You’ve looked up the information and compared thousands of apartments online. You’ve found the pictures, floor plans, maps, amenities, and details of the places you’re most interested in and cut out the rest. You’ve compiled the data for 10 communities to finally narrow the field and now comes….The phone call.
The dreaded phone call to find out about specific rental rates and to address all of those “call for specials” that you’ve gathered in your list.
The key to success is in the phone call. The amateur apartment shopper begins the call cold, unprepared, fidgety, and nervous. “Do you have a one bedroom?” or “How much is your two-bedroom?” It's important to remember that even though this may be your first call to a community, if it ends up being the one you want to go with, that first call is the first part of a "negotiation", so confidence and knowing what to ask is key. Not to fret though, we’re here to help you be successful at finding the right apartment home by knowing what to ask.
Question 1: What size and when?
Begin the questioning any way you like, but your most important question is do they have the apartment you’re interested in available at your target move-in date.
It’s a common misconception that apartments are simply sitting empty, waiting on you to show up to lease them. This is frequently untrue. To work out for you, the community must have the apartment you want in the timeframe you need to move. If it isn’t available, unless you have some move-in date flexibility, you should go on to your next call.
Question 2: Do they take Fluffy?
If you have a pet, this question is as serious as a parent asking if this community will take their child. (By the way, all apartment communities will ALWAYS take actual children. Those little balls of energy are protected under the Fair Housing Act).
Unfortunately though, Fluffy isn’t protected under any laws and it’s completely up to the community if they’ll accept your dog, cat, sugar glider, or monkey. They set the rules regarding pets.
They also set the price to pay for the opportunity to keep your child-pet. Don’t choke if it’s over $300 per pet plus monthly pet rent. That can be a starting point for some properties. So be sure to check and see if you’ll be bringing Spot, then see if someone’s going to have to “spot” you some cash to pay the fees.
Question 3: What’s the #1 reason people love to live here?
This is the best and most straight forward way to find out what makes a community special. Is it the walking trail behind the property? The social atmosphere? The famous pork roast every July?
This question can be a key in setting one apartment community apart from another. The answer may be something that really peaks your interest or may unlock hidden potential in a place you wouldn’t be able to see from a picture or driving-by.
Question 4: How much?
Initially, it’s human nature to stop listening if we hear the price is remotely out of our budget. And yet, seeing an awesome apartment in person may actually sway us that it’s worth the extra cost.
Think about this: Have you bought a car that was more than you set out to spend? Have you paid more for that purse you just had to have (but didn’t know you had to have it until you saw it)? Gone on a vacation where you blew your budget?
Was it worth it? Nine times out of 10…Absolutely. So give cost an open mind before you say no to a place for breaking the bank. You might find it’s perfect in the end and well worth it.
Question 5: Do I qualify?
Asking the price question and overshooting your budget goals won’t matter if you don’t qualify for the apartment anyway.
What is the general qualifying criteria? Making about 3x the rent, having a clean criminal record (no felonies or crimes against persons), and no prior evictions.
What do you do if you don’t meet their criteria? You could keep looking for a place with less strict qualification restrictions or take the gamble of losing your application fee and/or deposit just to see if you qualify.
Edited: 10/21/2021
