In a car-centric city, being able to say "it's just a five minute Uber away" and only be lying by five minutes is fine. In a walkable city, forget even that.
If you can't afford to be that close, at least scout out a neighborhood with a few decent venues in line-of-sight so that you can say "this place is getting boring, I'm going to another cool place and you're coming with me" and then be able to literally point and say "I'm right over here".
My first apartment was a shitbox that had barely been remodeled since Grant crushed Lee, but it was directly behind the college bars and two doors from a coffee shop. That was far more important than anything else in making it work.
If you can't afford to be that close, at least scout out a neighborhood with a few decent venues in line-of-sight so that you can say "this place is getting boring, I'm going to another cool place and you're coming with me" and then be able to literally point and say "I'm right over here".
My first apartment was a shitbox that had barely been remodeled since Grant crushed Lee, but it was directly behind the college bars and two doors from a coffee shop. That was far more important than anything else in making it work.
Hidey-ho, RVFerinos!