Application, pre-lease and lease questions

[MPPgal]

So I do not get this in my country you look at an apartment, give an offer, they accept it, you sign a contract pay a 1 month rent fee as security deposit and when you move out you get that back. In here I don´t get it. What is an application fee? Do you get that money back if you do not get an apartment? What is a pre-lease? What is the difference between that and a lease? If I am international and do not have a credit report or security one, how do I go about it? HEEEEELLLLLPPPP

[ZacharyObama]

An application fee is a fee charged by the renter to simply process your application and no you do not get that money back - it's generally used to cover the renters overhead and cost for a credit report and a background check on you. By pre-lease they generally mean that they will hold the apartment for you for a fee (sometimes refundable). In short, the rental process in America sucks. Is this some sort of student oriented housing or a major apartment complex? These are all things generally done by corporate type places so if you rent from an individual landlord you probably won't have this sort of stuff to go through. They're mostly looking to see that you're not in significant financial trouble and are not a criminal, but if you have no credit history then I'm not quite sure how that works.

Edited April 22, 2013 by ZacharyObama

[MPPgal]

Okie, so I better get a realtor before and go through him instead of applying directly.....it is so complicated!

[ZacharyObama]

You don't need a realtor, you just might want to shop around.