Hey y’all! Last week my [future] roommate and I went apartment hunting in the Washington DC area! It was so much fun and I’m excited that we found a place to call home for the next year.
I always lived on campus in college, so I was a little overwhelmed at first. Now that we’ve signed our lease and I’ve had a chance to reflect on my experience, here are my dos and don’ts of apartment hunting so that you’re 100% prepared to find a new home!
Apartment Hunting Dos
* Make a list of everything that you want in an apartment. Make sure to jot down your price range, move-in date, location preference, and bed/bath preference, as well as any “extras” (balcony, updated kitchen, close to subway, etc).
Then go through and make sure you know which of your “must-haves” are more important than the others. Could you live without an updated kitchen if the apartment was really close to shops and restaurants? These are things to think about!
* Use multiple apartment-search websites, as well as plain old Google. We mainly used Zillow and apartments.com. Also, make sure to look in neighborhoods around your target area; I know we almost missed a bunch of great places that were only 1-2 Metro stops away.
* Schedule a tour. While sometimes you can drop in (we did this for a few apartments), you never know what availability the managers will have.
Also, try to schedule tours of places that are in the same location so you can park your car once and walk between apartments.
* Bring a notebook/folder with you. Make sure to write down info that the manager gives you as well as your thoughts about the apartment and any questions you might have after the tour.
A folder can keep any handouts nice and orderly and not crumpled at the bottom of your purse.
* Do debrief after each apartment tour. Much like college tours, all of the tours will start to blend together. Write down what you liked, what you didn’t like, and update your “must-have” list accordingly.
Debriefing is also a great excuse to check out cute cafes or restaurants in the area!
Apartment hunting Don’ts
* Don’t schedule too many tours in one day. I would schedule 4 tours max in one day!
* Don’t look at apartments you can’t afford. Much like the women of “Say Yes to the Dress” who try on dresses over their budget, you will fall in love with a more expensive place if you give yourself the chance to look at it. Stick to your budget, and dream big for the next apartment!
* Don’t rush into signing. You’ll probably get a lot of calls/emails from the managers after the tour, or they may pressure you to sign as soon as the tour is over. Don’t be intimidated! Take your material home, review it all, create a pros/cons list and then make a decision.
This is going to be your home for the next year, so you want to make the best decision possible!
So those are my dos and don’ts for apartment hunting! I kind of have a new respect for the people on House Hunters who I used to ridicule all the time. It’s all about compromise and knowing what’s important to you! Have you gone apartment hunting before? How was your first time living in an apartment? Let me know in the comments!
