Renting an apartment

To find listings, I generally consult:

I apply few filters (mostly about price), and I flip through listings in map view, looking mostly at the pictures. If there are no interior pictures, I rarely inquire further. If there are no pictures of the kitchen and bathroom, I generally don’t inquire further (if one or both are not shown it’s often because they’re hideous). Much of the time, the photographs are much brighter and prettier than the place itself. They’re almost always taken from odd perspectives or skewed to suggest a much bigger space than it will be when you visit. I also double check the posting date. (If it’s been up for more than a month or two, I wonder why.)

If possible, I visit the city a for a few days during the months before I expect to move to walk around and figure out which neighborhoods I like. I start with the ones I’ve heard of and then walk into adjacent ones, where it might be cheaper. I try to remember specific nice blocks. If I know someone who has lived in the city, I might ask for a recommendation.

When I’ve found a listing I like, I email the realtor to request a visit. In my email, I make sure to cover many of the things they’ll be wondering about:

I also transfer some extra money to my checking account so that I can write checks for larger amounts than normal to cover deposits, fees, first (and last) month’s rent, and a broker fee (if in a big city). Basically, 4x the monthly rent.

When I visit an apartment, I’m running through this checklist:

Checklist

Money:

Unit basics:

Location: