What To Know When Searching Apartment Listings Online

There are a growing number of online resources available to help you find a new apartment. You can search through apartment listings in your own town or cities that are hundreds of miles away from you without leaving your living room. Unfortunately, not everything you find online is what it appears to be. Below, you will find some reasons to hold off on getting excited about an apartment until you see it for yourself.

Wow – It Looks as Good as New!

When you are looking through apartment listings, you may come across some that look brand new at rates that you can afford. One thing about online listings is you just don't know when the pictures were taken or if they have been doctored up to look better than what they really are. Don't let yourself get too excited about a shiny new apartment until you see it first-hand. Those pictures may not show you the mold growing up the walls and the windows that are broken.

Aww – That Living Room is Adorable!

Some pictures are taken when the apartments are fully furnished and staged. Staging is practiced by real estate agents and rental agencies to make homes and apartments easier to picture yourself living in. They use strategically placed furniture and décor to create a space that is perfect for kicking back and relaxing after a long day at work. What you may not see in those pictures is the scratched up flooring, the noisy street outside, or the yellow ceiling from the smokers that lived there previously.

Holy Smokes – That Bedroom is Gigantic!

This is one thing that is easily misrepresented. Wide angle camera lenses are used during the photographing of some apartments to make them appear to be much larger than they really are. You may find pictures of an apartment in a great part of town with rent that you can afford, but when you walk into that gigantic bedroom, you find that it is no larger than a walk-in closet.

How do you avoid falling for the misrepresentation?

The best way to ensure that you are getting what you see is to work with a trustworthy rental agency and to take the time to go and look at the apartment before signing any rental agreements. A real rental agency will provide you will all of the information about the building, such as the age and location long before you want to go and check it out. They will be upfront and willing to disclose anything about the apartment prior to you going and checking it out.

Take your time when looking for your next apartment. This is a big investment and the lease is likely unbreakable without financial repercussions, so be smart about your next move.

For professional real estate help, contact a company such as Kimball Real Estate


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