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Apartment Renting Guide – 6 Easy Steps to Enhance Your Home Search

Looking for your next home or apartment to rent can be very fun but can also provide you with many challenges as well. This is why I created a short but helpful apartment renting guide to help anyone who might be getting ready to search for homes to rent.

This may be the first time you have ever had to search for South Florida apartments for rent. Even if you have rented homes in the past, it is always helpful to absorb as much knowledge as you can.

In this apartment renting guide, I will just go over some of the “Do’s & Dont’s” when searching for your next home.

  1. Take Time To Read Over The Lease Agreement
  2. Thoroughly Look Over The Home
  3. Don’t Provide False Information
  4. Failure To Take Renters Insurance Seriously
  5. Not Having Financial Agreement In Writing
  6. Not Having an Exit Strategy In Place

Here’s why

Lets go over the reasons why this information is so important to you as a potential renter and how some of these important
steps in this apartment renting guide can help enhance your opportunity to find the perfect home to rent.

Don’t just glance over the lease agreement

There could be some important restrictions in the lease agreement that you need to be aware of.

There could be fees that you are unaware of. There could be a policy that states that there pets are allowed BUT only up to
a certain weight (20 lbs).

One of the biggest concerns when searching for apartments to rent in South Florida is parking.

The last thing you want to do is finally have your heart set on a place to live and there is only one parking spot but you
have two cars.

Recent studies have shown that buying a home may be a better option then renting a home:

While renting can be a solid choice while saving for a down payment, recent findings show that home ownership is still the better deal. The cost of renting is rising faster than any other time in the last six years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while rental inventory stands at a 20-year low. nar.realtor

Look over the home thoroughly

Take the time and look over everything about the home. Make sure that you can see yourself living in this home for quite a while. You don’t want to be paying for a home that you are not happy living in.

Make a list of all the great qualities of the home and compare those qualities to certain things that you may not like about the home. Don’t rush this part of the process.

Don’t provide false information

Honesty is the best policy on this one. Most, if not all associations and landlords will require documentation about the past history of the potential tenant. Don’t worry, you will have to give authorization of any type of background search.

Some of the documents required are:

  1. Background check
  2. Credit report
  3. Proof of income (pay stubs)

These are just some of the documents that are required but if you would like more information please check out my apartment renting checklist.

Its best to be as honest as possible. Be up front and notify the association or landlord that there could be some incidents in the past that they should be aware of. Do the same is you are working with a real estate professional as well.

Do make sure you have an exit strategy

Once you find a place that you can call home you may want to consider having an exit strategy in place for when the lease agreement may be up.

Most of the time the lease agreement will have an option to renew the lease. You may love living in your home and just want to renew the lease.

Totally fine, but life is always changing and your place of employment may offer you a promotion which requires you to relocate. You may want to start saving some money again just in case you have to move.

You may be able to use this to cover the first, last months rent and security payment for the next home you will be moving too.

One important tip in this apartment renting guide is to set up a reminder on your mobile device for when the lease agreement is close to renew or when it ends.

Set up the reminder to be a month or six weeks before the end date of the lease agreement. The reason for this is because if you are going to be moving you will want to give yourself enough time to start your home search again.

More importantly, it usually takes about 4 weeks for rental applications and the screening process to complete.

This is just some of the common requirements that will be needed when searching for your next home. I hope this apartment renting guide was very helpful and if you would like any help finding your next home please feel to contact me below.

Need Some Help With Your Home Search? Let Me Know

Erik Skupeika
CENTURY 21 King Realty
2434 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, FL 33020
1.786.590.9253

Get in Touch