{"id":11045,"date":"2012-02-17T12:06:38","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T17:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/UpbeaT\/?p=11045"},"modified":"2012-02-17T12:06:38","modified_gmt":"2012-02-17T17:06:38","slug":"housing-housing-but-not-a-room-to-spare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2012\/02\/17\/housing-housing-but-not-a-room-to-spare\/","title":{"rendered":"Housing, Housing, Everywhere…"},"content":{"rendered":"So lately I've been pondering what my future is going to look like as I get set to graduate in.... 8 weeks, 2 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes, and 12 seconds, 11, 10... \u00a0But who's counting?\n\nRegardless of how excited I am to graduate, the end of the school year always means big changes and challenges. And the biggest item on my agenda at the moment, is where I'm going to live for the summer and beyond, as my four longtime roommates prepare to move on with their lives: to grad school, back home, and in to their new condos financed by their first real paycheques. Of course, I, like many current students and recent graduates still need to find a decent and more importantly, affordable apartment, hopefully with a landlord that doesn't ignore me when I'm locked out, or when the heat's on the fritz in the dead of winter.\n\nIn any case, here are some tips on how you should go about finding your next dream home (read: reasonably-priced-beer-ponging-student-palace):\n\nCheck Early, Check Often<\/strong>\n\nThe most important thing to be when you're apartment hunting, is first. Start looking for a place well in advance of your proposed move-in date. Most listings go up about two months before their move-in date - that's how much notice current tenants need to give their landlords if they plan on moving out \u2014 but I'd recommend you start looking a month before that. This way you'll beat most students who will undoubtedly also be looking for a place to stay from May and\/or September.\n\nThe next thing I'd suggest is that you check online housing databases often, and by often I mean obsessively. If you really want to find a great place, you don't want to miss anything.\n\nAct Fast!<\/strong>\n\nWhen you a see a listing that you fancy, give the landlord a call (you know, on the phone) and arrange a viewing. Forget emailing, real estate agents and landlords get a lot of emails so you'll be lucky to hear from them within 48 hours. By that time, it's not unlikely that the listing may already be on the way out. And if you see a place that you like, make sure you get your application in as soon as possible. I had a situation when I first moved out of residence where my roommates and I found a great new renovated place, close to campus and with all the amenities that we could hope for. We stalled, took a week to get our stuff together, and by then, it was long gone.\u00a0It may even be beneficial for you to get your documents together before you even start looking. Landlords will usually ask for a job letter and your last two paystubs (if you support yourself), or proof of financial support from your parents or guardian (they'll also need to cosign the lease), a credit check, and first and last month's rent.\n\nThe Best of the Rest<\/strong>\n\nSo as I take it you already know about apartment hunting goldmines on craigslist<\/a> and through housing services<\/a> at U of T, I've found a few extremely valuable websites with a different approach to the house-hunting game.\n