<p>H has done this several times including before doing a year-long international sabbatical. It always has worked out.</p>
<p>“I don’t know where originaloog taught. His son graduated from RPI.”</p>
<p>Thanks for correcting. I remember him talking about RPI. (When one gets old the memory becomes fuzzy !!). Where is he? I enjoyed his presence.</p>
<p>I would not rent an apt. sight unseen. Perhaps you could get some information from a poster here - rachacha, who I believe lives in Rochester. I don’t know the city well enough to give this kind of advice but I’m there often enough to know that there are certainly areas where you do not want to live. Have you explored the opportunity to live at the RIT Inn? It used to be a hotel, and still is for a certain number of rooms, and there is free shuttle service from there to campus.</p>
<p>I wish I could live on campus but I have a cat who I definitely won’t give up.</p>
<p>In 1968 my family lived on the East coast. My dad got a job offer which would require a move to the West coast. Sight unseen, my parents rented an apartment (over the phone mind you) for the 4 of us. We drove across the country and into the apartment. It turned out to be a great place where we lived for 5 years.</p>
<p>
I disagree. I think a number of very reputable places will do this. There are many legitimate reasons why someone might need to rent an apartment sight unseen uncluding the OP’s and my D’s as well as catering to business professionals who might need an apartment for a limited period of time. In fact I think I could rent at many of the nicest complexes in most cities sight unseen and without them having seen me. There are some complexes with locations in multiple cities that even cater to business professionals renting for a limited time period sight unseen.</p>
<p>The apartment complexes my D rented sight unseen were both owned by professional apartment management companies and were among the most upscale complexes in the area. I don’t see how being able to ‘see you’ should affect the complex managers from renting to someone. I agree that in some cases in might, especially if they practice discrimination, but it shouldn’t. They should make their decisions based on the what’s on the application - ability to pay, clean credit record, etc.</p>
<p>I’d be far more wary of renting an apartment sight unseen from a small owner-managed building with a handful of apartments than from a large complex owned and managed by a professional apartment management company, especially if it’s a more upscale apartment complex in the area, and this is usually easy to determine beforehand.</p>
<p>I think if you are willing to pay more, you might be able to rent an apartment sight unseen and do very well. It’s when you are trying to rent a cheaper apartment that you need to be careful. We helped both Ss locate apartment. If either had been willing to spend around $1,500, they could have rented a nice apartment long-distance. Neither had that kind of money. For what they were willing to spend, we look at some apartments that, in some cases were not habitable. S2 had to increase what he was willing to spend after he inspected a few at what he had originally planned on spending. Luckily, he has savings.</p>
<p>OP, another thought . . . If you absolutely can’t scope out apartments in advance, go to the City-Data.com forums, find the forum for the target city (or as close to it as you can get) and ask for personal recommendations from the people there. </p>
<p>I agree that price range effects the risk of running into slumlords. I’ve always been on the low end of the scale and have really had to sort through some cruddy places to find the gems. But the gems do exist–my current apartment is the cheapest I’ve stayed in and also the best. </p>
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<p>I disagree; you can glean a lot by someone’s attitude when you meet them face to face. My current apartment was empty for several months before I moved in; the manager got plenty of applicants (because it was cheap) but didn’t feel any of them were right. His strategy paid off; everyone in this little apartment complex is quiet and seems polite and unlikely to punch holes in the wall, etc, whereas the managers of the previous (slightly more expensive but still cheap) apartment I lived in kept attracting people who thought nothing of combing lice out of their children’s hair in the communal hall and feeding puppies cigarettes “to get rid of worms”. There was a merry-go-round of people constantly getting evicted and I abandoned ship as soon as my lease was up. (Current apartment manager definitely doesn’t discriminate based on age or race; there are many ethnic groups here, more than in any other apt. complex I’ve lived in, and we have everyone from college students to retirees.)</p>
<p>To ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad: I stand by my advice to the OP, who is not a traveling business professional seeking temporary upscale housing, but a college student (moving cross-country to an unfamiliar region) who lacks a car, is (admittedly) on a tight budget, and who needs a conveniently-located and affordable apartment building. The OP’s situation makes her vulnerable to being ripped-off by a slumlord. I’ve spent most of my paycheck-to-paycheck adult life in “affordable” rental housing, including off-campus student housing, and I know from personal experience that there’s more to tenant selection than just assessing ability to pay and evaluating a credit rating. I would never agree to rent from any property owner/agent who would offer to rent to me (or to anyone else) sight-unseen.</p>
<p>I researched the OPs recent posts, and I know which apartment building she is considering. She read good online reviews of this building. I read many bad reviews, including:</p>
<p>“I rented there about 40 years ago. It wasn’t the best back then.”
“Rent is too expensive for what they offer you.”
“There were always all kinds of bugs around.”
“Mold everywhere.”
“Very rude staff, old appliances, pets are not welcome–even though they say so.”
“They charged me to replace their old carpet. I lived there for four years.”
“The workers are rude; every time something is wrong, they never want to fix it.”
“Staff has a bad habit of entering your apartment without prior notice.”
“Crime is a huge problem in this development.” (The crimes detailed included a drunken tenant-related break-in, an openly drug-dealing tenant, and an on-site stabbing.)</p>
<p>The OP will be living cross-country, alone. She needs to do her apartment-hunting homework, and she would do well to err on the side of caution. If she rents at a property where she has been accepted sight-unseen, then she must realize that some of her fellow tenants–including her immediate neighbors–might have been accepted in the same manner. It’s a risky situation. I caution her against taking such a risk.</p>
<p>^^ But they’d need to be very careful to not discriminate because of the person’s race, gender, religious affiliation, size, etc. Appearances can be deceiving in both directions - i.e. that well dressed groomed individual might end up throwing wild drunken parties whereas that not so nicely dressed individual might end up to be the ideal tenant. The landlord also opens themselves up to discrimination lawsuits if they place too much emphasis on these factors. It sounds like your landlord is at least not discriminating on the race, which is good.</p>
<p>I think this is an example where there’s a difference between renting from the mom and pop apartment places versus the larger corporate owned place. </p>
<p>Marite - Although these apartment complexes were upscale, they were still less expensive than on-campus dorms - but that’s mostly because the dorms are pretty expensive. And especially when renting sight unseen, I was willing to pay a bit more for the additional assurance that it’d be decent - I rejected some as being potentially ‘on the edge’</p>
<p>Beware of fake owners/managers. Some internet cheaters copy pictures from other ads to make their own ads to cheat renters into sending credit information and deposit. I hear this several times.</p>
<p>UCSD dad:</p>
<p>Same here, S thought the dorm would be more expensive than what he could find on his own, and it turns out he was right. Plus, the dorm would still be a dorm, and he wanted some privacy and quiet.
The apartments we saw ranged from “garden level” (more like basement) that had mold and leaves blowing in every time someone opened a door, appliances that were decades old, walls that had holes in them, to apartments that you needed to go through the landlord’s own living quarters to reach (not a bad option, and the landlords seemed very pleasant) to the apartment S decided to rent eventually. He had hoped to pay less than he will, but he is still within his budget limits.
Other factors (he will not have his own car) included being close to public transport and to shopping for food, being within walking distance of the campus, having onsite laundry and being in a reasonably safe neighborhood. Some of the nicer apartments were in very nice residential neighborhoods, but would have required having a car.
Real estate agents’ idea of “bright and clean” are not parents’ idea. Maybe I’m picky. Anyway, after doing as much online research as we could, we contacted several agents and individual landlords, looked at something like ten apartments, and went back to the hotel where S methodically went through the pros and cons of each. After he made his choice, he called the owners of the places he was rejecting to thank them for showing him around and let them know he would not be renting their apartment.</p>
<p>coolweather wrote: “Beware of fake owners/managers. Some internet cheaters copy pictures from other ads to make their own ads to cheat renters into sending credit information and deposit.”</p>
<p>Actually saw this on People’s Court recently. Made my heart sink. My D has rented rooms from people on craigslist and could easily fall into one of these traps. Scam artists are everywhere and with the economy the way it is more scams are showing up in more places.</p>
<p>timecruncher:</p>
<p>I agree with your points on being careful when renting sight unseen and stated that this works better for larger corporate owned apartments rather than smaller owner-managed apartments that could include slum lords. And even then one needs to look for clues - like the age of the complex, etc. although if one relied too heavily on the ‘ratings’ sites they might never find something to rent since they’re mostly frequented by the negative posters. </p>
<p>My different opinion wasn’t regarding doing the HW or being wary, but rather, that there are perfectly reputable and nice complexes willing to rent sight unseen. It’s done all the time. Regarding long-term tenants, many of the larger complexes located fairly close to a major university routinely have tenants moving in and out all the time assuming it’s a complex that rents to students. If someone’s interested in someplace with more stable lomg term tenants then a place like this wouldn’t be for them but for a student, it’s what they want.</p>
<p>The other issue for one unable to visit the area beforehand is being able to find the right complex with vacancies available at the time the OP wants to move in. One can go there, move into a hotel and start looking, only to find that the more desirable places don’t have immediate openings but they might have been able to get in there if they had committed a few weeks earlier. </p>
<p>Since you know the exact complex the OP is looking at and are experienced in apartment renting, you could probably offer the OP some good advice on what you think of that complex and maybe come up with other recommendations.</p>
<p>To ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad: When the OP revisits this thread, she will read the good advice I’ve already given her. She should register with the Monroe County public records index online access website, and then research the rental properties (as well as the property owners/agents) she’s considering. She must do her own apartment hunting homework; I’m not willing do it for her. The only additional advice I would give the OP is to contact prospective rental properties before she relocates, and schedule apartment viewing appointments for the days immediately after she relocates. The money she spends to stay in a local motel for several days while she views prospective rentals (and before she discloses her personal and financial information to prospective landlords/agents) will be money well-spent if it keeps her from blundering into (and prematurely committing to) a slumlord-owned rental property where her money will be wasted, her tenancy will be miserable, and her health–perhaps even her life–might be at risk.</p>
<p>Time cruncher - it might be helpful if you let her know just what information she is looking for in the public records, and how to interpret that information.</p>
<p>While I would never choose to rent an apartment sight-unseen, I would get one via the off-campus housing department of my college if I absolutely had no other choice. Even if they are dives, they probably meet minimum standard of livability.</p>
<p>My son lives in a very nice apartment. The management office requires that tenants submit an application to live there and probably verifies their financial data before allowing them to sign a lease. So I agree that I would be suspicious of a landlord or management company who would rent to somebody sight unseen.</p>
<p>^^This brings up another issue. Even though S is 21 and will have his own stipend, the rental company required that his parents co-sign his lease. Many other companies had that requirement as well for students.</p>
<p>^ Yes, my adult son also needed a cosigner.</p>
<p>Well we just came back from dropping son in an apartment that was rented unseen. We are happy, but still has little bit of twingy feelings. Part of the problem might be that we did not know and still don’t know what kind of apartment his rent $ would buy in that area. The apt. was clean, large enough, lots of kids live around there, very very close to his school, pharmacy, grocery store. The city also has very good bus service and is free to students. It was bit noisy and lacking certain basic things in the apt. For example unless you have a 10 ft long hand, you can’t use the towel rack. The sink has no place to put anything etc etc.</p>
<p>A tip: We had the hardest time to order his COMCAST internet. It took us several days. When you call their 800 number they automatically route you to the place where your phone is registered (i.e Houston for us). Finally, we went to his college office. Used his land line to order the internet. I asked the sales person about the automatic routing and he gave us a tip. Next time when you use cell phone just make up a number with the correct area code.</p>
<p>I also had to co-sign.</p>