Apartment Searching

On Wednesday I spent the entire day with my mom driving around the Clearwater area searching for an apartment. After touring six apartments, I finally found the one for me! It's wonderful, it is nearby a grocery store, which is important as I don't have a car, it's quiet, there are children running around (I love kids), and it's in a fun part of Largo with the Gulf of Mexico just down the road. So that's great and all, but I'd like to give some advice on finding an apartment.

Before looking for an apartment, search online so you have somewhere to start, find out what you're interested in, some good parts of town to search. Ask around, ask anyone, you never know who has an extended family member living in the area who may have tried some of the apartments you're interested in. We are staying at a hotel and after talking to the concierge, they recommended a very extensive and free apartment guide, which really helped us when we were driving around. Never just sign a lease from what you've seen online, often companies will hide their faults which you need to know about if you're living there! A prime example is a place I found online which held true in person, gorgeous facility, large, friendly, and in the backyard is a strip club -gross. So make sure you drive around an get a feel for the neighborhood you'll be in. Always keep an open mind when touring, you may not like the color of the yellow siding, but it might turn out to be your favorite apartment ever!