Apartment hunting

For many years, Rent.com and Apartment Finder have been my best friends when it comes to finding a new home. Recently, I returned to Los Angeles to begin my Master program at USC. I literally did all my packing in Virginia in 3 days prior to my flight back to Los Angeles, a day before the semester began. So as you can see, I am in desperate need to find a place and settle.

Rent.com is a free of charge service, and a great resource for people looking for apartments. They provide photo images, property specs, apartment amenities, maps/directions, and floor plans. In addition, you can check the availability online and send direct messages to agents through Rent.com. Once you sign a lease, contact Rent.com to let they know about your recent move-in and they will send you a $100 dollar Visa card. Pretty awesome right? Only negative side, is that since this is a 3rd party site, it may not be able provide the most up-to-date details on special offers.

Side note: Be nice to the leasing agents! Sure, they are there purely to sell. However, they are also your soon to be next door neighbor, and/or manager of the community so don't burn bridges. When looking for apartments, always always try and maximize the amount of rent reductions/move-in costs you can get! Let them know your budget situation, and they may sometimes offer you a better deal or negotiate with you. Leasing agents usually won't bring this up, but you can get multiple reductions. For example, let your leasing agent know that you used Rent.com and you will receive $100 from Rent.com. Then, if you know of anybody that has lived, currently lives, or plans to live - use that as an advantage! Try to work out a referral deal. Leasing agents often times also has connections/hook-ups with cable companies.

Apartment Ratings reliable or not? Prior to and post visiting an apartment, I will check on this site to verify and see if this place is legitimate. However, over time I have come to realize that these ratings should be recognized as a precautionary rather as a determination for your decision making. Here are a list of things I suggest you consider:

1) They are all bad reviews! Rating after rating I have read and reviewed, and it seemed almost only 1 of 10 comments posted are positive. Why is this? People have the tendency to complain and speak out more due to a bad service than when they have experienced something average or good.

2) Give the apartment the benefit of doubt. I have reviewed apartments from different management properties and price ranges, and even luxury complexes receive their share of complaints. When you eat at a restaurant, you may complain and the restaurant server/manager can turn this mistake around to you all within 10 minutes. I believe apartment communities are a lot more complex in its operation and management. What I am trying to say is that, when you make a complaint to the community manager, it is usually a problem that they will take some time from 1 week up to 2-3 months. If the complaint is about a certain staff or maintenance problem some months ago, chances are the corrections have already been made.

3) Remember that user reviews are subjective. In other words, what is clean to you (even if you are hygienic, but you leave clothes here and there), may seem filthy to another person. Someone who grew up in the city may think music coming from the next door neighbor is small distraction, and vice versa.

4) Number of reviews. This is basic statistics. The more reviews you see the more reliable and accurate the data/information. This meaning that if you see 5 negative comments, you probably are only seeing a small portion of people complaining.

My own happy note: Honest, good people still come around! I lost my iPhone yesterday at a local Vietnamese restaurant called Trieu Chau (which by the way is very good - see reviews from Yelp!), thinking I for sure would not get it back. Turns out, the server turned it in for Lost and Found. Thank you, thank you!

Reference: Are Apartment Ratings Services a Reliable Source?