finding/renting an apartment

[monkeypoop]

I'm graduating college in a couple weeks, and I'm moving to a new city where I've accepted a full-time job. I've been looking at apartments online trying to find some possible places to live, and it's stressing me out!

It's pretty clear that having a roommate (or multiple roommates) is a lot more cost-effective than living alone, but I don't know anyone else who will be in the same city. How can I find people who live with who are dependable and not sketchy/scary/crazy?

I've found some places that looked promising until I saw all the terrible reviews people posted about them online. I know that it's a skewed perspective because usually the only people who bother to post reviews are the people who've had bad experiences, but I'm not sure how much I should pay attention to things like that. Are there certain red flags I should be on the lookout for?

Things I'm keeping in mind as I look for apartments:
- monthly rent
- length of lease (some places are cheaper if you have a longer lease, but that also means I'll be stuck in it if it ends up being terrible)
- utilities
- laundry
- nearby public transportation (I probably won't have a car, so I'm checking how easy it will be to get to work on public transportation)
- floorplan (I'd rather have a 1-bedroom but am also looking at studios since they're cheaper. also considering things like balconies, counter space, and the general layout)

Are there other important things I should be considering?

[Rainbow Dolphins]

I would find out about the landlord before you move into any place. If the landlord seems reliable, is he a prick, if you are short on rent will he work with you, is he good about getting your stuff fixed in a timely manner if the roof leaks or your sink quits working or whatever. You can find that out by asking his other tenants.

[monk]

I'm assuming this is an unfamiliar city.

I would get a hotel and rental car for three days and show up early and hit it hard with a list of possible places to live. If you're going to sign a lease for six months or a year living in a good neighborhood with convenient trasportation to work is very important to me. I don't want to catch three different busses to/from, I don't want to live in the ghetto where I'm locking my door AND pushing my dresser up against it for safety. I don't want to live next to the train tracks or other loud noise public edifice and none of these things can be checked out online.

If you can't afford to go there early and due a hard scout for a few days you might go to roommates .com and find a month to month room for a month or two while you start your job and get a feel for the area. Asking your new fellow employees is going to be a great resource in finding a nice convenient place and you may want to get a place near one of these employees and look into ride sharing or maybe even start at your new place of employment and find a place within walking/biking distance of your job. Many places do not need to advertise vacancies beyond hanging out a sign outside their buildings and you wont find these places till you're there.

[Sonic#]

First, yay on snagging a full time job! That's huge.

As for moving, you've got this. It's important to be careful, but if you plan, you should be okay. When I've moved, I've done what monk has done - gotten a hotel and rental car and plowed through a list of prospective places. I wasn't happy with the place I found last time, but I was okay.

Roommates - I've always been lucky and had a previous connection. You can try livejournal or similar places, where big cities often have groups. It shouldn't be hard to have a phone conversation or Skype with a prospective roommate - keep it simple, jot down things you want in a roommate (cleanliness, not partying every night, whatever). If it does end up being a big enough worry, think about living alone at first under a six month lease so that you can get a feel for the area and meet people.

Online reviews - yes, they're most often bad. Here, complaints about bugs are pretty common, because they are everywhere. That's a low-level complaint - be aware of it, look for it when you visit, but don't panic. Then there are more major things, like if they complain about flooding or break-ins.

Otherwise, I would look at things like nearby grocery stores or the like, neighborhood ambiance (are there lots of kids? Do people typically walk on the streets? Is it well-kept?), and the reputation of nearby establishments (Schools? Churches? Theaters? Bars? Police stations? Bookstores? Coffee shops?). The list you have is already pretty good.

[Mathmo]

Congratulations on the job!!!

Is your employer in a position to give you any information with finding a place to live? There's a job I've applied for where they say "by the way, we'll send you a map of the local area to help you find accommodation, and if you want we can put you in touch with other new employees starting at a similar time to you if you're looking for flatmates" (though obviously that's only applicable if they're hiring several people at once). Also, at interviews I've been at they've sometimes said "people tend to live in [this suburb] or [that suburb], from [this suburb] you can walk to work which is super-convenient, but [that suburb] is cheaper and it's still pretty close" - do you know anything about where your coworkers-to-be live? (presumably they live there for a reason, and if a bunch of people at your work live there it's hopefully not too sketchy).

[Tookie]

I don't have anything else constructive to add, other than because I like living with people, I would look at the rooms for rent section on craigslist before anything else (and I have a few search filters that I use to help find people I think I'll enjoy - I usually try "queer," "rad," and "collective").

But I just wanted to point out how ridiculous this sounds from a North American perspective:

from [this suburb] you can walk to work which is super-convenient, but [that suburb] is cheaper and it's still pretty close

Walking from a suburb? What?!

[Aelwyn]

Definitely find out about your landlord if possible. I ended up with a really dodgy landlord last year. He was renovating the flat below my pals who put me in to contact with him 'cause we needed a place. Ended up not being able to move in until 6 weeks after the "move in date" (because he got in a rage and fired all of his wee helpers), having to go pick up the furniture ourselves and assemble it ourselves (again got in a rage at Ikea, fisticuffs with the manager and was escourted out by security and blacklisted). He also wanted us to pay cash in hand, which we didn't like and protested but he wasn't having any of it. Either that or he chucks us out. The council were at our door on a weekly basis trying to get a hold of him since he didn't have the multiple occupancy license to be renting the flat to us among umpteen other things (made sense that he was also changing his phone number regularly). Sorry for rambling but yeah, check out your landlord first.

[Aum]

If you can find a place that rents month to month, that could be better. It would let you land in the city, start work, get semi-established, and then you could find a better arrangement later; or maybe the temporary place will be just great and you will want to stay there. Either way, I would look for something that does not have a long-term obligation or contract, if it's possible. There is nothing worse than landing in a new place that you know little about, and then feeling trapped. (I speak from experience.)

Find out how old the building is. Unless you're dealing with heritage-type places, older buildings mean potentially more problems. It all depends on how responsible the landlord is about maintaining things though. In my experience most landlords are scum or are neutral at best. Unless their building is reputable they are only going to care that you can pay rent. So judging a place based on their attitude will not be too accurate. DO however judge them based on how they respond to your questions.

I don't know how much stuff you have, but it might be best to find a shared household that is friendly yet transient to temporarily stay at. Monk's idea of finding a hotel is good, but hotels can be pricey. If you can get a room in a shared home it will let you interact with people who are from the area and they can give you advice. IMO networking is the most important factor in finding the right place, especially if the area you're looking in has a housing crunch.

I personally am not one for entering an obligation from afar when I have not even gone there to see the fine details. There are always going to be things left out whether on purpose or not.

[monkeypoop]

Thanks, everybody! I am definitely going to go visit a bunch of places in person before I commit to anything. You've given me some helpful things to ask and look out for.

Also, for anybody else who might be looking for an apartment, this is a great resource that somebody gave me: http://www.padmapper.com/
It basically takes postings on craiglist and other sites, and puts them all on one map for you. You can filter the results by things like price, bedrooms and bathrooms. It's been really helpful for finding available apartments in a specific area.

[helium]

I used padmapper to find my new place! It was awesome. I don't really have much to add, everyone's been pretty thorough, but one thing that might be good is go check out the neighborhood at different times of the day/days of the week and see what its like. Your place might be somewhere that's quiet during the day on a Monday, but maybe it's a big party area all weekend or people are screaming at each other all through weeknights, or maybe a a lot of pan-handlers come in during the day but disappear at night.