The Old Woman lived in a shoe bc she HATED apartment hunting

What advice do you all have about apartment hunting? I thought this was supposed to be fun or at least insightful not trauma inducing.

I recently spent a weekend immersed in property listings, rude realtors, apartments and condos with ?no parking?, and weirdly timed apartment tours of apartments that I DID NOT ASK TO SEE.

I hated it.

You all know I love research. You know I love pictures. I am very picky with what I like – meaning I know EXACTLY what I want and I do not deviate. Finally, I really appreciate respect given to me at all times.

All of that to say, this past weekend was not one of my favorites. It was a stressful weekend in a long line of stressful weekends that I would not like to do again. Like I hate it here.

I used Zumper, Apartment Guide, Domu, ApartmentFinder, AptAmigo and even Craigslist. I used word of mouth and even straight up walked into apartment buildings and asked to see some spots. Some of it turned out to be fruitful. A lot of those calls, texts, and cold calls lead to dead ends. So I wanted to turn to you all: What is your go-to site to look for places? Are you as stubborn as me? How early do you like to look for apartments before you want to move in? What is your most interesting apartment hunting story?

I recently saw a place that was billed as being a spacious one bedroom that was literally 425 sq. ft. and yes it did have a separate bedroom and a weirdly large bathroom but brand new appliances so I should be grateful! I was so upset I wanted to leave right away.

Ugh.

What can I do better next time? What are your tips and tricks?

PS: You know me so don’t tell me to be more flexible with what I want