Buying A Home
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Advice on Apartments?
My everyone! I'm new to The Nest and was hoping to get just some general advice. My fiance and I are going to start apartment hunting in May once I graduate from college in May and I was wondering if anyone out there has advice they are willing to share about apartment hunting, what to look for, questions to ask, etc. Neither of our parents has ever lived in an apartment before so they can't seem to really help us. ANY advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank in advance! 
Re: Advice on Apartments?
Congrats!
I usually ask-
What is included in rent? water, electric, cable ect...
Who do you go through to set up any utilities?
Do you have your own parking space? IF not, how many park spaces are there per unit?
What day is rent due?
Is the landlord the owner of the place and who is available to be on call when something breaks?
Definitely spend some time searching and remember that some apartments might not be run my major mangament firms. Where we are currently at is run by a smaller company and I have been very pleased!
I'm in Des Moines, Iowa and have found that some places that have all the amenities (pool, club house, gym, etc) can be expensive and poorly run. Not always but that just seems to be what I have come across.
I think the biggest thing to realize is that apartments are not built for the long hall-they are typically cheap and you will notice things as you look around- cheaper appliances, poor construction work etc.
Think of the positioning of your apartment- if it is on the north side you may get a cold winter breeze and pay more for heat.
Find out about the length of your rental agreement. Some require that once your agreement is up you sign another one immediately. Where we are is such a great deal- our year was up in November and if we want to leave we just have to give 30 days notice. We don't have to pay extra per month and we were not required to sign anothes lease. Find out too, heaven forbid, if you guys seperate or run into financial issues what it takes to get out of the rental agreement.
Another big thing I would suggest: Once you start your rental and get ready to move in thoroughly inspect your apartment, doors, appliances, the list goes on. Take note of everything and make sure your landlord is aware of any little issues- For example: Our fridge, bottom rack is plastic and has a crack in it. Sometimes those landlords can be shady and place the blame so make sure you document things..when you talk to them about what etc.
One more thing-people typically think..I want a super nice apartment etc etc Find a moderately price livable apartment- I can only assume you will want to buy a house at some point..don't overdo your apartment now and short yourself for your future house.
Goodluck!!
To add to what the previous posters said, if you have pets, or might want some, make sure you know if there's a pet deposit, monthly pet fee, limits to type, size or number of pets, etc.
And like pp said, document everything that's not perfect when you move in. On move out there will be an inspection my the management company which you may or may not be there for. They may take from your deposit or levy additional charges for excess cleaning, stains, broken blinds, drilled holes in walls, and so on.
BFP 11.8.12 * EDD 7.17.13 * MC 12.20.12
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over!