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Tips and Tricks to Finding an Apartment?
Cognisseur
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey guys,
Unfortunately, I just graduated college, and have to move on to acting like a grown-up and finding a place in New York City with my girlfriend so we can become ridiculously in debt over the course of graduate school.
I've started doing some basic searches on Craigslist, and googling a few 'first time apartment renting guides', but most of the information was pretty useless / common-sense (I should actually LOOK at the place before I sign the lease? Wow.).
I don't know if it's in any way helpful, but we're looking for a 1 bedroom apartment somewhere around Washington Heights probably, or somewhere around there. It'll be me, my girlfriend and 2 cats. I'm looking to find some place quiet if possible, I guess that's the only real consideration besides 'allows pets' that I'm looking for.
So I'd like some help from you guys so I don't fuck this up.
1. What websites should I use besides craigslist to find cheap places?
2. All of the ads look identical, and most of the photos too; what important information am I supposed to be gathering from the ads as opposed to when I actually go see the place? What are the meaningless buzzwords that fill up ads, and what are the things that I should actually care about / be impressed by?
3. How many places should I look around before making a decision? 5? 10? 20?
4. What should I be looking for/at when I go to the apartments?
5. What should I be asking the landlord?
6. Is it norm/acceptable to speak with previous tenants? What should I ask them?
7. Are there any online checklists or something to help me document the important differences between apartments to facilitate decision making?
8. If I happen to see the lease, anything I should beware of when I'm reading it? I can hopefully catch things that are written in to fuck me, but I may not notice things that should be in there and aren't.
9. With the economy the way it is, should I be haggling with the landlord when he shows me the place?
10. What other things should I look for, avoid, be suspicious of, etc. Share with me the useful tidbits that aren't neccessarily obvious.
Sorry for the tons of questions, but it's a pretty expensive/major purchase so I don't want to fuck it up.
Unfortunately, I just graduated college, and have to move on to acting like a grown-up and finding a place in New York City with my girlfriend so we can become ridiculously in debt over the course of graduate school.
I've started doing some basic searches on Craigslist, and googling a few 'first time apartment renting guides', but most of the information was pretty useless / common-sense (I should actually LOOK at the place before I sign the lease? Wow.).
I don't know if it's in any way helpful, but we're looking for a 1 bedroom apartment somewhere around Washington Heights probably, or somewhere around there. It'll be me, my girlfriend and 2 cats. I'm looking to find some place quiet if possible, I guess that's the only real consideration besides 'allows pets' that I'm looking for.
So I'd like some help from you guys so I don't fuck this up.
1. What websites should I use besides craigslist to find cheap places?
2. All of the ads look identical, and most of the photos too; what important information am I supposed to be gathering from the ads as opposed to when I actually go see the place? What are the meaningless buzzwords that fill up ads, and what are the things that I should actually care about / be impressed by?
3. How many places should I look around before making a decision? 5? 10? 20?
4. What should I be looking for/at when I go to the apartments?
5. What should I be asking the landlord?
6. Is it norm/acceptable to speak with previous tenants? What should I ask them?
7. Are there any online checklists or something to help me document the important differences between apartments to facilitate decision making?
8. If I happen to see the lease, anything I should beware of when I'm reading it? I can hopefully catch things that are written in to fuck me, but I may not notice things that should be in there and aren't.
9. With the economy the way it is, should I be haggling with the landlord when he shows me the place?
10. What other things should I look for, avoid, be suspicious of, etc. Share with me the useful tidbits that aren't neccessarily obvious.
Sorry for the tons of questions, but it's a pretty expensive/major purchase so I don't want to fuck it up.
Cognisseur on
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Posts
Bring a camera. If you visit a lot of apartments, you'll have a hard time which one had the the hole on the wall and which one didn't.
Try to visit the building at different times of the day.
A good advice someone posted in another thread is that landlords that can remember their tenants names/info are much better than the ones that can say "the lady on 7A is usually quiet"
Websites like umoveforfree and such aren't bad. They really will look for you, and all they require is you move their info when you move in. They don't seem to have any inside knowledge or anything, and the info could be gotten by you, but hey, it's free.
If any landlord starts to pressure you to sign right there and then, walk away.
Check for electric/phone/cablel outlets.
Write down stuff that's important for your new apartment for you to be comfortable. Something like:
Dogs/cats allowed? (I wanted a place where they weren't, because I hate dog shit)
Central A/C?
Washer/Dryer hookups?
Internet choices?
..etc.
Central A/C was the most important though. I lived in an apartment with window AC, and it was fucking terrible.
2. The ads probably look identical because you'll frequently have multiple agencies listing the same space. YMMV, but for me I'd look at things like pets, wiring (cable ready? internet ready?), heat/hot water/electricity and how they're handled wrt rent, appliances (dishwasher? garbage disposal? washer/dryer? is there a laundromat nearby if not?), general condition, walk to nearby transportation, etc. You know what you want in an apartment, ask about it.
3. Look until you find the place that makes you go "I want to live here" and put a deposit on it immediately. If you don't find a place like that, look at as many as you have time for and pick the one that has the fewest things that bother you.
4. Pretty much everything from 2.
5. How rent is handled, how responsive maintenance is. In my experience, you generally don't deal directly with the landlord unless they're the ones listing the apartment. In which case, you ask them about everything from 2.
6. Normal depends. I'm never intentionally asked to speak with them, but if they're there when I go to see the place then I ask them about their experiences there. It's perfectly acceptable, and if someone gives you a hard time about it I'd be wary about living there. They shouldn't have anything to hide.
7. Common sense. Things that make you want to live there get a check. Things that turn you off get an X.
8. You won't see the lease until you're putting a deposit down on the place. Read the whole lease to make sure that everything you and the landlord/agent discussed is in it (rent, pets, utilities). Also look for clauses about early termination, late fees, and security deposits, and make sure to read those very carefully.
9. There are lots of people looking for apartments (particularly in NYC, I'd imagine). You can try to haggle, it probably won't hurt you, but I'm not sure how much help it would be either.
10. Mold, any other signs of water damage, weird noises, things not working the way you'd imagine they would, damage to the floors, damage to anything else.
This is also the apartment hunting season in NYC and the market can move very quickly. If you really like a place and definitely want it, be prepared to put down the initial money immediately.
I liked the advice about whether tenants are known by name or room-number, classy tip.
Given that I'm going to be looking for places in the $1000-$1200 per month range, are things like dishwasher/central AC feasible at that price, or should I be suspicious if a place that cheap actually has those things (aka it has other problems I dont recognize). I just dont know what $1200 can get me, haha.
I have a 1BR I share with my gf in the heart of Boston for about $1700 a month. We have central air, but no appliances. The place is nice, but not that nice. I'd imagine NYC certainly wouldn't be any cheaper.
I moved from a studio with no appliances, no air, in a 4th floor walkup about 30 minutes outside Boston by public transit, which was $995 a month.
Edit: I didn't see that you were in NYC.
My school isn't real close to the train stations, so Hoboken would turn into a pretty long commute, which would not be particularly pleasant when I think I have to be at the school by 7am.