10 Tips For House Hunting

This post is for those of you who are starting to look at places to live next year. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of living in residence, so I'm really excited to live off campus this year! Currently I'm searching for a place to live with a few other people, and it's tough being first-time renters. It's a whole new experience and we weren't really sure how to go about a lot of stuff.
Since I'm currently going through this, here's a list of some tips that I've learned from this:

Look Early
If you're just starting to look now... Well, you came a bit late to the game - a lot of people have already signed leases by now. Don't get too freaked out though, you can still find a decent place. Looking for houses is early if you want to get the best bang for your buck, and the nicest house. It's also good if you/your group is picky.

Know Your Numbers
Not only know how much you can spend, but know how many people you're for sure going to live with. Signing a lease is a legal document, so if someone signs and then decides to drop out then they're going to have to still pay, or they're going to try to sucker you into doing it for them. To avoid this, make sure you know the people that you're living with are 100% dedicated to it. Another type of number to be concerned about it the price point. Talk to your group and set a maximum price that you're willing to pay, and only look at places that are within the price.

Location is Key
Most schools will have housing close by that is unofficially deemed student housing. These are the streets that you can walk down on a friday/saturday night and there will most definitely be some parties, or a few going on. If that's your thing, then that's the place for you. If not, think about getting a place away from this, because it's really going to piss you off if people are yelling and being typical drunks at 1am and you're trying to sleep. Another thing to look at is to make sure the neighbourhood is safe - throughout my search for a place to live we've seen some pretty trashy and dumpy looking places. You want to be safe in your place and not have to worry about putting 10 locks on your front door. Avoid they shady areas. Yesterday my future housemates and I were at an open house and a bunch of prospective renters were standing outside of the house and this guy pulled up in his car and asked us if we were the people giving out free weed... then asked if we were a church group. It's safe to say we decided that wasn't the house for us.

Think About Transportion
Does anyone have a car? Will you be walking to school, or using the bus? These are things to think about when looking for a place to live. You can find a beautiful place, but if it's going to take you an hour by bus to get to school everyday, is it really worth it?

Know Your Future Housemates
No one wants to be stuck living with people you hate, or even worse, people you don't know. Be careful that you don't end up living with 8 people - that could get hectic! Know who you're going to be living with, and make sure that you're going to be able to live with them without wanting to punch them in the face - or without actually punching them. If you have a problem with one of your housemates ideas, be honest about it, you don't want to get stuck in a situation that you don't want to be in.

Don't Get the First House You Find
Unless you absolutely love it and you couldn't imagine living anywhere else, look around. You never know what good deals and good houses that you're going to find. Don't settle on a house that is just okay because you don't want to spend the time looking at others. The time time you put into finding a house will pay off.

Are Utilities Included?
This is a big factor for my group while we've been looking at houses. We want utilities to be included in the price of our house each month, that way we don't have to deal with them. Decide if you want to have to pay for the on top of your house, or if they are included in the price.

Does it Come With Furnishings?
Some places will come with furnishings and some won't. It's most likely that they won't but you will find some that come with pretty much everything necessary. A lot of places won't need too much furniture - beds, desks, tables, chairs, couches - that kind of stuff. This can get costly, but you can also do it on the cheap. Figure out if anyone has any old furniture that they can contribute, and what you'll need to buy to make your future house unique.

Get To Know the Landlord
Landlords can be great and helpful, just make sure yours is actually going to do what they say. If something happens to go wrong with the house, for example, if the toilet starts leaking, they are in charge of fixing it. Make sure that they're the kind of person that's actually going to fix things and not just leave it. Something else to consider is, if you're in a house, who is going to handle the yard work. Is the landlord in charge of mowing the lawn, or are you?

Ask Questions
Make sure to take a tour of the houses, and ask questions! If they aren't willing to answer your questions, or they don't sound very knowledgeable about the property, then you might want to consider looking elsewhere.
Here are some good ones to ask:
- How much is the house per month?
- Will there be a security deposit?
- What needs to be payed upfront? (first/last months rent)
- What does the price include?
- Who else has access to the house?
- Will the locks be changed after the current residents move out?
- What stores/things are nearby?
- Will there be inspections?
- When does the lease start?
- How old are the appliances?
- Are pets allowed?
- Has the house been inspected for bugs?
- When was the last time the house was inspected?
- Does it come with cable/internet/phone?
- Who do you call when there are problems with the house?

Good luck on your search for a house, everyone!