🚀 go-pugleaf

Richard Meme (meme@mayhem.com) wrote:
: I'm looking to rent a house in the DC suburbs.  What are good things to
: look for when I looking at the houses or talking to prospective landlords?

: So far, I've thought of checking for appliances I want, what's on the
: floors, whether there have been pets or smokers living in the house
: recently (allergies), how old the house is, and what the last year's
: utility bills have been.

	You didn't mention some of the biggest things (will your stuff
fit?  do you like the layout and decoration?) but those are fairly 
obvious.  I like to ask about the age of some specific systems (furnace,
air conditioning, roof, some appliances).  It can be a real pain to
lose your AC for a couple of days in the summer when the compressor
breaks (and things like roof leaks, refrigorater breakdown and the
like are worse).  

	I always enquire about the landlords feelings on
improvements/changes such as planting a garden (flowers or veggies),
painting rooms and the like.

: Also, it seems most of the private landlords I'm talking to have houses
: available right now, not in two months.  I'm looking to move in at the end
: of May, about two months from now; is it too early to be looking in the
: newspaper for potential houses? 

	You might be a little too early unless the market is a real
renter's market.  Around here most houses are only advertised when
they are empty and at most a couple of weeks away from being ready
for moving in.  If you want to rent a house now I'd say you might have
to pay rent starting now.  If possible I'd wait until a month before
your desired moving date and then start my search.


Dave