How do I find the perfect apartment?
How do I find the perfect apartment?
Here are eight tips for finding the best rental homes and apartments in your area.
- Start your search 60 days before your move. …
- Search for rental listings online. …
- Use a real estate broker. …
- Don’t be fooled by scams. …
- Consider roommates. …
- Offer to take a 13-month lease. …
- Tour smaller buildings. …
- Use social media.
How do I make sure my apartment is secure?
How to Make an Apartment More Secure
- Reinforce sliding doors. …
- Be smart about leaving windows open. …
- Meet your neighbors. …
- Get creative with hiding spots. …
- Use a fire-proof safe to protect valuables and documents. …
- Close the curtains in your apartment. …
- “Be home” even if you’re not. …
- Look into smart home safety.
What are good apartment finding websites?
Most have mobile apps, and we’ve included the ratings so you know if an app is worth trying.
- Rent.com. …
- RentCafe. …
- RentHop. …
- Rent Jungle. …
- Sublet.com. …
- Trulia. …
- Zillow. …
- Zumper. Zumper is known for its easy-to-digest rental market reports and deep knowledge of local rental markets.
How do I make my first floor apartment safe?
It’s possible to increase your apartment safety to make it a more secure place to live.
- Block the view into the apartment using curtains or blinds.
- Keep the apartment well-lit inside and out.
- Install additional security devices on doors and windows.
- Store valuables in a hidden place away from windows and doors.
Why is apartment hunting so hard?
Speaking of viewing schedules, it can be hard to arrange a viewing of an apartment unit. Sometimes the current tenants are still home, or the landlord isn’t available during convenient times.
How much should I spend on rent?
You may have heard of the “30% rule.” This refers to the fact that most experts traditionally recommended people not spend more than 30% of their gross (before tax) income on housing costs (such as rent, utilities, etc.).
What is safer an apartment or a house?
Yes, apartments are generally safer than houses, at least as far as home security is concerned. High-density apartments have more people around to spot a burglar than single-family homes and may not have easily accessible entrances.
What makes an apartment less safe?
Some areas to look out for when considering an apartment are the entrances, hallways, walkways, parking areas, elevators, stairways, mail areas, and laundry rooms. Make sure these areas have enough lighting not only during the day, but also at night. If not, talk to your landlord about getting more lights installed.
How do I protect my apartment from burglary?
Here’s what you can do to prevent break-ins in apartments once you move in:
- Leave your windows locked by default.
- Add a chain lock to your door to use when you’re at home.
- Talk to your landlord about changing the door locks with fresh ones, not recycled locks from other properties.
Can you trust apartments com?
We love the convenience of shopping online for an apartment, but it’s important to keep an eye out for scams and fraud. Apartments.com works hard to ensure that you have a positive experience using our site, but we cannot guarantee that our sites are 100 percent free from false or fraudulent listings.
Is Zillow safe?
Zillow has a rating of 1.6 out of 5 stars based on 193 reviews on TrustPilot, a popular consumer review website.
What is the most popular rental website?
Zillow Rental Manager is the best rental listing site overall due to its sheer breadth of data and services. It has the largest inventory, the most site traffic, and offers services that take the landlord from marketing to rent collection.
Are first floor apartments less safe?
First floor apartments are the least secure because: They are easier to access than the upper-floor apartments, both through doors and windows. It is harder to identify tenants, visitors, and thieves from the first floor. The higher one goes, the easier it is to tell if a stranger is in the building.
Are ground floor apartments less safe?
Depending on the layout of the apartment building and its built-in security measures, basement and ground-level apartments can pose a higher risk of criminal activity and break-ins than apartments on the top floors.
Do first floor apartments get more bugs?
First-floor apartments typically don’t have great views. Street disturbance: You’ll be closer to every sound and smell from the street: car horns honking, garbage cans, garbage trucks and people chatting away. Also, more dust and bugs will have access to your apartment than if you lived on a higher floor.
How many months in advance should you rent an apartment?
Little wonder then that tenants are praying for the implementation of the Model Tenancy Act ( MTA ) in Karnataka so that they can get a house by paying just two months’ rent as advance.
How far in advance should I look to rent a house?
The Best Time to Look for a Rental Property Properties come onto the market 3-8 weeks before they’re available, sometimes even a few months prior.
Why do LA apartments not have fridges?
The simplest answer for why Los Angeles landlords don’t provide refrigerators is that they don’t have to. California law does not require refrigerators to be included in rental units, instead classifying them as “amenities” that aren’t necessary to meet habitability standards.