Prepared to take the leap and move to Los Angeles to study? Finding a dream house in this bustling city is exciting but often takes real work to land one.
Luckily for you, we’ve compiled a few helpful tips you can employ while house hunting for a safe, affordable, and student-friendly rental apartment in LA.
Plan and anticipate
Before you even decide to move out of your home state or country, it’s important that you first draft a plan that details all the expectations you have for your dream house in LA. How big do you want it to be? What essentials should it have to befit your desires and needs?
As a student, you’ll of course want a house that offers a great environment to study and possibly a place you’d be proud to host your classmates and friends. With a clear picture of your ideal house in mind, it will become easier for you to identify those that meet your criteria and discard those that don’t.
Set a budget
This tip complements what we’ve just shared above. Sure, you want an ideal house with all your preferred amenities, but are you in a position to pay the rent comfortably?
Let’s face it, switching houses mid semester because raising rent has become a problem for you will not be something you’d be very proud of. As a student, having ample peace of mind is paramount and living within your means is one of the surest ways to cultivate this state.
Mindful of this factor, go for houses that are suitable for your needs yet go easy on your pocket. For example, you can consider these Blueground’s apartments near UCLA which are targeted primarily at UCLA students and are therefore quite affordable and student-friendly. With these furnished rentals, you can save a lot of money you’d otherwise have spent buying furniture and commuting to college.
Location matters
How far from college is the apartment? An ideal rental should allow you to commute back and forth fluidly without affecting your schedule. But then again, remember houses closer to an important institution or cities tend to be costlier than their equivalents in a further location. Therefore, it’s important you find a good balance between smooth commuting and cost of renting.
If you decide to live too close to the school, ensure you have a sufficient budget to meet the convenience cost. But if you can live slightly farther without interfering with your classes, you’re likely to save significant rent money to spend on other pressing matters such as food expenses or even entertainment.
Work with reputable rental agents
Like in any other market, it’s not uncommon to encounter rogue house agents and landlords. As such, it’s very important to conduct due diligence and assess the credibility of whoever you’re dealing with before committing your money.
A sure way to find out their trustworthiness is to conduct a prior background research. Find out how tenants are faring under the management of the rental agency you’re considering to contact. How swiftly do they react to loss of crucial amenities? Are there hidden fees they’re not willing to reveal on first interaction?
Additionally, find out rent deadlines and alternate house agents to transfer to if things don’t work out. You don’t have to settle for less when you have substitutable options at your disposal.
Revisit your favorites
Before you finally move into the apartment you feel satisfies your expectations and ticks your boxes, take a second glance. Double checking allows you to truly convince yourself that the choice you made is still the right one. You might be surprised to see you overlooked a few crucial faults or features you hadn’t thought about before. Also, if you have sufficient time, tour the surroundings as well to evaluate the feel of the neighborhood you’re about to become a resident of soon.
Entitlement status
The amount of time you plan to stay in a rental apartment should also be a factor when house hunting. For example, if you’re looking to settle in the long-term, you may want to find a house that gives you a full entitlement status. This can be an apartment whose owner allows you to customize it to your liking or make personal renovations over time. On the other hand, if you’re planning on a temporary residence, homes that offer sectional entitlement might be more suitable for you. These are homeowners that take care of all repairs and developments thus eliminating the need to finance the overhauls yourself.
Conclusion
In your pursuit of a rental apartment that facilitates independent living, it’s important to remember that there’s no such a thing as the perfect house. Be a bit flexible with your expectations but even then, don’t settle for so much less. At the end of the day, only move into an apartment that effortlessly meets most of your essential needs without forcing you to break the bank.
