Should You Rent Sight Unseen?

One of the hardest and still painfully common ways to rent these days is sight unseen. While the great unknown may have quite a few disadvantages many people are considering renting sight unseen and I thought it would be a great topic to address in my blog.

When renting sight unseen their are some important issues to consider. One of the major issues to be aware of is asking the right questions. No one knows your preferences like you do, so to get the right answers (your answers) be sure to ask the right question. If you know you are sensitive to particular smells be sure to ask about the proximity of the apartment to restaurants, laundry mats, bars where people smoke, or other places or conditions such as new paint or carpet that could produce an odor. You should have your own wish list of features ready such as laundry, dishwasher, sunny southern exposure, and hardwood floors so you can specify that your new home will have these features.

Other questions to ask include the age of the building your moving into, size of the building, proximately to the management office, city infrastructure conditions (so you are not greeted by the sound of jackhammers at 8:00 AM), and since many units rented sight unseen are rented in "as is" condition it's a good idea to ask if the apartment will be cleaned before move in and if small repairs will be fixed if needed. Also its a good idea to specify a time frame for the work to be completed with the management office.

Renting sight unseen can be scary and a daunting task for any tenant so be sure to ask your agent if they have successfully rented sight unseen units previously so you know you are renting with an agent who has been there done that. One of the most important things to remember is you should never be pressured into signing a lease, especially a sight unseen lease.