Alphabet soup: Try it. You'll like it!

Posted: Tuesday, July 10, 2001

R U ISO an apt.?

Most classified ads read like they're in secret code, as landlords and property managers try to maximize information and minimize lineage to save a buck.

How good are you at deciphering the message? Guess these 12 abbreviations. Then check the answers.








8) shr




12)24/7 frnt dsk


1) Appliances. Usually it is followed by a list of what comes with the kitchen. Microwave ovens seem to be newest on the list of kitchen standard appliances, though not an appliance that an experienced cook would consider new.

2) Central air conditioning as opposed to individual units in the windows. Most apartments in a big city now come with cac. If a landlord is filling ad lineage with mention of cac, read the ad a second time to determine if any basic is missing that is important in your decision to call about and go see a unit.

3) Closets. One can never have enough, especially if going from a house to an apartment. If closets are important, then so are storage units. Ask to see where they are, how dry they are, how secure from burglaries and whether there are extra charges to use them.

4) Corporate. May be used preceding the word rental to describe a studio or one-bedroom or larger unit that is available for short-term lease, fully equipped with dishes, glasses, sheets and towels as well as furniture. It may include maid service as well as parking. If you live in one part of the country and are moving to another to start a new job, you might want to put your own goods in storage and consider a corporate-type apartment for a few months until you decide upon the neighborhood in which youwant to live.

5) Efficiency. This is another word for studio-sizedapartment. When you call in response to an ad, ask about amount of squarefootage, number of closets, whether there is a balcony and whether the kitchenappliances and cabinets are off in another room separate from the living area.

6) As in garden-style apartment. There's no hard and fastdefinition, according to Kim Duty, spokesperson for the National Multi HousingAssociation, Washington, DC, but garden-type apartments are usually threestories or less, in a complex of several buildings on a sizable landscapedplot, with surface parking, without an elevator and with direct access from thefront door to the outdoors.

7) Hardwood. Describes the floor covering. Hardwood floorsare the envy of some who don't have them, but I can't understand why. At mostrental buildings as well as condominiums and coops, residents are required byapartment rules to pad and carpet floors entirely or mostly.

8) Share. Indicates that someone is looking for a roommatefor their house or apartment.

9) Tablespace. The kitchen is large enough to allow for atable and chairs.

10) Two full baths. If, instead, it read 2fp, it wouldindicate two fireplaces included.

11) From. As in rents for this style of one-bedroom unit gofrom $900 per month on up.

12) 24/7 frnt dsk. Indicates there is an employee at a frontdesk seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Question for all of you: Why is it that when there is a healthemergency or fire, residents of condominiums and coops as well as apartmentrentals who have a front desk take the time to contact the desk person to askthat a call be placed to 911 rather than call 911 themselves? This is humannature but it doesn't make sense, especially when every second counts in somesituations.

Did you guess most of those? Well, then, try a few more.

13) Engl. bsmt

14) mil disc

15) off-st prkg

16) n/s

17) mod

18) sep


20) pvt


22) w-t-w

23) blks

24) utils


13) English basement. It's an rental apartment usually in the basement of a house with its own entrance. Can vary in size and number of rooms. Some come with their own washer and dryer. Some of these rentals allow you use of the laundry room upstairs; others don't.

14) Military discount. A rent discount for those serving inthe military.

15) Off-street parking. It could be either an assignedoutdoor space behind the building or a parking lot or covered garage dependingon the building; sometimes abbreviated further to OSP.

16) Non-smoker. It could be that a n/s is looking for aroommate or a homeowner wants a non-smoking tenant for their basement rental.

17) Modern. Suggesting that the apartment is modern.Compared to what? Get an understanding of this before you check out the unit.For example, if it's an apartment from the 1950s that got a new kitchen in1978, the landlord might consider it modern but you might not if you've seenother units with kitchens completely renovated in 1998.

18) Separate. This ad could tell you that the dining room iscompletely separate from the living room or that it's a terrace or ground levelunit with its own separate entrance to the street as well as through thecorridor of the building.

19) On transportation. Usually means that a bus or subway

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