The Best Time of Year, Month, and Day to Search for a New Apartment

The apartment search process is a notorious time suck. Fortunately, there are ways to optimize your search that can save you time and money. The team at RentHop crunched some data to uncover best time of year, month, and day to find the perfect place.

Best Time of Year: November

Based on RentHop data from the New York market, the best time of year to apartment hunt appears to be any time other than summer (with November being the choicest month).

Why is summer the worst time to find new digs? Every year, swarms of new grads stream into the city to start new jobs. At the same time, the one-year leases that last year's grads signed are just coming due. And the cycle continues. Thus, the summer housing frenzy begins.

Rental rates increase dramatically during this period, from July through September. If you're looking to move in September, you could be paying $90-100 extra a month on a $3000 unit. That's almost 3% more than the yearly average. (Or, 30 tall lattes worth!) For a closer look at the rate fluctuations throughout the rest of the year, see the chart below. (Hover over the chart with your mouse for more detail.)

If you find yourself looking for an apartment in the summer, try negotiating a longer lease so you can set yourself up for a cheaper renewal month next year. Landlords are often accommodating if you want to add an extra month or two to your lease. If you find an apartment in August for example, you should be able to negotiate a 14-month lease that pushes your lease end to October.

Best Time of Month: The very beginning or the very end

There are two ways you can go about it:

First Dibs Strategy: For first dibs on the best apartments, we recommend (and the New York Times agrees) that you start your hunt as close to the 1st of the month as possible. Why? Most people have leases that terminate at the end of the month, leaving apartments open starting on the 1st. You'll have first pick of the best inventory.

End-of-Month Bargains: As you close in on the end of the month, landlords desperate to fill vacancies are more willing to cut prices. After all, losing out on a month of tenancy would mean loss of income for the landlord. At this point the ball is in your court. You may not have your pick of the choicest pads, and you may be playing it fast and loose, but smart landlords should be willing to haggle if you're willing to move in immediately.

Best Time of Day to Search for an Apartment Online: Morning

Is there a best time of day to search for apartments online? According to data crunched by the San Francisco based LiveLovely.com, the ideal time to look for apartments online is between 9am-5pm, when most new listings are posted. According to our data, most brokers post in the morning between 9am-10am.

---

Lee Lin is CEO and co-founder of RentHop, the smarter apartment search marketplace that services New York, Boston, and Chicago. Follow @RentHop on Twitter, and hit them up with all your hard hitting apartment hunting questions.

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/PJrsX_0uH_o/apartment-hunting-heres-the-best-time-of-year-month-and-day-to-search

roger goodell psychosis dianna agron million hoodie march tebow trade mike the situation jacksonville jaguars