Apartment hunting is a stressful situation to find yourself in, with trying to budget around a lot of factors while also keeping in mind the things you may want or need from your apartment search and often having to add in things for if you own pets, have or plan to have roommates, and more. It becomes a double danger when single women are searching for a new apartment, since many situations can be even sketchier when you’re dealing with them on your own and sadly women also have to consider many other safety risks that normally aren’t a thought for men or for more than one person living together. However, we’ve got your back. Here are some apartment hunting tips for single women to help you on your way.
Think First
Take some time before you truly dive into apartment looking or open houses to figure out what things are most important to you and what questions you may have for landlords. For example, if you have pets you should note to keep in mind pet deposits or fees, allowances, and more. You also will want to keep an eye out for what parking will look like there, how much bills may cost you, what is or isn’t included in rent and how to make up for what isn’t included (for example if snow care isn’t provided how will you keep up?), and so on. Write it down to keep track!
Try For Off-Times
Finding an apartment in the first place during popular moving times is pretty difficult, but chances are even if you find one you will be paying a higher or at least the highest price for that apartment space. If you have the ability to, try to do you moving and apartment searching in the off seasons for your area as far as moving goes and you may be able to negotiate better deals, get quicker closings on leases, and even find apartments you may not have found if you were looking when everyone else was rushing to move.
Compromises
If you are able to compromise on some factors of your living routine, you can actually get a lot better rates and access to new places. For example, apartments on ground or top floors rent pricier and more often than middle floors so if you don’t mind a middle floor go that route. This idea also applies to things like fixer-uppers being easily available, apartments without laundry inside being less popular and better deals, and so on. Of course that doesn’t mean you have to compromise on something important, but think about what you are or aren’t willing to finagle.
We’re not trying to scare you into thinking the apartment search will be dangerous or too difficult, because you definitely can handle this as a single woman. But it is extremely important to consider factors like your safety and heavily pay attention to budgeting or other aspects of planning when you are working through this transition as a single woman in comparison to other people that may be apartment searching too. It is definitely still a scary world out there sometimes, and this information is just here to help you get through it as safely and sanely as possible. Whether you’re already searching, know you have to apartment hunt soon, or have struggled in the past; this list of tips can help any single woman out there figure things out easier.