Advice for working out living arrangements/job in advance

In My Humble Opinion
1

My girlfriend is planning on moving to the Bay Area with me this January, but there are a couple of things I want to happen beforehand:

I want to be approved for an apartment, and I want her to be hired to work at a job she can afford to pay her half of the rent before she moves here. That way she hits the ground running- she’s able to support herself from day one. If she moves then looks for a job, there’s no telling how long it might take. She might get one early, and then again she might have a run of bad luck and be unable to find a job to pay her half for some time. I can’t guarantee I can support both of us in the meantime, so both of us need to be employed from the get go.

The big challenge is her trying to find a job as early as possible. But I don’t know any employers who would hire someone to start working two/three months down the line. Which means she would have to wait until around a month before we plan on moving to apply for jobs. This gives a relatively narrow window; the whole point in moving in January is because it is between semesters and if it won’t work out, she can stay at home for another semester and get her Associate Degree there (trying again in Summer to move).

Along with that is trying to get approved for an apartment. I don’t know how far in advance landlords will hold on to a lot for someone. There is also the issue of income- right now neither of us make enough money, but we are both planning on finding more/better jobs to afford living together.

2

I don’t think a landlord will typically hold something for you at all, unless they are getting rent from you or someone currently living there.

We did this 15 years ago, and it was pretty tough finding a place. Berkeley was well-nigh impossible at the rate we could afford as beginning graduate students. We ended up in the Lake Merritt area of Oakland, which I understand is still pretty nice. One trick we’ve found over the years is to track down a place run by the actual landlord, not a managing company. Every place we’ve gotten has been handed to us on the spot because, hey, who wouldn’t want such a mild-mannered, well-dressed young couple as tenants? You have to actually be there though. We ended up driving to the Bay Area several times and spending the weekend with friends while we were looking.

3

In terms of the job situation, this might be difficult. By all means, start applying and just make your date of availability clear. If that doesn’t work out, she might want to consider temping when she first comes, concurrent with a search for a permanent position. This way, she has an income right from the start. A lot of temporary positions turn into permanent jobs – my 90 day temp assignment turned out to be permanent at the company I’m working for now, and I was later promoted as well!