How Far Ahead To Start Looking For Housing

I want to buy a house. How early should I start looking?

Buying a home will probably rank as one of the biggest personal investments one can make. Being organized and in control will contribute significantly to getting the best home deal possible with the least amount of stress. It’s important to anticipate the steps required to successfully achieve your housing goal and to build a plan of action that gets you there.Before you can build a plan of action, take the time to lay the groundwork for your decision-making process.First, ask yourself how much you can afford to pay for a home. If you’re not sure on the price range, find a lender and get pre-approved. Pre-approval will let you know how much you can afford, allowing you to look for homes in your price range. Getting pre-approved also helps you to alleviate some of the anxieties that come with home buying. You know exactly what you qualify for and at what rate, you know how large your monthly mortgage payments will be, and you know how much you will have for a down payment. Once you are pre-approved, you avoid the frustration of finding homes that you think are perfect, but are not in your price range.It’s important that you choose an experienced agent who is there for you. Your agent should be actively finding you potential homes, keeping you informed of the entire process, negotiating furiously on your behalf, and answering all of your questions with competence and speed.First, find an agent who represents you and not the seller. This is beneficial during the negotiation process. If you are working with a buyer’s agent, he or she is required not to tell the seller of your top choice. In addition, he or she is also focused on getting you the lowest asking price.Also, when you use a buyer’s agent, you will see more properties. Not only are they plugged into their Multiple Listing Service, but they are also actively finding homes that are listed as FSBO, or homes that sellers are thinking about listing.Second, ask yourself where you want to live and what the best location for you and/or your family is. Things to consider:convenience for all family membersproximity to work, schoolcrime rate of neighborhoodlocal transportationtypes of homes in neighborhood, for example condos, town homes, co-ops, newly constructed homes etc.

How long in advance should one start looking for houses for rent in Seattle?

All my answers seem to start with “that depends.”What is your price range? If you are looking for $1,500 and above for a studio or one bedroom, you will have plenty of options. As a Realtor and landlord myself, I can assure you there has been 1,000s of apartments coming online this year (this is known as a softer market). These are new, have great amenties, are in urban villages (denser neighborhoods with services). If you will be making a good salary you will have a lot of options.If you are working in a service industry or making $50,00 a year or less, you will have fewer choices. Apartments that are less than approx $1,500 a month or less will be older and not have the amenities of the larger ones. They might not be in the heart of an urban village, could be in quieter place, and located more in the single family neighborhoods etc. You will find these places on third party sites, and yes, Craigs List- so buyer beware.Timing: I personally won’t rent to anyone that hasn’t seen their unit. Corporate owners will have different rules. Leases typically are for one year, so you want to be sure when you sign a contract it’s somewhere you want to live as it can be costly to break a lease. I suggest visiting the unit and Seattle before signing the lease. Many units in smaller places are rented in a couple of days, so visiting after the 10th of the month is a great idea. If you can, I suggest booking an Airbnb for a month (the rates are usually less for several weeks) and exploring different neighborhoods and spending different times of the days in neighborhoods you like. Then you can focus on the sites that work for you.Do you need parking, public transportation, saftey on the streets, shopping within walking distance, quiet, or an active nightlife outside your door, biking or running trails? These are all things you will know by staying in Seattle for a little bit before signing that binding lease and visiting you chosen site different times of the day.Welcome!

How far in advance do you need to start looking for a place to rent in London?

It really depends.It depends on things like where you want to live, whether you want a flat or a house, how much money you have to spend on hotels and, most importantly, how flexible you are in accepting that not so ideal home.When I moved to London in 2004 I started looking for flats on the internet about a month in advance. The thing is that flats can go on and off the market very quickly, so it makes no sense to start, say, 3 months in advance.At the time, I browsed individual estate agents' websites, but these days I would recommend Rightmove.co.uk. There are many other similar webites, of course, but Rightmove is my favourite.With a short-list in hand, I phoned a couple of agents and booked visits for the day after I landed. I saw maybe 10 flats in 3 days, made an offer to the one I liked the most and 10 days later I moved in.The 10 days covered things like preparing contracts, recommendation, cleaning the flat etc.Obviously if a flat is currently occupied than you can only move once the current tenants leave, which can take more than 10 days.TL;DRStart 3-4 weeks in advanceRightmove.co.ukBook visits before you comeSee as many as you can and make an offer

I'm starting a new job in Broomfield, Colorado in August. When should I start looking for housing and how?

You should start looking for housing as soon as possible. There are few popular (maybe only) apartments in the Broomfield area. These include Camden at Interlocken, Camden at Flatirons, AMLI at Interlocken, and Bell Summit. All of these are located around the Interlocken Advance Technology area. These apartments have their websites which have the available floor plans in the upcoming months. The website will give you all the details including the move-in date, the rent price, the apartment area, amenities etc. You can even call them and inquire if you like. The customer service is good at these apartment leasing offices.I would suggest you to start looking as the prices fluctuate and change. Also, try to search for apartments near your workplace which is an important factor in my opinion.

How long before the end of your lease should you start apartment hunting?

It depends on the type of lease, the options available around & specifically your lock-in or notice period.Usually the good apartments do not stay available for a long time. When available considering the owners want to get rent as soon as possible, you will need to commit almost immediately if you like the space. If you do not, it may not be available by the time you make up your mind.If your notice period is one month, would recommend you initiate it about 2.5 months in advance. This gives you close to about one and half month to review options & negotiate. In parallel would suggest you also re-initiate discussion with your current landlord as well. Having something in hand will give you a leverage through which you could get a better deal.