Conquering the Overwhelming Nature of Apartment Shopping

Summer is here and apartment shopping season has begun. While the kids are out of school, many families jump at the chance to relocate without the inconvenience of having to deal with school transfers. Executives from across the country and abroad are arriving in new cities for temporary and permanent work assignments. College students, fresh from graduation, are moving to cities that offer the best career opportunities for new grads. All of these individuals are searching for an apartment, which is not always the easiest task. In fact, it can be quite overwhelming!

The reality of apartment shopping? Being inundated with 100’s of web listings and printed advertisements, filled with colorful marketing strategies and an extensive list of the amenities that you simply CAN’T live without (at least according to the apartment manager). Online reviews can add to the frustrations, as you try to decipher which reviews are real and which are fake.

When Every Apartment Starts to Look Alike…

Apartment communities like to brag about their “resort style pools” and “state-of-the-art fitness centers.” They all claim to have the best location and the happiest residents, but how can you be sure that a particular community is really the right fit for you?

When your search becomes a blur, focus on picking the area of town you want to live in, with your commute time to work or school playing a key role. Then, eliminate any results that don’t stand up to this review. Now, map out the winners and spend the day apartment shopping in-person.

Totally Stumped? Tips for Choosing Your New Apartment

You’ve done the research and gone on the tours. When all of the potential apartments have a similar size, location and price, how do you pick? Here are three quick tips to help relieve the burden:

1. What kind of lifestyle do the current residents have? Are they major partiers? Night owls? Ask your leasing team to talk about the places residents at the apartment community frequent. And if it’s important to you, ask if there are any opportunities for on-site get-togethers and parties with your neighbors.
2. What sets this apartment community apart from their competitors in the area? For example, do they accept packages on your behalf and alert you when a delivery has arrived?
3. Where did you feel at home? Did you like the community team members who provided your tour? Ask to meet the rest of their team and ask them a few questions. Treat it like a job interview. You’re the boss!

At each step of your apartment shopping journey, ApartmentSearch can help. How? One: our Destination Services team has a variety of tools to help make the relocation process easier for busy professionals. Two: our online search engine can help narrow your apartment list to only the options that match your criteria. Three: we can even help get you some, or all, of the furniture you need to turn your new apartment into your new home. All of this and more (including a potential $200 reward) awaits you at www.apartmentsearch.com. Stop feeling overwhelmed and let us start doing the work for you!