Getting an Apartment from out of state

[cserrah]

Hi all!
Here's the situation. I am moving out of state to attend dental school, but it is to an area I know very little about, and have no connections to. I also won't really have a chance to arrive there before late june/1st of July, which is about 2 weeks before school starts. It would be really cutting it close to just arrive, and THEN do the apartment hunting thing. So my question is, How have people gone about in the past to secure an apartment before arriving to a new place?

I basically want to be able to just move in the day that I arrive at the new location, but I'm not sure how getting a lease is done without being able to look at the apartment first. Im thinking I would have to utilize the internet a lot and would probably need to get a short lease (3 or 6 months). Anyone have any advice or experience with this?

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[Jake8]

In your situation you should probably get in touch with some of the current students to find out where there are some safe options and where other students stay. There always seems to be a facebook group that has other students chiming in with options. I was in your situation moving in last Fall and ended up in a decent cookie cutter place but probably am paying a little more than I should. Now that I know the area obviously I can make a better choice next year.

 

[aries12r40]

I think you can calculate how much it will cost you for an apt hunting trip (i.e. the flight ticket, car rental, and the hotel). Then compare this cost with the amount of extra rent you will be paying for one year because of last-min apartment hunting. If the cost of the extra traveling is higher than the extra rent, then you wait for last min to find your apartment. Otherwise, you should arrange an apartment hunting trip during this period of time so you don't get rip off at the last min.

 

[cserrah]

Thanks for the input! I would really like to go beforehand and apt hunt like you said, but unfortunately it really is not possible in my situation, since I'm on a trip out of the country. The earliest I would be able to get there physically is like i said, mid june or 1st of july, which is a few weeks before school begins! What do people usually do in this situation... should I come staying in a motel the first week then sign a lease? Or is it possible to secure the lease before arriving?

 

[Herme]

When I relocated, I was able to complete all the lease documents by email/fax. I also negotiated with the landlord that my final signature of the lease was subject to my arrival and in-person inspection of the property. I arrived there with my huge truckload of stuff on the appointed day and we actually kind-of waffled a little on whether we wanted to take it, so they gave us a few days to think about it. We ended up changing the lease term from 12 months to 6, and moving in later that day. If I were you, I would try to secure your apartment in a similar manner, that way you can still walk away if you get there and the neighborhood or apartment is less than desirable.

 

[cserrah]

Thanks Herme! Was it at all difficult to find a place willing to go over lease douments by email and fax? And just to be clear you didn't actually put your signature on anything until you arrived or did you sign but with a clause in the lease that said it was subject to arrival and inspection?

 

[Herme]

Thanks Herme! Was it at all difficult to find a place willing to go over lease douments by email and fax? And just to be clear you didn't actually put your signature on anything until you arrived or did you sign but with a clause in the lease that said it was subject to arrival and inspection?

I did not have any problem with the apartment complex. I just explained the situation to them and they were understanding and ready to whatever "bending over backwards" they had to do in order to get me to move there. Pretty much all we had to do was the Apartment application (which for many places is on their website now anyway), and the employment verification. There were some signatures involved, but they are non-binding. Those documents only give the landlord your permission to run the application on you. I don't think there was a background check, but there may have been on the app. You should NOT sign the actual LEASE until after you arrive and inspect the property. As far as the actual Lease docs, you probably won't even see those until you arrive and say "I'll take it" since they have to print info into the lease docs they won't have until the day you are going to sign the lease (eg the move-in date, length of lease).

You probably don't want to have a bunch of places you are holding at arm's length, but if you are serious about the place, I would be surprised if they were unwilling to work with you.

 

[tinman831]

Do NOT sign the lease until you have inspected the apartment/house. Any problems you have, you should bring up to the landlord. Otherwise, once they have your signature, they have little incentive to do any of the repairs you want.

Edit: also depending on what school you're going to, people have to give 1-2 months notice whether or not they want to move out or stay. For popular times for moving such as May (when people are done graduating and moving home) this means apartment complexes are looking for new tenants as early as March or April. March and April are good times to apt hunt for Summer months and June/July are good for fall leases.

 

[Herme]

Do NOT sign the lease until you have inspected the apartment/house. Any problems you have, you should bring up to the landlord. Otherwise, once they have your signature, they have little incentive to do any of the repairs you want.

Reiterating this! I was unclear in my first post and tried to clarify in my second. You can do the application process beforehand, but do NOT sign the lease until after inspection. Good Luck!