Finding an apartment in a faraway location?

[Gwen in VA]

How do you find an apartment when you live thousands of miles away from where you are moving?

 

This can't be an uncommon problem! I just have no idea how to approach the problem.

 

Ds says that he cannot find reviews of apartments, and he is reluctant to sign a rental agreement not having either seen the apartment or read any reviews. The company he will be working for is quite large, so he can't just call up and say, "Hi, I need help finding an apartment."

 

Since the vacancy rate for where he is moving is really low, I think he should have an apartment before he relocates so he can avoid living in an overly-priced hotel for months on end.

 

He is planning on both settling on a rental and buying a car in the two weeks he will be there before he starts his job. Yikes! I'm getting stressed thinking about it. Is it common to move to an area and THEN find a place to live?

 

Any suggestions? (Or do I just need to chill?)

[Guest]

When I moved from CA to ID with just what I could pack in the car with DS (who was 1 at the time), I called a apt management company that had an apartment in my price range, looked at the pictures online and did some googling for that general area and just went ahead and put a deposit down sight unseen.  I figured that even in nice complexes there is always a risk of bad neighbors or unhelpful managers.  When I did want to move before my lease was over, I found a couple on craigslist who qualified to take over my lease - I just forfeited my deposit.  That's always an out in case it turns out to be a very bad rental. 

I wouldn't worry too much about it; just do as much researching as you can, but a good apartment is really luck of the draw.

[chiguirre]

When we moved to Houston, we looked at all the big apartment complexes in the area of the boys' school and found a couple of decent options. Because they are usually more expensive than individual landlord's properties they often have vacancies. There's also some quality assurance in a complex that's managed by a big company. They're cookie cutter but they aren't likely to be horrible. We found a place in 1 day. We moved 2 months later, but we could have moved in within a couple of weeks.

 

Is your son going to stay in a suite motel that includes a kitchen? That makes living there a bit more manageable physically if not financially for 4 to 6 weeks while he gets everything done.

Edited December 17, 2015 by chiguirre

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I think it is totally appropriate to ask for suggestions in where to look for an apartment.  We move every couple years and I'm always asking people what parts of town we should start looking in.  Especially when different neighborhoods have little names that make sense to people living there, but not to anyone living far away.

 

If he has contacts within the company, he could send them a brief email saying that he's looking at apartments, but isn't sure of rush hour traffic patterns in the area and can they suggest some areas he should look in.  It helps if he specifies if he is single or married, looking for an apartment or house, has pets or has school aged kids.  

 

If he isn't comfortable asking the company, then ask your Facebook friends or ask on the board here.  

[SebastianCat]

It sounds like he's not very stressed about it, so I would try not to take it upon yourself to figure it out for him.    How old is he?   In his 20s?  Single?   Probably no big deal to move, stay in a hotel for 2 weeks, and take care of both the apartment and the car in that time.    Honestly, if he's going there two weeks prior to starting a job, he should have plenty of time since he won't be working all day and then looking for a place to live.

 

It would drive me crazy if I was the one moving with no apartment lined up ahead of time, but this sounds like one of those things that I would need to consciously back off and let my child figure it out for himself (...much easier said than done, I know).

[vonfirmath]

How do you find an apartment when you live thousands of miles away from where you are moving?

 

This can't be an uncommon problem! I just have no idea how to approach the problem.

 

When we moved WA to TX, I took a trip a month ahead of time to work with an apartment locator. We went and toured several complexes and I put in an application for one I really liked. We moved into that apartment when we moved in.  (If they had not been able to tell me right away I got the apartment, I probably would have kept looking and had back ups available.)  Before taking this trip, I knew our price range we could afford and where we wanted to visit a church.

[Gwen in VA]

Good points all. Thanks!

[ThisIsTheDay]

apartments.com.  I love this. I was able to look at apartments with a friend, and she was 3000 miles away!

 

Additionally, if the company is large, he certainly can expect to contact HR and ask. This would not be an unusual question, as they obviously are large enough to deal with employees relocating.  His company might have an agreement with a local apartment locator service.

 

 

[J-rap]

There are apt. sites online, such as Air BnB and VRBO (both with reviews).  Also, Tripadvisor sometimes lists apts. and gives reviews as well.  My dd recently relocated to a small town in France for the year, for a job.  In the end, it was easier for her to just book a temporary place and look for a more permanent spot once she got there.

 

We've rented an apt. overseas, and found a local website with apt. listings.  They were were short-term (3 months).  I figured out how to research the neighborhoods they were in, etc., to at least know if it was a safe location.  Also, sometimes realtors have rental listings on their websites and can be very helpful to work with.