When/how to start apartment hunting?

[utsusemi]

April 15th has come and gone, and I finally know where I'll be next year. The university offers housing to all first-year grad students, but I'm moving with my boyfriend and we're not married, so it's not an option for us. This means we need to find an apartment off-campus, on our own.

I've never moved long distance (well, not when I had more than a suitcase worth of stuff going with me), and am a little stuck on the logistics of it all. I woudn't want to rent a place sight unseen, which means househunting in person. We also have a small apartment's worth of possessions to take with us. If we paid a moving company to move it, that would solve part of the puzzle--we could pack everything up and then just leave it and drive down to start searching unencumbered by trailers etc--but it would also set a very firm deadline for finding and being able to move into a place.

Can anyone who's done this before suggest the order of operations that worked for you? I'm moving to LA, not a small college town, so I don't have to deal with (or alternately, take advantage of) the need to rent in April to have a place in September.

[aginath]

It's never too soon to start looking, especially since you know you're moving there. I lived in one college town for 16 years and moved to another one 900 miles away. Something that shocked me about Athens (where I moved to) is that they pre-lease for Fall in March! And while I was looking online at various listings, I absolutely would not sign a lease sight unseen. So, I was limited to what would be available in late July and that I could see in early June when I visited. That created a rather narrow window and short list for me. That said, you're moving to LA. Options will be wildly varied. Perhaps you should visit the to see how others heading there are going about the housing search.

[pea-jay]

I've done this before on a few occasions.

Option 1: Visit LA a month before you want to rent and try to line up a place. It may be a little pricey on the budget but if you can swing it you could line something up before you move.

Option 2: If you cannot visit ahead of time and have paid movers to move your stuff you could travel ahead and try and line something up. If you can't you do have the option of putting your stuff in a storage unit and finishing the search on your own pace. We've done that on more than one occasion as things seldom line up that quickly. Storage rooms are relatively cheap ways to park your stuff securely while you finish up your search. In the meantime, check out short-term furnished rentals, corporate apartments, or if you are strapped for cash and dont have anyone to stay with, look up on craigslist for people who are letting out their apartment while they are traveling or away for the summer.