<p>When D1 moved in Boston, each time they used an apartment realtor who took them around to quite a few places in their price range in the geographical area they were interested in.</p>
<p>D2 is ready to move out to LA within the month, and already did one reconnaissance trip by herself, but didn’t have much luck trying to schedule showings on her own and finding responsible landlords who would actually return her phone calls to set up showings and or follow up with her after she’d seen something she liked. She will need a co-signor on her lease because she’s moving out there without a job, so my H is going to co-sign. But we need a more efficient way to find available apartments in the area she’s interested in. Our plan is for the three of us to fly out at the beginning of the month, spend up to a week with her at an extended stay hotel and try to get her a car and locate an available studio apartment so she won’t have to come back home with us. But when we google apartment realtors or anything similar, we can’t find much.</p>
<p>How do people in the LA area go about finding apartments on short notice? Is there any kind of service that does this that uses a human as opposed to internet searches?</p>
<p>The first question is: where in Los Angeles does she want to live? There seem to be management companies that take care of building and that includes rentals. Our local papers (the Courier and BH Weekly) list apartments for rent. Some kids Trulia. There are short term rentals like the Oakwood apartments. They rent by the month. One is in Burbank and another is in Woodland Hills. </p>
<p>If she knows an area then many kids drive up and down the streets looking for rent signs.</p>
<p>Sherman Oaks/North Hollywood/Studio City area (loosely).</p>
<p>Not to be critical, but I think Boston has LA beat in this area with the predominance of real people who take you around to show you available apartments.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that we are organized…we aren’t. I’m not as familiar with the valley as I used to be. I would call Coldwell Banker in Studio City and ask. (In an emergency the Oakwood apartments are in her area.) They may have someone who specializes in apartment rentals. I don’t know if there are local papers there anymore. </p>
<p>I definitely remember that Encino, north of the Ventura Boulevard…east of Reseda Blvd and westof Balboa had LOTS of apartments.</p>
<p>I think that’s further west than she wants to be. She also doesn’t want to be in a huge complex that has all the amenities because you typically pay extra bucks for those amenities. I think she’s looking for a smaller-sized complex.</p>
<p>We just want someone to make the arrangements to show us places (I can’t tell you how many appointments she tried to make and couldn’t get anyone to answer a phone or return a voice message, or made and no one showed up). We’re trying to avoid that.</p>
<p>I don’t think I ever heard of using a realtor to find an apartment except on CC and then I think it’s usually for the NE. Maybe that’s because a lot of people in the NE are looking for apts in very urban cities, like NYC and Boston, so the apts aren’t large complexes but rather, more individually owned or run places.</p>
<p>It shouldn’t be that difficult depending on what she’s looking for. The larger apt complexes have offices that are open usually at least 5-6 days a week all day so you just go there and say you want to see an apt. The smaller places you can call ahead try to arrange a time. The tinier places are hit or miss.</p>
<p>I’d focus on the larger full featured apt complexes run by professional management companies. The quality and upkeep is usually higher and they’re more honest (i.e. business-like as opposed to a single landlord place).</p>
<p>You can try to search on apartments.com for the area you’re interested in and then go to the websites of the complexes that appear of interest. Before going you can Google street view and Bing Bird’s-eye the area to see if it seems to be decent.</p>
<p>Craigslist. Also realtor.com, click on rentals, put in the city or the zip code. It’s not all that lucrative for a realtor to take you around to show you apartments. Unless it’s their own listing, they’ll make about $100 for the referral. Craigslist will usually have everything that’s available. As an apartment owner, I always use Craigslist.</p>
<p>GladGradDad - but the apartment complexes run by professional management companies are typically more expensive, which is why she’s trying to avoid them.</p>
<p>To make matters more complicated, she has a possible lead on a roommate (who she thought fell through a couple of weeks ago, but now has a possibility of working out) so it could be either a studio or two-bedroom she’s looking for. Hopefully that will pan out within the next few days.</p>
<p>From what my kid tells me, not so much apartment brokerage in LA. She has moved several times. Never through anything other than ads and friends.</p>
<p>You might want to have a look at Westside Rentals. I’ve never used it myself but my understanding is that you pay a small fee to join and then get access to lots of listings.</p>
<p>Teriwtt- I doubt you will find a realtor to help you find an apartment in Los Angeles. A realtor might help you find a high end rental but certainly not something inexpensive.</p>
<p>The area I have the most knowledge of is West LA and Santa Monica. Westside rentals will have a list but much of what they have is available for free on Craigslist it is just easier to find things by area. Most management companies will list their units on Craigslist and also on sites such as Westside Rentals. I think there a couple of similar list type companies out there. When I worked in that field we would fax our rentals to Westside. It is free to the landlord. I agree that many young people will drive up and down the streets that interest them and take the phone numbers off the outside of the building. Many will also list vacancies on a board.
I think another difference in LA is most buildings do not have an onsite rental office. It isn’t so easy to just pop in and see apartments. Many management companies also are not open evenings or weekends. If the building has an onsite manager they usually also have another job.
At least on the Westside the rental market has picked up and apartments are once again moving quickly. Reasonably priced units in decent areas are snapped up fast.
How about looking into finding a sublease till she knows the area?</p>
<p>Since she doesn’t yet have a job I would be hesitant to sign a long lease. My S went through this when he wanted to move to LA with his GF. She had a job downtown but he could have ended up working anywhere from the Westside to Orange County.</p>
<p>Craigslist and Westside rentals are the go to resources. I’ve used both. Found my last place on Craigslist. It is just a lot of leg work and many times multiple applications as there are usually multiple people interested in a unit.</p>
<p>ETA: expect a year long lease. If you want to expand your search I recommend places on the Red Line, which would make it easy to commute if need be.</p>
<p>Also, not sure if this is just an LA thing, but not all apartments come with refrigerators.</p>
<p>She will most likely be bar tending/waiting tables while she tries to break into any kind of film career (well, not ANY kind). So I can’t imagine she won’t find a place to work within 30 minutes of where she hopes to live. By living at home since graduation over a year ago, and working, she has amassed quite a savings account and it will tie her over for at least a year even if she doesn’t initially find full-time work. She has made lots of connections in the industry…now it’s just a matter of seeing how it all plays out and how patient she is. </p>
<p>She actually had two very positive roommate possibilities fall through in the same month, which then changed her search. I’m really, really hoping the second one that fell through (was lacking some documentation that was going to take two weeks to get) might now be a strong possibility since she should have that documentation any day now. But they are pretty set on the area I described. In fact, she would love to live in the NoHo arts district, but knows she needs to cast her net wider for more options.</p>
<p>We’ve even got the ABF UPack cube set up for delivery here at home in a couple of weeks so this move is going to happen one way or another. Just wish we knew if it’s going to be a studio or two-bedroom place.</p>
<p>Ok…film business…acting? Audition houses are on the westside and east valley. Agencies…the big ones are in BH/Century City…Studios…Burbank, Culver City, mid Wilshire (Paramount)…Independents? Santa Monica/Venice/BH…all over.</p>
<p>Bear in mind that if she lives in the valley and works in the city she is driving WITH traffic. Big restaurants (with better tips) are on the westside. She needs to know how to navigate the canyons. But rents are less in the valley.</p>
<p>Yes, she has already mentioned a good friend (and an acquaintance or two) who works at a big restaurant (with some craft bars?) on the westside and I suspect that’s where she’ll put most of her effort in trying to find a job at first - mostly because that’s where she has contacts for those kinds of establishments.</p>