How to pass an apartment open house/interview (late in the game)

[maelia8]

I was overseas until a week ago, and have been trying unsuccessfully for two months to rent a place without physically being in the city where I'm going to live. Now that I'm finally in the USA, it's become clear to me that the only way I'm going to get a rental contract in the incredibly competitive environment of the city I'm moving to is to head down there in person next week and crash with friends until I have a place nailed down.

 

Since I'm hoping to make this short and sweet (if possible, 5 days or less, because I don't have the money to hang around indefinitely), does anybody have advice on setting up viewing appointments in advance to maximize time, or how to successfully navigate the whole open house/interview process which seems to be the norm where I'm going due to competition? I want to make sure that my apartment-hunting visit is a success, since I have to move down there in a month maximum.

 

Thanks for any advice!

[perpetuavix]

I spent all of yesterday viewing apartments after my husband made all the appointments two hours apart: it takes about 15 minutes to see an apartment. Leave yourself a little time to travel and park, but you can easily make an appointment every hour and still have time to kill. 45 minutes is probably the right amount of time between appointments. 

In terms of getting an apartment, show up prepared. I've gone to every viewing with a folder with all my documentation: my offer letter, bank statements (I'm using my savings for income verification), a past credit check, and tax forms. So far, I haven't needed this stuff because I haven't like anywhere enough to submit an application. But if the market moves fast, you need to be prepared to move. Get a very specific answer about if they take multiple applications, and how they prioritize them if they do. Some places only take one, which is great if it's you! But if you're competing with people, know your position. If you have excellent credit, say so! (Especially good if you have a credit report to back this up). If you have savings that you can put down another month's rent, say so! These are things that can make you stand out from other application. if you don't have either of those things, maybe you can ask your previous landlord for a glowing recommendation? That might help (but let's be real, not as much as money does). 

Apartment searching is a close second to the awful-ness of physically moving, so good luck! 

[seeingeyeduck]

We are looking too and what we realized is you have to sell yourself to the landlord by highlighting your good points (ie quiet, more mature than undergrads, long term lease since you'll definitely be in the area for years for school...) and just being professional and personable. And if you really like a place, say so and be willing to move in ASAP or on their schedule. They'll always take the ones who are wiling to move in fast unless they have terrible credit or something.

[ProfLorax]

All good suggestions so far! I haven't been apartment hunting in ages, but I recently went along with my friend to give her moral support. In addition to what has already been suggested, I have a few more recommendations.

 

Bring along a checkbook. Many landlords and property management companies require an application fee (to cover the cost of a credit check). Cash works too, but at least with check, you have a record of payment. 

 

Also bring along the contact info of any references you have. Some apps ask for two to four references, and usually you only need a name and phone number. If you have a co-signer, though, you may also need their social security number, as the landlord will often also run their credit report. 

 

Don't lie about being a grad student, but don't oversell it either. My friend thought her grad student status would make her a desirable tenant because it demonstrated responsibility. But really, most people just think of self-imposed poverty and don't know that many of us receive a paycheck. She got more positive responses when she changed gears and played up her current job (which she is leaving in a few months) and her high credit score. She never lied about being a future grad student; she just framed her qualifications differently. 

 

And I have to echo seeingeyeduck: if you find your dream place, be willing to put a deposit and first month's rent ASAP. You don't need to physically move in right away, but landlords want as much money as quickly as possible, so having the funds ready to go can really push you to the top of the list. 

[TakeruK]

I agree with all of the above. When I moved across Canada for my MSc and then to California for my PhD, my spouse and I flew out to our new city ahead of time and stayed for 3-5 days, with the goal of signing a lease at that time. It worked both times and all of the tips above are great. Let's see what I can add....

 

1. Know how the lease cycles work in your new city. At MSc school city, tenants must give notice to vacate 60 days ahead of time--so the ideal time to visit for apartment hunting is 60 days ahead of move in date!

 

2. I agree with the "don't oversell grad student" thing. In every case, when the landlord asked what I would be doing in terms of employment, I said I would be a researcher at University X. They ask how much that pays and when I tell them my stipend, they don't really care whether I am a "student" or not. If you are doing an international move, you will have to tell them you're a student right at the beginning because you need to explain why you don't have a SSN and why you don't have any US credit and why you are in the US! 

 

3. Definitely bring a chequebook and all of your paperwork. A copy of your offer letter from your school stating your stipend. Your last paystub. If you can, print out a copy of your credit report too (especially if you are not from the US and can get a credit report from your home country); it can help and also show that you know what you are doing. If you are moving with someone else, have all of this ready for the other person too. If you are an international student, bring a copy of your I-20/DS-2019 etc too.

 

4. Scheduling viewings. We start calling up potential places to view a few days before we leave and we basically set them up so that the viewings are 1-2 hours apart. You don't want to be late for one because the last viewing was really intriguing and you spent more time there. You also don't want to be rushed either! There will be other places where you are not able to reach the landlord / not able to schedule a viewing. We visit these places in the case where one apartment we saw was really crappy and our next one was not for another 2 hours. Then, that was a good time to just drop in (or try to call first) on one of the unscheduled viewings. During these visits, we are basically either looking at apartments or scheduling other appointments! We can usually fit in about 6 apartments per day and both times it took us about 10-15 viewings before we found the one we liked and was affordable!

 

5. Oh one last thing--if you only have a few days, make them weekdays, not weekends. Many apartment landlord companies are not open on weekends (or not open on Sunday) and that's a waste of a day. Or you might have to call your bank or something and they might not be open. I would probably arrive on a Sunday evening and start looking Monday morning! If you have time to stay the whole week, I'd use the weekend / last few days for fun things and to get to know the city better too.

Edited July 14, 2014 by TakeruK

[maelia8]

Thanks for all of the great advice, folks! I'll be heading down tomorrow or Thursday (6 hour drive from current location), and I'll be bringing as many of these recommended documents with me as I can. Unfortunately, I've only ever lived in university dorms or with my parents and don't have any previous landlords that I can ask for a character reference Would it make sense to bring my banking and pay records since they are all in another language? 

[TakeruK]

Thanks for all of the great advice, folks! I'll be heading down tomorrow or Thursday (6 hour drive from current location), and I'll be bringing as many of these recommended documents with me as I can. Unfortunately, I've only ever lived in university dorms or with my parents and don't have any previous landlords that I can ask for a character reference Would it make sense to bring my banking and pay records since they are all in another language? 

 

If you have time, you could do the following:

 

1. Bring a record of all your previous addresses, including your parents' places and dorms--most US applications ask for this.

2. Translate the banking/pay records yourself -- it won't be "official" but that could be enough for them to at least initially consider you. I'm assuming the numbers will still show up in the originals?

3. References do not have to be landlords only. For these applications, I have used my parents, my in-laws, friends, my supervisor (sometimes if they prefer a reference in the city).

4. Forgot to say this earlier, but my current landlord was okay with my lack of US credit due to my foreign status but they did increase my security deposit from $500 to $800.

[maelia8]

@TakeruK Thanks for the tips! I'm actually a U.S. citizen and I have U.S. credit and loan status, I've just lived overseas so long that all of my adult pay, banking, and rental records are from a foreign country. Most of my potential character references (bosses and supervisors) are also unfortunately overseas and can't be called without spending an awful lot of money (also some of them don't speak English), but I have a few in the US, they are all just more than three years old. Is that an issue? If that's all right and I can use previous roommates, parents and step-parents as well, then I think I have enough people. I do have a letter of recommendation/evaluation from my last job overseas from the principal at the school where I worked, if I translated that could I use it as a reference?

[TakeruK]

@TakeruK Thanks for the tips! I'm actually a U.S. citizen and I have U.S. credit and loan status, I've just lived overseas so long that all of my adult pay, banking, and rental records are from a foreign country. Most of my potential character references (bosses and supervisors) are also unfortunately overseas and can't be called without spending an awful lot of money (also some of them don't speak English), but I have a few in the US, they are all just more than three years old. Is that an issue? If that's all right and I can use previous roommates, parents and step-parents as well, then I think I have enough people. I do have a letter of recommendation/evaluation from my last job overseas from the principal at the school where I worked, if I translated that could I use it as a reference?

 

Oh sorry for the incorrect assumptions! 

 

I'm not 100% certain that it is desirable to use parents/relatives as references, but it did not get me denied in the past when they were really all I had. So I guess that is good enough? I somehow doubt that they would even call these people--my references were not called. My in-laws have a different last name than my spouse and I so they would never know that we are related unless they asked. They also do not know that my other reference is really my old friend from college! 

 

I think a letter of recommendation from your previous boss would be nice but probably not necessary. Still, I think including it even when unnecessary can't really hurt, since at worst, they'll just throw it out and at best, they will think it's responsible that you are overly prepared. (Make copies of everything and have originals to show if necessary but just give them copies)

[seeingeyeduck]

In terms of paperwork to bring, what do you guys think is reasonable vs too much? We're looking in a really competitive market and there are probably 15-20 apps for every decent place. It's just swarms of people every place we see. The owners keep telling us to give them as much financial info as possible and are asking for bank accounts and possibly bank statements.

Since I'm about to be a student and not earning a super competitive income, do we go as far as to include statements of our savings and investments for retirement so that they know we are stable and have a plan? That makes me nervous to tell people where and how much money we have but honestly it seems like they are looking for the most financially capable people to rent to. I thought verification of a sufficient income was enough but I guess when they can afford to be choosy, anything goes?! We have heard of people offering higher than the listed rent to get a place. It feels more invasive than the FAFSA! I'm not even sure all of it is legal??

Is there a downside to letting them know you have money? Does it lead to landlords being stingy with fixing things?!

[geographyrocks]

In terms of paperwork to bring, what do you guys think is reasonable vs too much? We're looking in a really competitive market and there are probably 15-20 apps for every decent place. It's just swarms of people every place we see. The owners keep telling us to give them as much financial info as possible and are asking for bank accounts and possibly bank statements.

Since I'm about to be a student and not earning a super competitive income, do we go as far as to include statements of our savings and investments for retirement so that they know we are stable and have a plan? That makes me nervous to tell people where and how much money we have but honestly it seems like they are looking for the most financially capable people to rent to. I thought verification of a sufficient income was enough but I guess when they can afford to be choosy, anything goes?! We have heard of people offering higher than the listed rent to get a place. It feels more invasive than the FAFSA! I'm not even sure all of it is legal??

Is there a downside to letting them know you have money? Does it lead to landlords being stingy with fixing things?!

I have NEVER had to offer anything more than proof that I could pay rent every month. Of course, I've never been in a highly competitive market so I guess it could be different, but that seems ridiculous!

And no, they can't refuse repairs just because you could afford to have it fixed. Every lease I have signed outlined what repairs the landlord was responsible for.

[perpetuavix]

In terms of paperwork to bring, what do you guys think is reasonable vs too much? We're looking in a really competitive market and there are probably 15-20 apps for every decent place. It's just swarms of people every place we see. The owners keep telling us to give them as much financial info as possible and are asking for bank accounts and possibly bank statements.

Since I'm about to be a student and not earning a super competitive income, do we go as far as to include statements of our savings and investments for retirement so that they know we are stable and have a plan? That makes me nervous to tell people where and how much money we have but honestly it seems like they are looking for the most financially capable people to rent to. I thought verification of a sufficient income was enough but I guess when they can afford to be choosy, anything goes?! We have heard of people offering higher than the listed rent to get a place. It feels more invasive than the FAFSA! I'm not even sure all of it is legal??

Is there a downside to letting them know you have money? Does it lead to landlords being stingy with fixing things?!

3 months of statements for your bank accounts (checking and savings, usually) is what places wanted in New York; people in Seattle thought it was weird I had that many. I think anything beyond that is pretty much excessive. Including your investment and especially retirement accounts is somewhat unusual. You can't access your retirement savings anytime soon, and most investments aren't easy to quickly liquidate. Maybe if you're trying to set yourself apart, investment account statements would be appropriate. But showing landlords you have money should in no way change their responsibilities. They are still liable for repairs, even if you could pay for it, so there should be no downside to providing information about your assets. 

Not sure where you are, but have you considered using a broker? At least in NYC, brokers cost money (which sucks) but generally follow more ethical guidelines, ie, they only take one application per apartment and don't take your application money unless they think you'll qualify. Location depending, but it could help. Good luck! 

 

[seeingeyeduck]

We are in the Bay Area. How does the broker help you cut through the masses though? Is it that you hire them to find a place for you and to apply for you? If there's a limit on the move in time do they guarantee getting you something acceptable? I've never used one and have no idea what they cost.

It's not that we'd be liquidating our assets since we have enough in our bank acct for a year's rent anyway but it just all feels like a zoo. Do they take apps in the order people turn them in? Do they read them all and pick the richest or do they just sift through til one qualifies? Who knows! But we've been mostly looking on craigslist and maybe we should go through rental agencies directly? Whatever happened to seeing a for lease sign, then walking into the office and them running your info right there and signing the lease on the spot if you qualify? Sigh.

[TakeruK]

Do they take apps in the order people turn them in? Do they read them all and pick the richest or do they just sift through til one qualifies? Who knows! But we've been mostly looking on craigslist and maybe we should go through rental agencies directly? Whatever happened to seeing a for lease sign, then walking into the office and them running your info right there and signing the lease on the spot if you qualify? Sigh.

 

This could depend on where you are but in the places I've lived in, landlords tell us that they basically will take the first person that qualifies. I think it's a form of discrimination that is illegal in some states/provinces to use income as a decider on who to rent to when the income is enough to pay the rent (i.e. using income to determine qualification based on ability to pay rent is okay but I think it's not okay to prefer someone who makes say $75k per year over someone who makes $50k per year when both incomes are more than enough to pay rent). I don't know if they actually do what they say they do though!

 

However, every time we submit a rental application, if we were the first one to do so, they always told us to submit the deposit cheque (check?) with the application and if they approve us and then they will deposit that cheque and once they do, we have the place and first month's rent is due on the first day. In one case, we were not the first one and we were given the option to submit a cheque with our application so that if the first person's application falls through, they can process ours next. Alternatively, we could have chose to wait until they accept our application to produce the deposit cheque, but if someone else who is approved beats us to it, then they would get it. 

 

That is, my experience is that the building manager generally submits applications in the order they receive them and the first approved application with a deposit will get the spot. After all, there is no real reason for the landlord to waste time/energy picking the "best" applicant out of a pool of qualified candidates--they only need to know you can pay the rent. They generally will want the first completed application/deposit that meet their criteria (credit-worthiness, move in date etc.) because every day they wait for a "better" candidate is a day of lost rental income. 

 

Personally, I've had the best experience with larger rental companies that own several apartment buildings in the same city. I find that when a company owns 100s of units, an small issue with yours (e.g. needs repainting) is an expense that is a tiny fraction of their monthly income, so they are generally happy to do it to keep their tenants happy. When it's a person that owns just one building of say 4 apartments, an expense like repainting can cut into a large chunk of their monthly income so they tend to be more stingy. In addition, a landlord of 100s of units does not have time to micromanage each unit--every piece of paperwork is just routine! However, I can see the opposite argument made too (i.e. with 100s of units, one unhappy tenant is no big deal, they'll just find another) but my experience has been mostly positive with these types of big landlord companies while all of my friends' landlord issues come from individual or small landlord companies. 

 

Also, I like going to these bigger companies that own a lot of units because sometimes you are able to get on their notification list if any unit is available and then you might be able to view it and put in an application before it even goes up on craigslist or other posting services.

[seeingeyeduck]

Yikes, I'm pretty sure some of these places are picking based on income and whether they have a good impression of the tenants. I mean, we have no way to prove what criteria they're using and what their metric of "afford" is. One if the places just updated their ad on craigslist despite having just received at least ten apps over the weekend. We know we could afford it as if was < 3x income, but we didn't get it. They must be waiting for a more ideal candidate.

That's illegal, you say? But I guess they can get away with it in a competitive market where there will always be more applicants...

[maelia8]

So, to follow up on my visit down to the Bay Area to look for apartments: I was successful! All of the super advice I received on this thread was really helpful Now I have two offers and I'm trying to decide which place is the one that I should take. Any advice is welcome! Here are the two places:

 

#1 is a room in a small two-bedroom house owned by an older lady in her early 70s. I'd be her only roommate, and she seemed super nice. We'd share all common areas, including the only bathroom and the kitchen. The house is 20 minutes from campus walking, 10 minutes biking. I'm a little leery since I've had one live-in landlord situation go to hell before, but I'm sure that that isn't always the case and the lady doesn't appear to be a despot, at least from first impressions. The price is very reasonable, on the very low end for prices in this area.

 

#2 is a room in a three-bedroom apartment with two other grad students my age and gender. The place is small, but clean and nice. The other students seem chill and I think it would be a good roommate fit. The distance from campus is exactly the same as from the old lady's house, although the neighborhood is a bit nicer/better. The apartment is more expensive than the other one ($100 more per month) but still in the middle of my price range, definitely not expensive. 

 

Which would you choose?

[rising_star]

maelia8, I would probably choose the second scenario personally. But, I'm also weirdly averse to sharing bathrooms.

 

seeingeyeduck, you should definitely contact some rental agencies if you haven't already. Does the grad school have any sort of housing board you can look on for potential leads? Another option might be to reach out to your undergrad alumni network if there is one in your area. If it were a small market, I'd suggest posting a housing wanted ad on CL but you'll likely get inundated with spam in a major metropolitan area.

 

Good luck, everyone. The housing hunt is such a slog!

[perpetuavix]

We are in the Bay Area. How does the broker help you cut through the masses though? Is it that you hire them to find a place for you and to apply for you? If there's a limit on the move in time do they guarantee getting you something acceptable? I've never used one and have no idea what they cost.

It's not that we'd be liquidating our assets since we have enough in our bank acct for a year's rent anyway but it just all feels like a zoo. Do they take apps in the order people turn them in? Do they read them all and pick the richest or do they just sift through til one qualifies? Who knows! But we've been mostly looking on craigslist and maybe we should go through rental agencies directly? Whatever happened to seeing a for lease sign, then walking into the office and them running your info right there and signing the lease on the spot if you qualify? Sigh.

At least in NYC, property management companies list their properties with a broker, who is the only person who can show/advertise that apartment and handles all of the application process. It's basically like getting a real estate agent for an apartment, except the renters end up paying the fee (we paid a month's rent for our broker, but we got an amazing deal and a washer/dryer so it was acceptable to me). But again, brokers usually do it more like a real estate agent: they can find properties for you to see that fit your needs, based on what's listed with them. It can include stuff that's not on Craigslist/padmapper, but that might not be so true in the Bay Area. We used a broker because I was in a sublet that was about to end and needed a place soon; she helped us find somewhere within my time frame, but I didn't have a promise that she definitely would (so that might still be a risk). I had a good experience with a broker, but I don't really know anything about the Bay Area market; brokers might be an NYC only kind of thing!

 

But if you're submitting an application, the rental manager (or whoever is showing the apartment) should be able to tell you about the process they use once they have applications. It is unfortunately not illegal for them to take multiple applications and sort through them however they see fit. They can't discriminate against the source of the income, but they definitely can pick the richest applicant. It sucks, but being persistent might be the key here. Eventually, you'll have to find a reasonable property manager who just wants to rent the place without going through ten applications....

[random17]

Personally, I've had the best experience with larger rental companies that own several apartment buildings in the same city. 

 

Just chiming in to add that this is the exact opposite of my experience! I've actually only lived in one place that was owned by a large rental company, so n=1 here, but we had a much harder time getting anything fixed in that apartment than in any of our the three privately-owned rentals. Our current landlord is the best we've ever had and he only rents out a single two-apartment house, but I also have friends in this city with horrible private landlords, so it definitely does vary a lot in both groups. 

[seeingeyeduck]

So, to follow up on my visit down to the Bay Area to look for apartments: I was successful! All of the super advice I received on this thread was really helpful Now I have two offers and I'm trying to decide which place is the one that I should take. Any advice is welcome! Here are the two places:

#1 is a room in a small two-bedroom house owned by an older lady in her early 70s. I'd be her only roommate, and she seemed super nice. We'd share all common areas, including the only bathroom and the kitchen. The house is 20 minutes from campus walking, 10 minutes biking. I'm a little leery since I've had one live-in landlord situation go to hell before, but I'm sure that that isn't always the case and the lady doesn't appear to be a despot, at least from first impressions. The price is very reasonable, on the very low end for prices in this area.

#2 is a room in a three-bedroom apartment with two other grad students my age and gender. The place is small, but clean and nice. The other students seem chill and I think it would be a good roommate fit. The distance from campus is exactly the same as from the old lady's house, although the neighborhood is a bit nicer/better. The apartment is more expensive than the other one ($100 more per month) but still in the middle of my price range, definitely not expensive.

Which would you choose?

I'd go with the second too. I feel like you'll meet more people who are your age in the second situation and inevitably you'll be asked to do things for the old lady. Not that that's a bad thing but maybe you won't have the time. It's also been my experience that sometimes older people watch tv really loudly cuz they can't hear well and don't necessarily have hearing aids! That's obviously not always true but it seems simpler to room with other students, especially if the elderly person is also the landlord. Who knows though. It all depends on the vibe you got from each of them.

[seeingeyeduck]

At least in NYC, property management companies list their properties with a broker, who is the only person who can show/advertise that apartment and handles all of the application process. It's basically like getting a real estate agent for an apartment, except the renters end up paying the fee (we paid a month's rent for our broker, but we got an amazing deal and a washer/dryer so it was acceptable to me). But again, brokers usually do it more like a real estate agent: they can find properties for you to see that fit your needs, based on what's listed with them. It can include stuff that's not on Craigslist/padmapper, but that might not be so true in the Bay Area. We used a broker because I was in a sublet that was about to end and needed a place soon; she helped us find somewhere within my time frame, but I didn't have a promise that she definitely would (so that might still be a risk). I had a good experience with a broker, but I don't really know anything about the Bay Area market; brokers might be an NYC only kind of thing!

But if you're submitting an application, the rental manager (or whoever is showing the apartment) should be able to tell you about the process they use once they have applications. It is unfortunately not illegal for them to take multiple applications and sort through them however they see fit. They can't discriminate against the source of the income, but they definitely can pick the richest applicant. It sucks, but being persistent might be the key here. Eventually, you'll have to find a reasonable property manager who just wants to rent the place without going through ten applications....

Yeah, I googled around and turns out no one knows what a broker is around here. That might change if this is the way it's going though! If any budding rental brokers are reading, there's an unfilled niche developing out here! Lol

We may just try a higher price bracket too. The stuff we were looking at could still be considered affordable by HUD standards but screw it, we are on a deadline and need to find something for the year so we will pony up 40-45% of income. Hopefully that cuts down on competition, but I'm afraid that just puts us in competition with richer people... Sigh.

It seems like it's a lot harder to find an apt than to find a room. Maybe we will resort back to house sharing worse comes to worst. Some of the places we've been trying to see are so small that they prefer single tenants and don't even agree to show it to us. We are also expanding our search to an hour away, which is terrible but at least the places there are decently sized!

Edited July 23, 2014 by seeingeyeduck

[PhoenixKing]

So, to follow up on my visit down to the Bay Area to look for apartments: I was successful! All of the super advice I received on this thread was really helpful Now I have two offers and I'm trying to decide which place is the one that I should take. Any advice is welcome! Here are the two places:

 

#1 is a room in a small two-bedroom house owned by an older lady in her early 70s. I'd be her only roommate, and she seemed super nice. We'd share all common areas, including the only bathroom and the kitchen. The house is 20 minutes from campus walking, 10 minutes biking. I'm a little leery since I've had one live-in landlord situation go to hell before, but I'm sure that that isn't always the case and the lady doesn't appear to be a despot, at least from first impressions. The price is very reasonable, on the very low end for prices in this area.

 

#2 is a room in a three-bedroom apartment with two other grad students my age and gender. The place is small, but clean and nice. The other students seem chill and I think it would be a good roommate fit. The distance from campus is exactly the same as from the old lady's house, although the neighborhood is a bit nicer/better. The apartment is more expensive than the other one ($100 more per month) but still in the middle of my price range, definitely not expensive. 

 

Which would you choose?

 

Congrats on securing housing, maelia8! I agree with rising_star and seeingeyeduck that the second option appears more ideal. Speaking from personal experience, even if you have a friendly, generally peaceful live-in situation with a landlord--like I had for two years--you often feel more like a boarder than a roommate, a sentiment exacerbated by the significant age difference between you two. This can make the housing environment a bit uncomfortable. Also, until my landlord rented her room to another young professional for three months while she worked a contract job out of state, I didn't realize how much I valued living with someone closer to me in age. The social dynamics, naturally, are completely different. However, weigh your criteria and determine what's best for you, because only you know what you want. In any event, it sounds like you're in a happy dilemma!

 

On a different note, can you elaborate on your approach to housing once you arrived in the Bay Area? I, too, have been struggling with housing and have accepted that I won't really be able to proceed until I arrive in a few weeks (I live across the country). What documents did you end up bringing to your appointments? What was the turnaround time between the appointments and the offers (or rejections, if you received any)? What advice would you give on efficiently pursuing housing in East Bay, based on your experience? Feel free to PM me if you'd prefer.  

[maelia8]

@PhoenixKing, I'd be happy to tell you about the process that I went through to secure housing in the East Bay I planned a trip down with an open end (I have the luxury of doing this since I only live 6 hours' drive away from the place that I'm moving to) and made as many craigslist viewing appointments (some of which were interviews, others open houses) as I could. I ended up staying down there for four days and going to an average of three appointments per day. I ended up getting "callbacks" on three places, all of whom I heard responses from within 48 hours of my appointment. I was somewhat pressured to accept or reject the offers as soon as possible, since in most cases, there was a line of people behind me who would be happy to take the place. Be prepared to commit quickly and fully after an interview if you're sure that the place is for you

 

I brought a lot of documents, but ironically, nobody wanted to see them - once I told them I was a grad student, they all were familiar with the grad student stipend amounts and needed no convincing that I could afford to pay rent. I would recommend allotting about 4-5 days to look at places and do pretty much nothing else (when I wasn't at appointments, I was online combing listings, checking up on open house times, answering email responses, and calling people). It was kind of stressful, but I'm convinced that it's quite hard to get a place down there without going down in person - landlords and roommates place a lot of stock in getting a feel for you in person, which they can afford to do since the competition is so stiff.

[PhoenixKing]

@maelia8, thanks for the info! This is all really helpful. I expect my fortunes to improve once I actually get there and meet people in person, in spite of the stress that may result. 

[seeingeyeduck]

I think it's also a lot easier to find a room in a house than it is to find your own place right now. It also is easier as a single person. I think part of the reason we've even having trouble is that we're a couple and people either think couple drama or that they'll have to pay more for two people's water if that's covered in the rent.

Bring your credit report and any pay stubs if you're looking for your own place but people tend to be more off the cuff with rooms. You could bring it just in case since you're not local and don't want to be stuck trying to figure out where to print them.