Maybe you’ve just gotten a new job, or you’ve just graduated from college and need a place of your own. Perhaps your current residence has turned into a hub of snoopy or noisy neighbors. These being just a tip of the iceberg, there are so many things that may prompt you to look for a new apartment. And whether you’re looking to buy one or you need a rental house, finding a new apartment can sometimes be a real hassle.
Even though the internet has made things quite easy these days, it is still possible to hit a rock when hunting for an apartment online. For starters, you may be presented with so many options such that it can get easily confusing. Additionally, finding the perfect apartment can take a great deal of your time and effort, which is not a luxury that most of us happen to have.
So What’s an Ideal Apartment?
The ideal apartment is one whose rent you will easily afford to raise each month. It should be located in a neighborhood that is safe and calm. The location should also be convenient for you and your lifestyle. For instance, you don’t want an apartment from which you have to drive miles away to and from work. It should also provide you with easy access to basic amenities. Public amenities and utilities such as schools, market places, and health care facilities should not be too far.
The perfect apartment should also be in great condition in terms of cleanliness, and maintenance. You don’t want to rent an apartment that has some features that are not working. Things such as leaky plumbing, broken electrical wires or clutter all around can be an outright turn off. In some cases, you find that the apartment complex has poor management or the landlord is so kettle-handed that they want to do everything DIY. Jeff Bacheller of 719Rent.com says that although there are some projects that are perfectly suited for DIY, certain home projects like electrical work, gas appliances, and plumbing should be left to professionals. In other words, you would have to ensure that even these things are checked before you get an apartment to guarantee that it is in great condition and is well-maintained.
As you can see, there’s so much to consider when finding an apartment, which makes it a bit of a challenge when hunting for one online. This is mainly because not all online sources will provide you with all this information. This having been said, here are some five easy ways apartment hunters can use to find the ideal apartment online.
1. Use Craigslist
While sometimes the site is often criticized in the movies, craigslist is one of the best places for apartment hunters. One thing about craigslist is that placing ads is absolutely free. On the site, you will find bunches of ads on items for sale, jobs, services, and, of course, housing. You can easily find listings for rental apartments, with details such as monthly rent, location, photos, and other specifics about the apartment depending on what the advertiser included when placing the ad. However, you will want to be extremely cautious on this site as housing scams are not an uncommon thing here.
2. Look at Apartment Listing Websites
Apartment listing websites are one of the best ways to search for rental apartments online. There are quite a number of them, some of which are specific to certain regions. Some popular examples include the following:
- ApartmentGuide.com: It is one of the most popular sites for apartment hunters out there. You can search for listings by location, neighborhood, and even apartment type. The site has a great user interface and provides you with a substantial amount of information regarding the listed apartments.
- Hotpads: This is another feature-rich site that gives not only provides you with numerous listings, but it also includes a map of the area you may be interested in. Your search is made easier by the many built-in features, including apartment type, price range, number of baths, and so forth. What’s more, it also features photos in Google Street View.
- Rent.com: You’ve probably come across this one already. Rent.com is a popular apartment listing site that provides a wide range of search parameters to simplify your search process. You can even search by pet-friendliness, featured utilities, and much more. To start your search, all you need is enter the name of the city you’re interested in, a neighborhood or ZIP.
These being only a few examples, there are dozens of apartment listing sites out there that you may want to know about. With PadMapper being a good example, some of them even provide listings from a collection of other websites, which provides the apartment hunter with a wider variety of options to choose from. Other notable mentions include apartments.com, MyNewPlace, and move.com.
3. take Advantage of Apartment Review Websites
Reviews are among the best sources of resourceful information that shoppers or internet users use to know more about a particular product or service before making a purchase. And if you guessed right, apartment review websites are available too. Most of them provide reviews on some of the most popular property management companies, apartments, property complexes and much more. When finding a new apartment online, sites such as Apartment Ratings can be a great source of enlightenment.
4. Use Your Smartphone
Thanks to technology, that little device that you carry along everywhere you go can help you find the perfect apartment for you even if you’re new in the city. You can tap into your smartphone GPS and locate the various apartments nearby. As a matter of fact, a simple search on your android phone’s Google Maps will give you a list of rental apartments and exactly where they are located along with tips on ways to get there. There are also many apartments for rent app that you can download and use in your search, including some from property listing websites.
5. Look into Property Management Company Sites
If you know of a popular property management site in the area you’re interested in, one of the easiest ways to find your ideal apartment is to visit their site and see what they have to offer. If you don’t know of one, you can use google search and get a list of about three of the best ones. From there, you can compare and contrast to narrow down your options and choose the one that provides your ideal kind of apartment.
In summary, searching for an apartment is not the easiest of things. The internet makes it a bit less complicated, but only if you know where to look and the best way to go about it. Using the above effortless ways when finding an apartment for rent will not disappoint you or take much of your time.
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