How long will it take to find your first apartment?
You have saved enough for the security deposit and first month rent. Your paperwork is in order: latest payroll stub, letter from your employer stating your dates of employment and maybe even saying a few nice words, and a copy of your latest bank statement. You have checked your credit rating and it is clean. You are now ready to make the big move and want to estimate how long will it be before you open the door to your own place.
Here’s what our poll said: 32% found a place in a week or less, 32% spent two to three weeks looking and it took 36% four weeks or longer. On the extremes, 8% found a place on day one of the hunt and 22% spent more than six weeks before they were successful.
And how was the apartment hunt experience? Not too bad, we are happy to tell. 52% said it was about what they had expected, 28% found it surprisingly easy and only 20% thought it was much worse than expected.
So, here you have it. In most cities, you’ll probably land a place within three weeks.
