

I'd think it was in a very tiny-but-cute town with very little going on there.

[LaCEmom]

I would think that the person who wrote the ad was probably a middle aged woman.

[FaithManor]

I think it's someone trying to rent a small house in our backwoods, backward, middle of no where town. Some nut would say it's "charming" because dh and I took the old United Methodist church and turned it into house, plus there is a bank building that's about 150 years old and still going strong.

 

What they won't say in the ad is that USPS plans on closing the post office once the lease expires on the building and the current hours are only 1-4 p.m. so if you are a working person, good luck getting your mail...no Saturday hours, no rural delivery, and the PS school bus doesn't roll into town until 4:15 so you can't ask your kids to get the mail after school. This however, could be described as quaint.

 

Now, that said, there would be reasons to move this "charming" hamlet - namely very low COL which means you could rent a three bedroom two bath house in nice condition with a decent garden plot, and retired people who will watch out for your kids when they are walking around the neighborhood...everyone is on board with not spraying pesticides and herbicides much anymore so we've seen a return of honeybees, bumblebees, and butterflies galore as well as some gorgeous song birds that many areas of Michigan do not have due to the lower insect population from all the spraying, etc. Therefore, I wouldn't automatically assume it's a bad neighborhood. Just very likely someone trying to describe a rather "bland" neighborhood with a term that might get people to take a look.

 

 

[SproutMamaK]

I would tend to think of older houses/buildings with a lot of style.

[Amy in NH]

Nosy neighbors?

[kiwik]

My first thought was nosy neighbours and a lot if eccentrics. But probably fluff. Have you ever seen "depressing" or "dirty" neighbourhood?

[mumto2]

I imagine nosy neighbors (that can be good, need to look at them first :lol: ) and smallish rooms.

[Blueridge]

I agree with everyone else...and would also add that, to me, it means trees and flowers everywhere. I am a middle aged woman lol. :)

[flyingiguana]

Around here, the code word "charming" means either a small house, or that there's a built in buffet and nice wood work.

 

It's also used in about every other ad.  So it ends up meaning nothing at all.

 

I don't know that I'd read much into it unless it was a standard code in your area.

[lavender's green]

I've lived in 5 different apartments described as charming. They were all decent, clean, and safe, some family-oriented and some not, but there was nothing special about them. It's a fluff term.

[elegantlion]

To me charming means small, older homes, old people. quiet, and around here conservative. So no painting your house hot pink, no flying your freak flag, and you'll probably be met with "what church do you attend" as a form of greeting. If you're lucky the neighbors under retirement age might be home during the day, also no topless sunbathing in your fenced yard because Great Aunt Myrtle from across the street will come and tell you to cover up. Seriously, happened in an old neighborhood. The neighbor who was like a 19 year old girl was sunbathing in her bikini in HER backyard. The neighbor across the street saw her and hopped on her walker (okay maybe metaphorically) and proceeded to chew out the young girl for being "mostly naked" in HER OWN backyard. 

 

Yeah, I read a lot into words. 

 

Quaint is different than charming. 

[Word Nerd]

I wouldn't read anything into it other than as meaningless marketspeak. On the bright side, I wouldn't expect a house in a "charming community" to have tagging along the wooden fence in the back alley, like a house for rent we once drove by did.

[catz]

Our neighborhood gets called charming all the time. But darn, I do think it is charming! Homes are mostly pre-1940, we have an adorable walkable shopping area with a library, coffee shop, gift store, little grocery, a couple upscale restaurants. The neighborhood is generally friendly, but not dogmatic. We're in a large city and near a large university campus, so there is plenty of diversity. We have a middle eastern restaurant owned by a neighborhood Muslim family too walking distance. Our neighborhood has a Norman Rockwell feel to it, and people visiting say that regularly.

 

But it can absolutely be filler/fluff/mean nothing too. YMMV.

[Catwoman]

BlueTaelon -- did you go see the apartment? How was the neighborhood? Was it charming, or charming-ish, or were you quite disappointed to discover that it was not at all charming?

[BlueTaelon]

BlueTaelon -- did you go see the apartment? How was the neighborhood? Was it charming, or charming-ish, or were you quite disappointed to discover that it was not at all charming?

No, just trying to wade through the listings looking for something that really catches my eye.

[Catwoman]

No, just trying to wade through the listings looking for something that really catches my eye.

I hope you find something soon! :)