Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - 5 Things You NEED to Know When Apartment Hunting

Episode Date: April 28, 2021

From rent hacks to finding a steal in a kicka$$ building, Nicole gives you 5 tips to find the perfect place at the best price.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. I'm going to be talking about something that I've been obsessively tracking this year.

Real estate. Yes, unless you've been living under a rock, you know that 2020 was pretty freaking insane. And despite our best wishes and hopes, 2021 has been pretty freaking insane too so far. And of course, this has had ripple effects into every industry, but real estate has been a fascinating one to watch. Nerd alert, people are looking for new opportunities to lower rents, to buy new places, to sell places. The prices of living in cities have dropped while the price of living in small towns has actually been on the rise. So the cost of living is all a mishmash. But what does this mean for you? With so many of us working from

home, of course, we have been really prioritizing that nest and living in a home and a space we love. And I totally get that. Nest your face off. All of this adds up to a lot of folks shuffling around and moving, like Rob from Texas. Hey, Nicole. I'm moving from Austin to Atlanta for work, and I feel like I know nothing about apartment hunting, especially in a new city. I'm a little freaked out about it. Is there anything I should keep in mind as I'm looking? So if that sounds like you, listen, I know moving sucks. I've actually lived in 10 cities in the last 20 years and four apartments in New York alone. So I hate moving. I am right there with you. If you're on the hunt for renting some new digs right now, here are five things I want you to know when you're apartment hunting.

The first one is that I want you to be organized. Like going into this, it feels really chaotic. So the more paperwork you have organized, the more you can actually feel like you're in control. And most landlords require proof of employment. like you're in control. And most landlords require proof of employment. If you're not employed right now, you want to show any freelance work that you've been doing, one or two bank statements that you've had. You should also have a check ready to go because you're going to have to write a security deposit when you decide on the place you want to rent. And of course, a check is way better than cash because you actually have a record of it. So if you lose the receipt from the landlord and

you pay it in cash, you're pretty SOL. Make several copies, though, of all of these documents ahead of time and bring them with you when you're looking at rentals. If you find a place you love, you'll be a baby step ahead of anyone else vying for it. And yeah, some of these apartments are really competitive. So any little bit helps with actually snagging the one you like. Number two, I know you want to live in a palace. You are a queen and you are a king. I get it. Don't skip over the less desirable units though. Oftentimes you can get a really good deal on the lower floor or maybe there's a place in the back of a sick building that you can get a deal on without necessarily having the view or all the bells and whistles. And number three, don't sell yourself short by skipping over listings in

newer developments or high-rise buildings. That might seem contradictory to number two, but you heard me correctly. Look for like that grand opening. Management companies often want to fill an apartment building as quickly as possible as soon as they come on the market. Right after opening, it also boosts its profile, like they can put something in the local paper and say that they're sold out, and it shows that they have exclusivity. So empty apartments, think about it, basic economics, right? They don't turn profit. They're just sitting there. So I would say really pay attention to some of the newer buildings that hit the market and you might be able to sneak in under the listed price. And sometimes newer might actually be

cheaper. Number four, no matter the location, take a very close look at all of the rental's fixtures, tiling, AC and heating units, the floors, the paint, all that jazz to make sure that that's in tip-top shape before you sign. You know, turn on the shower. This might sound obvious, but seriously, check the water pressure, especially on higher floors. Count the electrical outlets. Some smaller or older apartment buildings might only have one or two, and you'll find yourself dangerously overloading your extension cords if you have a bunch of stuff and a ring light plugged in and a podcast mic and whatever else. These are the practical things that you want to look for. If you find any of that stuff,

tell your landlord before you move in, make sure you're getting it in writing that that stuff should be fixed or upgraded before you sign the lease and on a certain deadline so they don't have like the whole year or the whole time you're living in there to dilly-dally and actually not fix it in a timely manner that will benefit you. So maybe it's a deal breaker to ask for that stuff

from the landlord. And maybe that's a reason to move on because your future self will thank you. Number five, get your negotiating on. Yes, negotiating is my favorite sport and perhaps the only cardio I'm doing these days. If you think you're going to stay in one place for a long time, you want to ask your potential landlords if they're going to lower the monthly rent. Like, please, if you are a devotee of money rehab, if you are listening to this show right now and you are a future devotee of Money Rehab, do not sign any rent with the sticker price, period, end of story. Do it for me. Say Nicole Lappin told me not to do this. And I just think that the answer is always no if you don't ask. So you can always get a hookup and you just

have to frame it in the right way. So the first one is obviously ask for a lower base price. So if the apartment is $2,500, you could go in with $2,000. Maybe you'll end up in the middle at $2,225. That's a lot if you add up the savings over a year's time. You can also ask for extra months in a lease, which amortizes to a lower rate. So if you're signing a 13-month lease for that $2,500, you're still going to have savings in the long run. So there are a lot of tricky little things that you can ask for to ultimately get a hookup in that apartment. An 18-month or a two-year lease means less time for them working to find a new tenant, to touch up the apartment, to do the punch list and all the stuff that they have to do to get the property ready to go to

market. I mean, get into the psyche of landlords, right? They don't want to do that stuff. That stuff is so annoying and so expensive. They would rather you stay there for a while. So use that to your advantage. Try to get into the landlord's head. They want you to stay for a while. So they're going to be willing to compromise. They might actually hook you up with some renovations. They might install a new dishwasher, let's say, if the old one was pretty shitty. Ask the landlords if they would split the cost of new utilities or new upgrades if you're interested in that. So there are a lot of different things that you can ask for, but please make sure you just ask and do not sign without getting at least one hookup.

Here's today's tip you can take straight to the bank. Cast a wide net when you're looking at renting apartments. Even if you think something might be out of your budget, you can always negotiate it down, especially after listening to Money Rehab, because now you know how to. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartMedia. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Catherine Law. Money Rehab is edited and engineered by Brandon Dickert with help from Josh Fisher. Executive producers are Mangesh Hatikader and Will Pearson.

Huge thanks to the OG Money Rehab supervising producer, Michelle Lanz, for her pre-production and development work. And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.