• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Why is apartment hunting so difficult?

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Or rather, why are all of these online tools for apartment hunting so useless? This is ridiculous. All these apartment aggregator sites are listing all of these properties regardless of if they actually have vacancies, which means you have to call, email, or use the goddamn "availability" system. But no-one is ever at their phones. Ever. I haven't gotten any calls back from the messages I've left either. Emails are useless, I'm getting no responses there either aside from one company that's been super awesome and unfortunately at the high end of what I'd like to pay. And the goddamn "availability alerts" don't seem to do a damn thing since I'm pretty sure these companies aren't updating their web databases with these sites.

Craigslist is just as bad in a different way. At least you know there's an opening but they only seem to get posted like two weeks out from the move-in date and I'm still having no luck getting responses back from anyone. Why is there all this pretense of contactibility and availability when the entire thing seems so broken?
 
It's pretty hard depending on where you live.

There are real estate agents that specialize in apartments. You shouldn't need to use them, but if you're really having trouble they'll find one for you... even though they'll find one that benefits them more than you, but .. eh, better than finding nothing.
 
The Technomancer said:
Yup. Making calls at the moment actually. No-one ever picks up, and none of the messages I left last week have gotten back to me
Click to expand...

Typically you're not the only one calling - most likely the owner is swamped or they simply already found good potential renters.

Every time I advertize my flat in Montreal, I get an avalanche of emails and phone calls. Lots of people I simply never get back to because of that.
 
I've been going to PadMapper, scoping out what apartments I'd like to move into, and visiting them physically on my lunch break or what have you.

Sending an Email works better than phone calls in my experience. Maybe even higher up on the chain. I've been lucky enough to email regional property managers because they're the only Emails I can find online, and they would not only point me in the direction of someone I can talk to for the property I was looking for, but also hip me to properties that I was not able to find online.

Good luck
 
Was just going to post about PadMapper, it's so great. It basically filters Craigslist ads onto Google Maps for you.

But yes, OP, apartment hunting is the worst thing in the world. I went to an open house for a "meh" place in my town the other day, got there at 3:45pm (it started at 4) and I BARELY beat the first set of folks there.

It's a jungle out there, good luck.
 
It's pretty much a full time job to find a good place in my experience. I feel your pain, man. I do it almost every year, so I know that you gotta kick off the process early, prepare to get a lot of no calls, no shows, and be on the continual hunt for that gem you find, and once you find it grab on it quick and never let go.
 
It's absolutely terrible. In NYC, you pretty much need to decide if you want it on the spot after first seeing an apartment because chances are the apartment will be off the market in the next 24 hours. I remember seeing a couple of apartments in a row with a realtor a few years back, and only 15 minutes after we saw one, another couple made an offer. I had to outbid them to get the space. Happy to say it's been totally worth it.
 
I live in a small city and I have moved 3 times already. The best thing is getting connections. Meet people who live in a nice apartment and are going to move. Walk around frequently where you want to live.

If there is something really nice for a good price on the internet you must be prepared to have a lot of competition.

Might not be a bad idea to start in a crappy place.

I got my first apartment because I knew a student who finished school and her place wasn't used. she had 4 months left on the contract. It was a terrible 25m² box .

My 2nd place I found while walking around. I was the first person to see the paper on the door. It was there for 45minutes.

1 year later I moved to something bigger in the same street. I am always looking around to move somewhere else. Need to upgrade!
 
Also is it at all usual for the payment up front to be the security deposit, last month's rent and first month's rent? I did manage a showing of a place the other day but they were asking for something like a $2000 up-front payment on a $700 space

I seem to recall my current place just being first month's rent and the deposit which was the last month's rent, but that was three years ago so its a bit blurry
 
backflip10019 said:
It's absolutely terrible. In NYC, you pretty much need to decide if you want it on the spot after first seeing an apartment because chances are the apartment will be off the market in the next 24 hours. I remember seeing a couple of apartments in a row with a realtor a few years back, and only 15 minutes after we saw one, another couple made an offer. I had to outbid them to get the space. Happy to say it's been totally worth it.
Click to expand...

NYC is such a scam when it comes to finding places. You have to line everyone's pockets at one point or another. Makes me wanna leave right now.
 
The Technomancer said:
Whyyyy did this never show up in my search for apartment sites? This is a huge help
Click to expand...

Even with Padmapper (which is a nice, helpful app) apartment hunting sucks ass. It just does. It always feels like a crapshoot whether a place is decent or not. So many variables that unless you know someone already living somewhere, it's almost impossible to know the "truth" about a place until after you've moved in.

I just signed on for another year at my place even though I want to move into a bigger place since I just didn't want to do the whole apartment search again.

Don't forget to actually drive/walk around in an area you are looking too, as there are still many places that will just post "for rent" signs that aren't necessarily found online.
 
-griffy- said:
Don't forget to actually drive/walk around in an area you are looking too, as there are still many places that will just post "for rent" signs that aren't necessarily found online.
Click to expand...

I've been doing that heavily as well, but I run into the same issue where they just have the sign our front regardless of if they have any available units or not.
 
The Technomancer said:
Also is it at all usual for the payment up front to be the security deposit, last month's rent and first month's rent? I did manage a showing of a place the other day but they were asking for something like a $2000 up-front payment on a $700 space

I seem to recall my current place just being first month's rent and the deposit which was the last month's rent, but that was three years ago so its a bit blurry
Click to expand...

It varies a lot. Some places are cool with first month + small deposit, some places want 1.5 month deposit, other places want more or less. It varies a lot by region and by specific landlord. I wouldn't sweat that so much unless you don't have the funds, then by all means try talking down the landlord.
 
I just got finished with the long process of finding an apartment and now im working on the much more difficult task of finding a roommate
 
There is room for an Uber or AirBNB style disruptive app here, methinks....
 
Yeah it sucks, but you just have to keep trying. I lucked out. I got my place from a text only Kijiji ad. My landlord is older then dirt so I'm surprised there was even an online ad in the first place.

I would have normally completely ignored a text only ad but I had previously looked at and missed out on an apartment right beside it so I already liked the location and the building looked fine so I checked it out put some money down and had it within an hour of the listing going up.
 
I just called a place, got through to a woman, told her I was interested in property details, got forwarded to another department that rung and rung and wasn't picked up, didn't leave a message because I know how useless that is, tried calling back to ask if I could just be directly connected to someone, and this time no-one picked up
 
boutdown said:
Hmm?
Click to expand...

Maximum income.

It sucks because I'd find a place that has EVERYTHING I am looking for, but the max income for 1 occupant would be something ridiculously low like 32K salary.

The Technomancer said:
I just called a place, got through to a woman, told her I was interested in property details, got forwarded to another department that rung and rung and wasn't picked up, didn't leave a message because I know how useless that is, tried calling back to ask if I could just be directly connected to someone, and this time no-one picked up
Click to expand...

E-Mail!

I'm telling you, the person on the other side is probably talking to someone else or on Facebook or something, but they almost always respond to an Email bomb. Send one every 2 hours or so.
 
When I was looking I knew what area I wanted to live in. I got a list of apartments there and spent a few hours going to each office and seeing an available unit. A few hours later I picked the one I wanted and boom - done and done.
 
friday said:
NYC is such a scam when it comes to finding places. You have to line everyone's pockets at one point or another. Makes me wanna leave right now.
Click to expand...

It sure is. You really have two options when searching: get a realtor and get fucked by an average 1-month/10% of yearly rent finder's fee or search by yourself and get fucked with a shitty apartment. And then there are dozens of random microfees for lead paint, window guards, renewal fees, etc. It's a nightmare. My lease expires this October and I'm dreading the renewal process already.

Not to mention the fact that you need to make something like 40 times the monthly rent in order to rent without a cosigner. And most apartments are $2000/month+ at the very least.
 
The Abominable Snowman said:
E-Mail!

I'm telling you, the person on the other side is probably talking to someone else or on Facebook or something, but they almost always respond to an Email bomb. Send one every 2 hours or so.
Click to expand...

No-one responds to email either, its infuriating. I suppose I could just spam them over and over but then that just seems irritating, and there's more of a record than just missed phone calls
 
Apartment hunting is a stressful, shitty experience for everyone I imagine. The best luck I've had is using Craigslist or Padmapper (which uses Craigslist as one of it's sources I think) and just checked 3 or more times a day to see if there are any new locations available in my price range in the area I want. Then I'll call them immediately and set up a time during lunch or after work to do a viewing.

My current apartment was an AMAZING catch. It was a ~800-900sq/ft basement apartment in a single family house on Capital Hill in Seattle with it's own side door and everything. The price was insanely good for the area (under $1000) in addition to not having to pay for utilities or internet (which if you factor that in makes the rent under $900). The listing went up at like 9PM that night on Craigslist and I immediately emailed them and they called me the next day. They were going to do an open house that Sunday (which I knew was going to be a madhouse), but I convinced them to meet and show it to me on Saturday. I made a good impression and since I was the first to say I'd lease it they went with me.

But yeah, that was 75% luck and 25% looking online at all times outside of work (and sometimes during work, but don't tell!).
boutdown said:
Hmm?
Click to expand...
Nexttothecheddar said:
They have a maximum income? Where do you live because I've never heard of such a thing?
Click to expand...

There are some apartments that cap the max amount their residents can make in on their entry to the apartment complex in order to let lower income people rent out the apartments.

Mine was actually pretty nice (right across the street from Microsoft's campus in Redmond) but still had one with a max of 47K or something like that and just squeaked under it, but once you have the lease you can get a raise or a higher paying new job and not worry about getting kicked out.
 
Nexttothecheddar said:
They have a maximum income? Where do you live because I've never heard of such a thing?
Click to expand...

If a complex takes housing assistance (Which many do because it helps them keep occupancy high and there's a regular check from the government per occupant on assistance) they may reserve many or all of their units for those on housing assistance or classified as low income for the cost of living. They have to keep their rent within a certain range per occupant, and as such they would make a lot less money off of someone who was not on assistance and may lose some tax credits.

With that, they can't charge market rate as well.

The Technomancer said:
No-one responds to email either, its infuriating. I suppose I could just spam them over and over but then that just seems irritating, and there's more of a record than just missed phone calls
Click to expand...

Is there someone you can go higher up on the chain with? Is it in a college town? Are there any variables where you can imagine the place being busy?
 
Get out and pound the pavement. No seriously.

I was trying to find an apartment for the longest time and I was running into the same rotten luck you are. So I just took one free weekend to walk around areas and communities I was interested in living and anytime I saw a sign for an apartment I jot down the number or took a pic with my camera. The next day, I rang up the numbers and had a handful of showings from a bunch of people that just put up signs and didn't bother to go on craigslist or if they did, they never re posted thinking that someone would eventually find the original.

Good luck and godspeed OP, but I honestly 100% believe that the best way to find a great apartment is walk around.
 
It got to the point where I hated apartment hunting so much as I was trying to finish graduate school and getting things in line for my new job, that I evaluated my job security, looked at my salary, potential debt, and monthly bills and said "screw it" and started looking at buying a house.

Even that was a terribly messy process, but I knew that I wouldn't get taken for a ride and that I would pay less in a mortgage than I would in rent at the places I was looking at.

Evaluate your options, your lifestlye, and your career goals. Apartments are often sinkholes where you throw money away for little in return. There are some, however, that might be worth the "investment". Good luck wading through the BS.
 
PadMapper has worked great for me. It aggregates a lot of listings from Craigslist too which seems to get a lot more people that actually want to communicate about their vacancies.

HotPads is also good. Very similar.

I've moved twice to towns I couldn't visit personally in the last year due to distance and I've got two decent apartments.
 
The Technomancer said:
Also is it at all usual for the payment up front to be the security deposit, last month's rent and first month's rent? I did manage a showing of a place the other day but they were asking for something like a $2000 up-front payment on a $700 space

I seem to recall my current place just being first month's rent and the deposit which was the last month's rent, but that was three years ago so its a bit blurry
Click to expand...

I had to. When I moved into my new place, I had to put down almost 2500 dollars upon signing the lease for first, last and deposit. It was a huge crunch to my wallet at the time. But it's been pretty standard with every good apartment I've been in. The last place I was in was first and security, which was way less than normal, but still felt off.
 
Nexttothecheddar said:
They have a maximum income? Where do you live because I've never heard of such a thing?
Click to expand...

Many properties in cities require that X percentage of units in a property need to be rented to people with a maximum income of something low, like say twice the poverty line. If you -- as a tenant -- qualify you effectively have your rent paid by the government up to $2,200/mo. The perk for property owners is that the government will pay for units as long as they are rented to those people who qualify. The downside is for people who are over that line, like in this case, $32,000/year but still can't afford expensive housing, it can make it very difficult to find housing at certain times of the year.

Many of these programs are under Section 8 of the public housing code, so they're called "Section 8 properties," but there are other city, state, and federal programs that provide the same:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_8_(housing)
 
My lease is coming up soon for my apartment and I have problems with 1 of the 2 roommates I share the apartment with.

I don't want to even think about the dread ill be going through when I have to find a new place to live in a couple months.
 
I feel for you man. I live in the grey area where I make a good living wage but not enough to afford the nicer complexes in town. The complexes aren't allowed to tell you their percentage of section 8 housing, but I'd say it's a good 50/50 split in my complex.

I'm getting really tired of having my shit stolen.

Before you sign any lease, go to your prospective complex at night to make sure security gates (if any) are actually closed, and see what kind of environment it has. Same goes for weekends. Don't just coast through, park your car and take a short walk around the place.
 
It's not? For my current appartment, I post an ad on kijiji saying that I wanted a loft in the exact same building with a terrace for no more than a fixed amount. Three hours later I was visiting the place.

Why would you look for an appartment when owners are the one up to make money? Make them do an offer.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Why the f is Reddit so rigid?
2 3
113
4K
Toots replied
Why is the history of the Korean War shrouded?
23
719
Wildebeest replied
  • Locked
Why Is Suicide So Stigmatized?
2
68
5K
ThisIsMyDog replied
One of the planet’s biggest cities is sinking so rapidly it’s visible from space
12
273
winjer replied
MilitaryGAF , why did you join?
13
424
Meicyn replied
Top Bottom