What's the catch for the "cheaper" apartments I see listed?

Hi, strongly considering going to school in LA. specifically a community college there because even with out of state fees it's still less expensive to go to this LA based college than it is to go to a 4 year university in my own city.I've heard horror stories all the time and even my local friends who live in carson and long beach that it's impossible to find anything to rent.Yet i've looked on apps and find Ktown apartments for 1.2k a month, I see student rooms being listed at 500-1000 a month, i even saw a listing for East hollywood for similar prices. So besides the obvious of "roaches" what is the catch of these apartments? are they fake listings?