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Entry bubble Apartment Hunt!

By: Jake | September 24, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

Hi! My name is Jake and I’ll be your Monday blogger for Gov Gab. I look forward to writing, but I didn’t really know what to do my first blog about.

For rent signThen it hit me. I was notified a couple weeks ago that my rent will go up substantially next month. It’s too much for me to pay and I need to find a new place. I plan to be a renter and I’ve looked at private rental sites, but there are government sites that have proved useful too.

Every municipality tends to have a website with some sort of rental and housing information. I have lived in Virginia most of my life and I would like to stay here. Both the City of Alexandria and Arlington County have apartment housing websites where I can get rent prices and information about cost of living.

It’s been a while since I put my signature on a lease so I need to jog my memory about what to look for in a lease. The Consumer Action Handbook has a bunch of tips on that. I remember most of these tips, but when the pressure is on to find a new place I don't want to overlook these things and wind up in a bad situation later. The best government resource for looking for housing is the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They have a very useful resources for renters webpage. Alright that'll do it for now. Please feel free to comment below. Have a great week!

| View Comments [11] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: apartments   housing   rent  

Comments (11):

blue comment bubble Posted by clutterbuster on September 24, 2007 at 02:52 PM EDT

Oh Jake - bummed to hear about the rent going up - don't you hate that? Well - I found a great checklist for you from Real Simple to help you move:
http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/content/organize/0,21770,1057936,00.html
Good luck on your search - keep us posted.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Jake on September 25, 2007 at 08:27 AM EDT

Thanks for the link Clutterbuster. I actually looked around yesterday and have a couple of leads. :) I also talked to my apartment about downgrading the size of my place and they were open to the idea. I'll definitely keep you posted.

Jake

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blue comment bubble Posted by Squee on September 28, 2007 at 03:37 PM EDT

Jake, have you tried negotiating with your landlord/s? Like they say in business, it is cheaper to keep a client than find a new one. Same goes with renters.

Every time my lease came due in my old apartment, I would talk to my landlord and say that I'm willing to stay if they'll reconsider the increase in price.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Jake on September 28, 2007 at 05:13 PM EDT

Squee,

Thanks for your suggestion. I have asked about negotiating the rent and I'm waiting to hear what they come up with.

Jake

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blue comment bubble Posted by DenverRox on October 03, 2007 at 03:02 PM EDT

Excellent posting and blog information. I am also in the same boat and can use the info. thanks! ;O)

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blue comment bubble Posted by Jake on October 03, 2007 at 03:39 PM EDT

Glad to hear that helped you Denver Rox. I will have an update on the hunt on Monday so check back in. Fingers crossed it will be good news.

Jake

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blue comment bubble Posted by DenverRox on October 04, 2007 at 08:39 AM EDT

Hey Jake, I called my apt and they told me they won't know til november what my rent will be. My renewal is in Feb. Yes hope you and I both get good news. Moving is a pain. good luck! :O)

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blue comment bubble Posted by PLG in US on October 06, 2007 at 02:36 AM EDT

Yes I was in that boat twice over and had to move and the sad thing is rent is out of control where I am. I tried the down size idea and even considered working for the company part time just to get my rent back to what I was paying, it was going up at least 200.00 a month, another idea I looked into was seeing if they had other properties that I could move into that would be the same rent, which I was in two bedroom and could downsize considerably, that was a viable option as well. Another idea is local real estate agencies that might be doing property management, I am not familiar with virginia states market with housing and such. Are you in a position to do housesitting for people out of country? I do not know if they have those type of agencies that do that kind of stuff, sometimes real estate agencies may do that if they have houses on the market and would want a physical presence in the home and it is already vacant, although the moving around could suck but it normally is cheaper if you can't stay and maybe it would give you time to look for something else? Doesn't virginia have any rent increase percentage laws? Well anyways Good Luck.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Alphatech5 on October 07, 2007 at 06:57 AM EDT

Hi Jake,

Try Craig's List. You can find most anything there, including apartments.

Cheers
Allan Barker
Alphatech5.com

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blue comment bubble Posted by Publius on October 09, 2007 at 01:38 AM EDT

Best free resource for apartment rentals, rooms for rent, or housing in general... http://www.craiglist.org , which always seems to default to http://sfbay.craigslist.org/ .

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blue comment bubble Posted by Jake on October 09, 2007 at 03:15 PM EDT

PLG, yes I tried to downsize to an efficiency, but nothing came available at my apartment. Alphatech5 and Publius, I did use Craigslist, but a lot of times the apartments I looked at were not what was described in the advertisement.
There were good apartments on Craigslist, but anything that was good was gone before I could get to it. The Northern Virginia/D.C. market is relatively competitive so you have to move fast. I have had friends that have found apartments relatively easy on Craigslist though. I have only managed to find a good deal on an exercise bike on Craigslist. :)

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