Well, there ARE studios under $800 just about directly East of the Capitol Building, use the map view on craigslist. Rent some furniture at Aaron's, and pick up some bedbug killer spray at home depot, diatomacious earth, and some $79 wireless cloud security cams, and you are good to go. :D
HOWEVER! Be prepared not to be babysat. If your sink or tub backs up, you better be able to hold your own and not have a hissy fit because you had to wait 2 days for the maintenance man to get out of jail again. ;) Buy one of those plungers with the accordion looking thing on the end, a couple of drain zip strips(has barbs to clean out hair clogs), and if the drain is running slow, dump down one of those $3 bargain jugs of dawn dish liquid.
AND don't be driving a vehicle that's worth more than $8,000 in neighborhoods that are mostly ethnic, or carry around $4k worth of apple gadgets, laptops, and other things that can be pawned in a heartbeat.
As for the cats, figure on not getting your deposit back at the least. Most landlords are used to the fact that someone with a cat CAN NOT smell the cat piss and shit smells, ignores the hair all over, and ignores the damage from scratches all over. Oh, gee, well that was there when I moved in!
Sure it was buddy! Oh, you only gave VERBAL notice that you'd be leaving 3 months short of your 6 month lease, not written. No deposit for you! :D
But, that's life. The average fresh out of college kid will think they're still in the dorms, trash the apartment, screw up getting the utilities in and out of their name, forget to return the DVR and equipment to the cable company ($1200 on your final bill, Cha CHING!), and then cry and whine that they didn't get their deposit back.
Oh, and BTW, THEIR DAD IS A LAWYER! He will TOTALLY sue the management company!
So, yeah, that's why not a lot of short term leases, and why nobody wants a hit and run roomie for 10 weeks. Too many people get screwed, or they have to serve someone with a money judgment 8 states away, and try to collect on a default judgment for the next 3-4 years. Only to hear from Little Billy's parents at that time because he wants a new car, or an apartment, and REALLY REALLY doesn't want to have to pay the $2500 in debt he racked up all those years ago. So can you just dismiss the money judgement. lol! Not only no, but **** no!
I knew a LOT of property managers/maint people on the south side and downtown, those poor SOBs just about lost their minds dealing with crazy tenants. Still, I think with medication, and therapy, most of them will recover in 2-3 decades. ;)
Hubbell isn't too bad, but they acquired a TON of properties when the older landlords cashed out and took off once the housing inspectors started cracking down. Which means TONS of baggage they're sorting out.
Conlin Properties, OMFG, some of the buildings aren't too bad, but that company just chews up and spits out employees like nobodies business. I think the severance package there is 2 weeks pay, half a gallon of gin, and a bus ticket to MHI in either Independence, or Cherokee. lol!
Wakonda, very very mixed results. Not sure how many times it has changed ownership in the last 2-3 decades. But they seem to have churned through just about every maintenance man in town. ;)
McKinley road, from about 14th Ave SE to Fluer still has lots of different apartments some still independent, but I think Conlin and the others may gobble those up eventually.
Oh, and the apartment of last resort, from what people tell me, is Willow Park. Under new management every two years. Every kind of insect and rodent pest known to mankind, employee burnout time is measured in days rather than weeks. Cops are there pretty much all day. They might as well just hang out munching donuts on Army Post all day, and save themselves the gas.
So, yeah, that's why people want more or less indy companies. The big companies buy up the people who want to sell out, then crack down on the bad tenants, and those people have themselves a hissy fit. I have to pay ALL Six Months Back Rent or get kicked out! But but, you just bought the property! The smaller companies haven't really streamlined their eviction process, and will still buy the hard luck stories now and again. The big companies, you end up late on your rent more than a week, expect to see the process server. Two weeks with no arrangement more than once, you're probably going to court. Try to claim your fridge doesn't work, or you have a spot of mold under your sink, or cut your toe on a loose transition strip and feel you should get free rent that month? lol!
EEEVicted! Then you got about zero chance of getting an apartment that isn't next door to tweakers, ex-cons, sex fiends, hoarders, or any sort of creepy crawler person that usually lives south of Guthrie and to the East of I-235. :D