Back to: Finding Your Place: Overcoming Barriers in Rental Housing

Before you start reaching out to landlords, having a solid plan to make sure you are not wasting your time or even worse, wasting application fees on properties that would not work for your needs. Here’s a checklist to get you organized:

• Identify Your Preferred Areas: Consider the neighborhood’s accessibility to public transportation, schools, grocery stores, and job opportunities. Your ideal location should align with your daily needs and lifestyle. You will need to make adjustments in your mind to account for different properties, for example, is a property less expensive, but you would have to travel further to get to work or school. Is one area safer than another and is that worth some additional cost. There is no right or wrong answer to these questions but you need to think about them before you start the process.
• Set a Rental Budget: Determine how much you can afford to spend on rent, keeping in mind that living closer to work or public transportation might save you money on commuting, even if the rent is a bit higher.
• Utility Costs: Find out if the rental price includes utilities like water, sewer, trash, gas, or electricity. Sometimes, a slightly higher rent might actually save you money if many utilities are included. Maybe one property is less expensive but does not include water/sewer and trash while another property is slightly more and does include those costs in the rent. Sometimes the cheaper rent is not the cheaper total cost.
• Prepare Your Documents: Gather your financial documents, such as pay stubs, tax returns, and bank statements, to prove your income. It is a good idea to have pictures or PDF copies of these documents that you can easily email to prospective landlords as needed. If you need help setting up and en, the local library can assist you in creating one for free, keep your username or email name appropriate.
• Rental History: Compile a list of previous addresses, dates of residence, and landlord contact information. It is a good idea to contact your references ahead of time and ask them if it is ok if you include them as a reference so they know to expect the call and you can judge if they will give you a positive reference or not and be able to prepare if you need to explain anything.
• Addressing Past Issues: If you have a criminal record or past evictions, gather any documents or letters that can help explain these situations positively, such as a certificate of rehabilitation or a letter from a probation officer.
• Rental Assistance Programs: If applicable, research rental assistance programs in your area and prepare any necessary documentation to apply for these programs.
• Know Your Rights and Responsibilities: Understand your legal rights as a tenant, including what you are and aren’t required to disclose about your background, and familiarize yourself with the responsibilities you’ll have under a lease agreement.
• Make Your List: Create a list of possible rentals either on paper, on your phone, or online (e-mail or spreadsheet) in order to stay organized. This will help you to rank the properties as well as consolidate all of the contact information and your activities into one place. You will want to keep notes on when you reached out, what numbers or emails you used, the time and date and who you spoke with. Being organized will help you to identify the best rentals and shows that you are organized and reliable.
• Make a Schedule: You will want to set aside time where you can focus on the rental process, this is especially true if you will be making phones calls, you will want to be in a quite place free of distractions and noise. Even if you are emailing or sending messages on social media, you want to be able to focus on your messages to make sure they are professional, including correct grammar and spelling.