apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

As someone who is also looking to move out of the country for a time - your comments are very useful. We are planning a scoping meeting in December to determine which neighborhood we prefer, but would be unlikely to check out specific apartments... So thanks for mentioning concerns like hot water and street noise...

Some of those things seem like they'd be hard to determine in person too. When my roommate and I viewed the apartment we now live in, it was daytime and many of the neighbors were away. We don't have any significant night or early morning disturbances, but I wouldn't have found that out by visiting at 2pm.

And it would have never occurred to me to turn on the shower and see how long it took the water to get hot while viewing the apartment. I checked the windows at the move-in inspection, but not before. I noticed that there was a W/D (with great excitement) and dishwasher, and that they were both slightly older models, but didn't turn them on while viewing the apartment to see if they'd be noisy. (They are, a bit, but they're downstairs and the bedroom is upstairs, so it's not a big deal.)

Some things you really can only know by living there a few days--or by asking the current occupants, if you have that opportunity.

Even if you do see it in person, you really don't know what you have until you move in. When we viewed our place, all the windows were wide open so it smelled fresher than it was... but 3 coats of urethane on the floor and Lush bath bombs as odor absorbers in every room have made it as nice. Furniture can make a big difference too -- I didn't believe the small bedroom would hold a bed until we actually put ours in there.

The best surprise is the "magic time" that happens at sunset when the setting sun shines in through the side bay window on the north-facing front room for just a few minutes.

Sigh... I have a crush on my house.

Unless you spend the night, there's no way the 24 routines of the neighbors can be known. I rented an apartment in Paris last summer, which all afternoon and night was perfectly pleasant. I wasn't until 6 in the morning that the demon child from hell (also known as the upstairs unit) decided to throw metal trucks against the floor....and continued every morning.

my first place i rented sight unseen because i was moving to a new town. beautiful architechure and old glass doors inside....but nothing prepared me for the influx of all the tree roaches. these roaches fly...and they were taking over the old neighborhood and just walking into my apartment. after waking up one morning and seeing that i had not only squeeshed 3 in my sleep and one had fallen on me...it was time to move. I think everyone in my building moved out the same month. After I moved I heard they started having rat problems. Gawd I can't believe I lived in that place....it was honestly a roach motel.

I rented an apartment in philadelphia years ago and down the street was a club called the (black banana). It seemed small and did not seem to be a deal braker on a really nice place in a nice building full of people. Well come around 3am it was like living in HELL indeed. Street fights, police cars, yelling and screaming---every night of the week it seemed. It turned out to be a club for young people who just could not get along with each other.

Do not overlook anything when renting an apartment!!!

good post! i'll be graduating in a year, moving off to some city, without the time to preview much before i rent.

you made a few good points i'll be sure to remember.

I would NEVER rent sight unseen. Under ANY conditions.

I rented sight unseen and am very happy with my decision. Along with visiting the city beforehand and doing lots of online research on realty Web sites, I hired a local on craigslist to check out the apartment for me, take lots of photos and give me his sense of the place and neighborhood on the phone. It worked out very well.

Renting sight unseen should not be ruled out.

I just moved into an apartment, sight-unseen, a month ago! Now, to the person who said they would never do it...sometime you have no choice. My boyfriend and I came to Chicago to look at places for an entire weekend, we even signed the papers on a wonderful place, then upon returning home we got the call from our agent that the place had already been rented through another agency. We had no choice but to rent via internet (that's an entire story in and of itself though). Our apartment looked nothing like the pictures made it appear. I was scared to death because our refrigerator is in our dining room! But we couldn't be happier in the apartment! And actually, the you don't even notice the fridge because it acts as a practical room divider. Sometimes you have no choice how you find your place. Just think of it as a bid adventure!

I can think of lots worse things than slow hot water, a humming fridge and a bit of street noise...

BTW - The fridge and the window handles can be replaced.

I rented my unit sight unseen. I was able to view other apartments to get a feel of the finishes and fixtures. I live 4 miles from work, so I was able to stop by my complex in the evening to scope it out. The only problem is that my unit is not the same floorplan in my complex's brochure or website, so it threw a wrench in how I was planning to set up my apartment.

I rented two places sight unseen, one in Paris and one in Copenhagen. I had photos for both, but I completely misinterpreted things I saw in the photo. The flat in Paris had a wonderful blood red tile bathroom with a shower stall. It was not until my first shower that I realized I had to step 9" into the shower and the stall dimensions were 24" x 24". I had bruises on my knees and elbows for a month and learned to step just right when getting out of the shower. Once I lost weight due to the Parisian lifestyle, that shower felt downright spacious.

Speaking of showers, the place I rented in Copenhagen I also had photos of. What I thought was a tall pantry cabinet in the kitchen was really the shower. The building was so old that it had a proper toilet and that's it. I had to brush my teeth in the kitchen sink and put the drainage hose from the shower into the toilet in order to drain. I forgot only once.

Sometimes it's hard to know what you're getting even 'site seen'! I rented my current apartment after a desperate search for something that was nice but wouldn't cost an arm and a leg. The apartment itself is great...hardwood floors, ceramic tile in the bath, brand new kitchen cabinets, two patios...all utilities included AND free cable. The property is all woodsy and looks fresh and clean. I wanted a second floor but all they had was a 1st floor, so I asked how audible my upstairs neighbors would be. Oh you won't hear them at all, I was told. We have excellent construction, I was told. And for maybe the first three months, it was great. Then someone actually moved into the upstairs unit.... BOOM! boomboomboom BOOM. The...noise...is...driving..me..crazy. My new neighbors actually knocked a mirror off my wall because they made my wall vibrate...I was picking glass out of my foot every morning for a month. The 'element' that hangs out in the parking lot is a little frightening and I get regaled by car stereos thumping rap music at 2pm AND 2am. People stand on their patios at 2am and have loud conversations. The cops are always on site. These are relatively inexpensive units, but yet we have cadillacs and new Mazdas and big old Buicks with custom paint work...hmmm. I was told by management that they don't allow Section 8..but after I rented I discover this was actually one of the FIRST properties to welcome the Gabrini Green people in after the housing project was leveled. You know they aren't actually paying RENT...psssht. Rent? What's that?? Other than that, though the apartment is great!

Oh yeah, and I had visited during the day and at night several times before I signed the final paperwork, and all was silent. I guess the gang bangers didn't have anything to sell those nights...

I rented sight unseen when I first moved to NYC years ago when I was very young and a bit naive. I was sent a few photos. I did some research and called local businesses and libraries to ask about the neighborhood (everyone was actually fairly honest about the area). But when I got there, the apt had a whole in the ceiling with plastic covering it to protect it from the great outdoors and the plumbing was not yet fully operational. I was then told that it was a remodel that ran late or someone ran out of cash . . . Basically, the owner was a con-artist. Not a great experience. Especially since I didn't have a lot of cash and didn't know anyone on the East coast. I spent the night in a hotel and luckily found a great apt the next day in Brooklyn. Looking back, everything actually worked out great. I smartened and toughened up really quick and I got to live in a great place. I'm in LA now, but Brooklyn still has a piece of my heart. But, I'm still annoyed that I got screwed out of my security deposit and 1st months rent. Would I rent sight unseen today? For anyplace in the US - no way. If I was to move oversees? maybe, but I'd want a picture of every inch and hiring someone to check it out is actually a great idea.

It's so risky to rent without spending any time checking out the details. It's shocking how common it is. My movers told me that about 60% of their customers move to homes they'd never set foot in.

I've only rented sight unseen once - the only thing I really knew about the place was how to get there (with map and directions), what it cost, and that there were laundry facilities on site. (This is pre-internet, and I didn't even check out the city first.) So many people seem actually shocked when I tell them I've rented sight unseen, so it surprises me that this is apparently not uncommon. Anyway, the place was OK - it was cheap, so not great, but other than unexpectedly high utility bills (no insulation, I guess) and a (?)wasp/hornet/yellowjacket colony in the laundry room, it was fine for the year that I lived there.

In graduate school, I rented a room sight unseen in a former frat house. Even though the house looked okay in the photos-- and had undergone extensive renovations to convert it from frat to grad student housing-- it really didn't work. I ended up breaking my lease (with two other housemates) and suing the property manager for my money back.

I strongly recommend trusting your gut. I knew something wasn't right, but I talked myself into signing up; its so affordable, close to campus, it comes with furniture... Also, really take note of your interactions with potential landlords/property managers/supers. If they don't treat you professionally when they're trying to get your money, they're not going to become all-stars when there is no additional financial incentive for them, post lease signing.

I've rented sight unseen twice. The first time, they had clearly photoshopped the pictures (if only they had spent the time actually fixing up the unit...) The second time, I still had a bitter taste in my mouth from the first experience, but I was dirt poor from grad school and had no choice. This is the best apartment I've ever lived in! I'm trying to figure out how to take it with me when I have to move...

I agree though, renting seen can be a pain too. It's too bad they don't let you camp out in an apartment for a night with a deposit or something. We moved into a place in Philly that looked great, location was great, price was good, etc. etc. But since we viewed it during the day and basically no one was home, we had no idea how thin the walls were, that our neighbors did nothing but argue (you could hear them very clearly in their fights), that the upstairs neighbor liked to play piano late into the night...oy. Plus the apartment manager was impossible to get ahold of. It ended up being a nightmare in an apartment that should have been wonderful.

If you're going to rent unseen, looking at photos is a must. It might not show you everything, but at least it gives you some idea of what to expect. Renters who are checking out a listing at http://www.4walls.us go right for the photos, and it's not just interior shots they're looking for. Amenities and exterior are very important to show. Apartments without photos don't receive as much attention.