Here's what I found today.
The Manayunk area itself is very small and the apartments there are VERY expensive (i.e. $1600 + utilities for a 2 bedroom). The main street (with all the bars and restaurants) is really nice, but the rest of Manayunk is kinda run down and old.
However, I went up to the Roxbourogh area and found some great places. One place in particular, Summit Park, is awesome. It pretty much caters to Temple/Penn grad students and young professionals (there are very few families). The place also has a HUGE swimming pool, volleyball, tennis, and basketball courts, a clubhouse with a restauraunt, bar, pool room, and exercise room. Also, the management schedules tons of events for residents (like friday night bar crawls, trips to sports games, huge cookouts, etc.). The place is about a 5 minute drive from the Roxbourough train station, but its only a 15 minute ride to Temple Hospital, so driving would be easier, and I have a car so we could carpool. It's also directly across the street from a strip mall with a grocery store and tons of other stuff. They also have a bus that operates until 2:30am on weekends to take you to main street Manayunk for bars, etc.
Now for the best part: Rent for a 3 bedroom apartment is $1631 / month with ALL UTILITIES INCLUDED (heat, gas, water, electric, AC, and basic cable TV). The only thing that is not included in that price is internet. If you factor that in and say it costs $69/month (its actually much less), it is about $550 per month per person if you have 3 people. This is a steal for what they place offers.
Here is a link to the place:
http://www.4wallsinphilly.com/phila/summitpark/summitpark.htm
You can see some photos and floorplans there.
I don't know if anyone is interested, but after seeing this place I'm ready to sign a lease real soon (and believe me I wouldn't sign a lease unless I really thought the place looked good, because I've lived in some TERRIBLE apartments / houses before).
That being said, the only problem is that they currently only have 1 3 bedroom apartment available and they go really quick. I think my parents are willing to put a deposit down, but I need to know if anyone is really interested before that happens. If two others aren't interested, I would also be interested in a 2 bedroom (although for you girls, I can understand that it would be weird living by yourself with another guy you've never met).
And I haven't forgotten about the 5 bedroom house, but the landlord has not responded to me about seeing the property, which really bothers me (how will he be at fixing stuff if he doesn't even respond to me when I want to rent his place?), and there is no guaranteed street parking in Manayunk, which bothers me since I have a car and would probably be driving to class every day. Also, utilities there with 5 people will probably be at least $300 a month, which would equal about the same amount per month divided among 5 people as the 3 bedroom apartment would among 3 people.
Here is an outside picture of the outside I snapped today. It looks nice, but I still have the concerns mentioned above.
http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00016im6.jpg
If you're interested in the 3 bedroom, let me know ASAP. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do yet.
