Close a lease long-distance, or narrow and leap?

February 19, 2008 7:05 PM

How do I find an apartment long-distance with very limited time and funding? Should I try to close long-distance on a place with reasonable location and price? Or reduce the field to a small number, take the leap, and hope for a quick closing while living in a motel?

In four weeks, I'll be a full-time professional making reasonable money for my education and experience. But currently, I'm a half-time wage slave struggling to heal some bad credit (not credit card abuse) while earning well below the poverty line. We have barely enough savings to make 2 1/2 payments on a cheap apartment within a reasonable walking distance to work. We have one very beat-up and not very dependable truck that my partner needs here. We have very good relationships with relatives who could, if we asked, painfully scrape together some, but not a lot of additional funds provided I pay them back once I start getting regular paychecks from the new job. The new employer is not offering relocation assistance.

Assets I do have: a reasonably well-fiting suit, colleagues willing to give me character references, and a letter saying that I have been hired at a yearly salary far exceeding my current one, and a willingness to live with an air mattress, a chair, and a pot for a few weeks. Going through craigslist and some other sources, it looks like I have at least a half-dozen good candidates, more if I consider "no pets."

So, what is the best way for me to fill my rather modest shelter needs and get to work on time?

posted by anonymous to work & money (6 comments total)

"Closing" usually refers to buying a house, and it sounds like what you want to do is rent and apartment.

I'd never rent an apartment sight unseen, but this might make sense in some parts of the US. It might be helpful to know what city you are moving to.

I've never had trouble finding a rental that was available immediately for deposit and first month's rent. This is not the case everywhere. In some areas it is common practice to go through a credit check, provide references, and pay first, last, and deposit. This would be more than the 2 1/2 payments you have budgeted, and you still wouldn't have enough money to get the utilities turned on.
posted by yohko at 7:50 PM on February 19

an apartment
posted by yohko at 7:51 PM on February 19

Where are you moving to? Big city? College town?

I'm in grad school, and when I was looking for apartments, I was probably earning similarly low wages and had very little savings. While I can't say that I had bad credit, I probably had very little credit history (one credit card + cell phone). I am not sure how the rest of the world works, but most apartments either require a deposit of just one month's rent or first/last month's rent. So I think you should be able to make a deposit.

I was fortunate enough to be able to come down and look for apartments, but I did A LOT of research online ahead of time and called ahead to a few places. I think even in the last 4 years since I was doing the long-distance move thing the online apartment search has boomed. Even though I was able to come down, many many international students rent either sight unseen or crash with a friend for a few weeks until they get settled.

Possibilities:
-Find a month-to-month place to rent, and if it sucks you can always find something better 6 months down the road.
-Ask, ask, ask your future colleagues or the HR person at your new work. Hopefully they will have some relocation information for you. This will be your #1 resource for finding decent landlords, people who need a subleaser, escaping total slums. Maybe someone even has a room to rent for a few months until you get it figured out for the long-term.
-Local chamber of commerce or local rental association may have some information for you.
-At least in my town, craigslist is not a huge asset for apartment locating. However, since I live in a college town the housing is plentiful, much of it new, on good bus routes, and somewhat overpriced for being in the middle of the midwest. But every rental agency in this town has its own website with the most up-to-date listings/lease details, and I probably bookmarked 20 such sites last time I was looking for apartments. Websites like Apartments.com, etc are good jumping off points for finding the actual websites for the property management. I have no idea how it is in "big" cities since I have really only looked for apartments in college towns/suburban areas.

Good luck!
posted by sararah at 7:55 PM on February 19

I rented an apartment sight unseen in Chicago while living in NY. I asked the one person who I knew in Chicago if it was a reasonable area and place. He said yes. I signed for one year. Just pull the trigger.

By the way, my friend rented an apartment in the same building a month later.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:47 PM on February 19

There was some question on here recently (last 2 months) that involved a Craigslist scam where the person rented an apartment sight unseen and lost her deposit. So, beware of that.

I moved to a small town with nothing but what I had in my car. Lived in a motel for a week, found an apartment the next week. I knew beforehand that I wasn't going to live in it forever, and I was prepared to deal with not-quite-perfect for a year.

You don't say how far away you're moving. Can you take a trip to the new city to apartment hunt? Can you go through a broker (apparently this is common in big cities like NYC; I have no direct experience)?
posted by desjardins at 7:22 AM on February 20

This is about the perfect opportunity to use an apartment broker—someone who's reputable and can look for a place for you without you being there.

Also, if you know someone in the new place, get them to take a look for you. None of the leads worked out, but I was really glad to have some pals scouting for me here in LA. Too bad they all wanted me to live in Burbank.
posted by klangklangston at 1:22 PM on February 20