5 Key Features to Check for When Hunting for a New Apartment

When you're looking for a new apartment, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all of your options. Unfortunately, that means you might overlook a few key features during your search for the perfect abode. Whether this is your first apartment or your fifth, here are a few key features you need to look for during your search.

Location

While this feature isn't inside the apartment itself, it's still one of the first things you need to look at when you decide to tour a unit you like. When you're looking at location, you need to consider more than being in an ideal neighborhood. First, consider what's important to you. If you use public transportation every day, check whether or not there's a bus stop within walking distance. Hate driving long distances to get groceries? Make sure there's a supermarket or local grocery store within five minutes of the place you're touring. Location is about more than being in the next up and coming neighborhood!

Storage

Storage space is a crucial feature to look for when you're apartment hunting. The apartment you're touring might have enough space for you and your larger pieces of furniture, but will it have enough space for your kitchen equipment, knick-knacks, plants, bins, and other extraneous belongings? Before you commit to any of the apartments you're looking at, make sure you ask about storage space and make a point to look at it during your tour. Not only can this help you make a better decision for yourself space-wise, but it can save you a lot of trouble in the long run when you need to organize your belongings.

Appliances

Some appliances might not be essential, but if they're important to you then you should absolutely make a point to ask about them. If you, like 62% of millennial homebuyers, care about granite countertops, you'd ask about them. The same goes for appliances like dishwashers and laundry machines. If you hate washing dishes by hand, then ask about whether there are any available units with that appliance. Can't carry laundry to the nearest laundromat? Ask about in-building or in-unit laundry appliances. It might seem forward to ask about these things, but you'll thank yourself later.

Parking

If you own a car, parking should be one of the first features you ask about when you're looking at a new apartment. The last thing you want is to sign a lease and only have metered parking for miles in all directions. Since almost 85% of the nation's homes were built before 1980, it's not far off to imagine the state of some of the nation's apartment complexes. If off-street parking really matters to you, it's possible to ask whether your rent will include fees for garage parking or if there's a parking garage nearby.

Security

Security should be top of mind at all times when you're looking at an apartment. There are a few key things to check for when you want to know about apartment security.

  • Are there locks on the windows?

  • Is the entrance to your building locked?

  • Does your apartment door lock?

  • Who has access to your apartment?

Checking on these things can help you make sure that the place you're looking at to live is truly secure and safe from intrusion. In addition, it's a good idea to check the landlord's policy on apartment entry. Will they contact you in advance when they need to come in and check on something or make a repair? That's just as much a matter of security as anything else.

When over 90% of real estate transactions happen via the MLS, finding apartments to look at isn't the problem. Rather, knowing what to look for once you arrive for your tour is the bigger issue. Don't forget to check for these features the next time you move.