Tips for Choosing the Right Apartment

Choosing the right apartment can be challenging, especially since there are many factors to take into consideration. Here are three tips to help your search.

1. Limit the number of apartments you visit in one day. You may devote an entire day to apartment shopping and look at 10 or 15 possible choices. But with so many visits in one day, the apartments may begin to look alike, and it may become difficult to remember ones that meet your needs. Go slow and break up your search. Visit two or three apartments a day, take notes, and then weed out complexes based on your needs.

2. Take a friend with you. It’s hard to be objective when you’re eager to move out on your own. To avoid a hasty, unwise decision, bring a friend or parent as you visit apartments. Get this person’s opinion. This provides an extra set of eyes to point out things you might overlook.

3. Create a needs checklist. What are you looking for in an apartment? If you don’t know what you want, you might settle for anything. For example, do you want a balcony? Do you want to live on the first or second floor? How many bedrooms do you need? What amenities do you find appealing?

(Photo attributed to Flickr member @Goosefriend via the Creative Commons license.)