Not too long ago we launched our real, live apartment hunt and started sharing it with you, faithful readers. It's time for a progress report from the field.
First, we can definitely confirm in practice what the reports have all been telling you in theory: the rental market right now is absolutely bananas. We've made it this far, though--through some B-movie horror pads and 50-person open house lines--and we're not giving up. The objective, again, is a studio/one bedroom in or around the Haight for $1800 or less. What we've learned so far: 1. Give yourself as much time as you can. 2. If you're going to an open house, have an application filled out already. If you can't get one of the landlord/realtor's, use a generic form like . 3. Open up your search parameters beyond neighborhood. 4. Padmapper helps! It mostly just shows Craigslist posts, but it lets you see them spatially, and it does occasionally pool listings from other minor sources. 5. Tell EVERYONE you know that you're looking. A lot happens by word-of-mouth. At least, so we're told.
First, we can definitely confirm in practice what the reports have all been telling you in theory: the rental market right now is absolutely bananas. We've made it this far, though--through some B-movie horror pads and 50-person open house lines--and we're not giving up. The objective, again, is a studio/one bedroom in or around the Haight for $1800 or less. What we've learned so far: 1. Give yourself as much time as you can. 2. If you're going to an open house, have an application filled out already. If you can't get one of the landlord/realtor's, use a generic form like . 3. Open up your search parameters beyond neighborhood. 4. Padmapper helps! It mostly just shows Craigslist posts, but it lets you see them spatially, and it does occasionally pool listings from other minor sources. 5. Tell EVERYONE you know that you're looking. A lot happens by word-of-mouth. At least, so we're told.
