Tips for Finding a Rental Apartment

After moving into his rental apartment in San Francisco, Joshua Nicholas found out the hard way that checking out his apartment manager was just as important as checking out the neighbors.

Nicholas expected thin walls and ceilings, but soon after moving into his ground-floor rental apartment, he found that the woman living above him cranked her stereo at the oddest hours. After weeks of politely asking her to turn it down, or off, he gave up and asked the manager for help. The manager didn't help, and the noise continued, forcing Nicholas to move out a few months later.

While Nicholas didn't do his homework on researching his landlord, or upstairs neighbor, due diligence is important when apartment rental hunting. After all, finding an apartment to rent is easy, there are plenty of rental apartments to choose from. But don't let the the ease of finding a vacant apartment to rent fool you -- it could be the apartment from hell full of problems that you won't find without doing some homework first.