How To Find the Perfect Apartment in Los Angeles

There's really no such thing as perfect but finding the right apartment can be a hard task to accomplish especially if it's your first time in Los Angeles.

I plan on going to the US soon but have absolutely no idea where to start. My sister has been in the US for more than 12 years so I asked her for some tips and guides on how to find a rental apartment in Los Angeles. Why LA? Why not? According to Forbes, it's one of the most cities where there are lots of opportunities and is even considered one of the top 100 best cities for renters.

Unfortunately, there's currently a pandemic that makes apartment hunting but continue reading to know how, where and how much you need to prepare.

1. How? - Apartment hunting used to be as simple as finding a sign and walking in to check the place but currently, the best way is to do a virtual tour which a lot of landlords offer. It can be in pictures and even 3D ones or even live video chats where agents walk you through the place and answer any questions you may have regarding renting an apartment.

If you would still like to visit the place to check it out first, some landlords offer to leave the key in dropboxes or have an onsite employee assist you. Personally, I love the idea of just being able to do video chat to save time and effort in finding an apartment.

2. Where? - You know the state, the city, and even a specific area where you want to rent but where can you find available apartments? There are sites like Zumper that can help you find houses, rooms, condos, or apartments for rent. Sites like this make the apartment hunting process so much easier. There are pictures you can browse readily available and you can request a virtual tour. The information about the apartment is already indicated like some policies and rules as well as the contact information of the landlord.

It gives you a way to filter apartments that only fit your wants and needs like if they allow pets, how much your budget, long term or short term, and a lot more.

3. Budget? - I mentioned above that you can filter an apartment base on your budget but how much budget should we really have a lot for rent? Living in L.A .according to my sister is expensive but will vary depending on where you want to live. The average rent is around $2,500+ which can still vary depending on the neighborhood where some areas only cost $1,500+. I'm crossing out the ones in the beachfront since those cost more than $4,000 a month.

There's a lot of things to also consider such as your budget when it comes to transportation, food, and even entertainment so make sure to not spend too much on your rent. Upon research, there are 3 affordable neighborhoods in L.A. which are Northeast Los Angeles, Echo Park, and Parts of the San Fernando Valley.