Let’s say I want to show up in a new city with the goal of finding a suitable apartment unit to rent as quickly as possible and signing a one-year lease. With this goal in mind (primary emphasis on “as quickly as possible” though secondary also on “suitable”), is there a particular time of the month that I would want to show up in the new city? For example, is it the case that landlords typically want a lease to begin on the first of the month, so that it would make sense to show up a week or so before the first day of the next month? Or would that not matter? (Of course, the apartment hunting can begin a few days before arrival in the way of setting up appointments for viewings and whatnot, but I’m assuming we don’t want to commit to anything sight unseen and that attractive options may be snatched up by people who are already physically in the area.) I’d appreciate any anecdotal or, even better (since this is GQ and all), statistical information on this.
Anecdotal: In my previous (and only) renting experience, the time of month didn’t matter. The landlord had vacancies and wanted them filled with paying tenants ASAP. Waiting two weeks till the first of the month meant two weeks of not collecting rent. My rent was always due on the 1st, so that first month (and my last month) I paid a prorated rent. I imagine most landlords will have this approach – empty dwellings cost the business money.
What city do you have in mind?
I’ve been both a renter and a landlord. There is really no optimal time of month to find a rental. A landlord just wants to minimize any time without a tenant, but it’s pretty much unavoidable because of the need to clean and prep a rental unit for the next tenant. Since a lot of tenants leave at the end of a month, if you factor in the cleaning time, that would mean a new rental generally can’t start until after the beginning of the following month. My suggestion is to just go find an acceptable unit, then negotiate a mutually acceptable rental start date with the landlord.
It really depends on local conditions. If an area has a lot of vacancies, landlords are going to want to fill them as soon as possible. But in a place where the market is pretty saturated, moving in or moving out on the first will be the norm. College towns will have their own dynamics, as will places with seasonal flows. DC, for example, get really weird when all the summer interns start moving in, and has tons of sublets because so many people sublease their places when they go on long-term international work travel.
What worked for me was approaching apartment searching like a full-time job. Last time I did it I scheduled 3-6 house viewings daily, and was out all weekend, seeing pretty much every place that fit my basic criteria. I kept a constant eye on new Craig’s List posting throughout the day. Some percentage of people will basically take the first person who isn’t crazy and can write a check for the deposit then and there, so it pays to respond as soon as they put the ad up, and it pays to respond immediately to any correspondence from potential landlords. Situations where they are having open houses and lots of interviews can be difficult, but if you get a place that is in dire straights because a room mate moved out unexpectedly, or you can lease from an individual landlord that you can charm, it’s basically first come first serve. It can be obnoxious to have so much uncertainty and be so out of control, but both times I’ve done the "move to a new town with no place to live’ thing, I’ve found a place within a week.
I’ve never known time of month to have a significant effect on apartment-hunting at all (and I’ve hunted for a LOT of apartments). Time of year has a much more significant effect. In my old college town, the best time to get cheap housing was in May, when it seemed like *everybody *was moving out. Renters had the pick of the litter in May. The second-best time was in December, for the people who finished their courses mid-year (or mid-year dropouts/transfers). But try looking for housing in September, and you’re pretty much fucked. You’re going to pay something outrageous for a crappy unit, because all the good cheap housing was taken before the semester began.