Logistical/life question

[arrowwhiskers]

Since I am a naive fool who knows nothing about such things, I was wondering:

If you go into ads for housing and various appartments and you find one you like, and it says "available [insert future date here]", is it proper procedure to wait until after that date to call and express your interest? Or should you call as soon as possible after you find the ad, in an attempt to assert your claim to it before anyone else does?

Also, how does the whole getting an appartment work? Is it first come first serve, or do you put in your two cents and then maybe get a call back, maybe not, like getting a job?

Cause if it's the latter, with my luck, I'm really screwed! 8D

Anyway, thanks for any insights.

Comments

[xnotyourangelx.livejournal.com]

The available date is the day that they'd want you to move in, pretty much. Not that you shouldn't call if you can't move in that day, but every month between the available date and the day you move in is a month that they won't get rent for.

It's kind of a mesh between first come first serve and having an application accepted. For most apartments, there is an application packet. It will want job information, some background stuff, how many people you'll be living with in the apartment, pets, so on. You'll probably need a guarantor, which would be your parents probably, and there will be a form for that.

You probably won't need to call them back, though you may have to play some awkward phone tag when it comes to getting, signing, and returning documents since you're here and not there. You sign your lease and pay those first things (first, last, deposit) when you agree to take the apartment, which could be months before you move in.

If the apartment is owned by a management company, Google the management company and look for people talking badly of them -- this is something that I really wish I did.

If you need to talk about anything, I'm always around :)

[arrowwhiskers.livejournal.com]

Aaa thank you so much :) This stuff is good to know, but it's looking like I won't need to for awhile--my parents are basically telling me that if I don't live in a dorm next year, I can't go, and I'm too dependent upon them still to just say fuckit and go anyway.

Still, I'll keep it in mind for later. ^^ Thanks <33