Meet AptAmigo CEO Dan Willenborg

We know how to find an apartment in Chicago, save you thousands of dollars, avoid costly mistakes, and/or get up to 2 months of free rent. We'll also tell you why no real estate expert uses Zillow, Trulia, Craigslist, Apartments.com, Domu, HotPads or PadMapper to find their own apartment. Read on to learn the best way to find an apartment in Chicago! Let's face it, finding your perfect apartment is a process. There's an incredible amount of information (good and bad) and endless sources of advice. Renting an apartment is even tougher because the average renter only searches for an apartment once every year and a half. Even after you move in, it can take months to know if you're (un)lucky. There's also no way to know if we could have done better. At AptAmigo, we strongly believe in the power of neighborhood guides, detailed reviews, accurate floor plans and high quality data, but all of these are only tools. The right first step to finding your perfect place is understanding what's important to you. Reaching out to us is the right second step. Let's get into tips on the best way to find an apartment in Chicago! Learn More Here! "I had no idea that experts never use sites like Zillow, Apartments.com, PadMapper or Craigslist to find their own apartments. We have been fortunate enough to help hundreds of renters find their perfect apartment, and through this process we've discovered a few interesting details. We have compiled the top tips for the best way to find an apartment in Chicago and we wanted to share them so you could save time, money, and get it right every time you choose to move! I had no idea that experts never use sites like Zillow, Apartments.com, PadMapper or Craigslist to find their own apartments, or to ask if a building has a 2-pipe or 4-pipe system (keep reading), or that I could pay for a flight to Cabo by signing a lease on a Tuesday instead of a Saturday. Not All Square Footage is Created Equal. Many people (us included) approach an apartment search with a minimum amount of square footage in mind. Interestingly, this approach still lends itself to checking out apartments that aren't always a great fit. We've also seen a lot of people end up in units that were slightly smaller than they wanted, just because the floorplan was laid out more efficiently. Let's check out a quick example from The Grand in Denver: 1146 square feet: 1151 Square Feet The square footage is relatively similar in these two floor plans, but because the first one has a long hallway, the kitchen area isn't as prominent. If you eat out a lot and prefer a larger closet, the first floor plan would suit you best. But if you like to host and cook every weekend, the second one will give you much more living space. Takeaway: Beware of hallways and other unusable square footage! All available units on AptAmigo have a detailed floor plan to make sure you avoid wasting time touring a unit that won't work. Heat in the Summer, AC in the Winter The majority of older buildings have what's called a "2-pipe" heating and cooling system. For practical purposes, this means the entire building is either 100% heat or 100% AC. If there's a sudden heatwave in March (which happens all the time!) you're stuck pumping more heat until the entire building switches over to AC. If things get cold in April the week after the building finally switched off the heat, now you're stuck on AC! Some of the newer buildings in town have what's called a "4-pipe" system, which means you can pump the heat or AC all year round. Want to freeze your unit in December? Go for it! Need it to be a sauna in August? All you! The best way to find an apartment in Chicago is asking whether the building has a "2-pipe" or a "4-pipe" heating and cooling system to ensure the apartment you're about to lease is up to your standards year-round. Takeaway: If full control over your thermostat is a priority, make sure to focus on newer buildings with a 4-pipe system. If you end up in a building with a 2-pipe system, get ready for 3-5 uncomfortable weeks a year when the building is slow to switch from heat to AC (or vice versa). Want a flight to Cabo? Tour on a Tuesday. The United States has been building a lot of large rental apartment buildings over the last few years and it's not slowing down. The latest estimate is that 283,000+ apartment units hit the market across the U.S. in 2018. As a greater percentage of housing has become apartment buildings, a few interesting things are happening. One is that these larger buildings have adopted pricing systems very similar to what we're used to seeing from airlines. Basically, the price for the same apartment changes (sometimes wildly!) every day. We're not algorithm experts, but we know this system definitely takes into account that people prefer to tour apartments on weekends. This makes sense, it's a lot easier to spend 6 hours in one day touring apartments when you don't have to work. As a result, we've seen the price for the same unit rise by nearly $100/month on a Saturday compared to the previous Tuesday. This means touring and applying for that unit on a Tuesday would save you $1,200 on a 12-month lease! Takeaway: We know work is important, but if you're willing to take off a few hours to go to the doctor or see the dentist, consider touring apartments on a weekday. You might be able to use all those savings to pay for a flight to Cabo in January! Want a First-Class Flight to Cabo? Tour on a Tuesday in January. The best way to find an apartment in Chicago is knowing this extremely important tip: the typical apartment search is highly seasonal - the vast majority of people move from April to September. There are a few reasons for this, but the primary ones are: New college grads starting jobs Students moving to/within major cities. Good weather Because of this, apartment pricing drops anywhere between 15 to 20% from July to January. This means a $2,100/month unit in July might cost $1,800 in January. This would save you $3,600 on a 12 month lease. Don't believe me? Check this out: A 2-bed at AMLI River North, which is right above Studio Paris (where Drake parties after playing the United Center), goes for ~$4,200/month in July. The same 2-bedroom apartment is now available for around $3,100/month after 1-month free. That's a savings of over $13,000 on a 12 month lease!! Takeaway: The typical apartment search is highly seasonal and pricing drops dramatically in winter. If there's any way you can time your move or find a temporary option over the summer, consider waiting until the winter to sign a long-term lease. Why Does Price Vary by Lease Term? Lets pretend we're in charge of a high rise apartment building and go through a quick example (if your eyes are glazing over, skip to the takeaway). If a building has 100 1-bedroom apartments, they really don't want 50 of those units to be up for lease renewal in December. Why? First, nobody wants to move in the cold winter months. Second, if only 20 of those residents renew their lease, they now have 30 1-bedroom units available and empty at the same time. That's money being lost everyday the apartment sits vacant. The more availability they have of the same 1 bedroom, the less they can charge in rent. Think supply and demand. This becomes an even bigger issue if renters know there are a ton of empty units. Just think about how you feel walking in to an empty vs. crowded restaurant. Renters interpret empty units (or a restaurant) as a very negative signal. As a counter-example, if they only have one 1-bedroom available in December, they have a much better chance of getting a renter to sign a lease at a higher rent price. "This is the only unit we have left and it will rent fast!" is a much different message from "Which of the 30 1-bedrooms would you like?". So buildings try to encourage renters to vary their lease term so : they don't have too many of the same floor plan expiring at the same time and they have more units up for renewal during the summer when more renters are looking for housing. This is why your monthly rent can fluctuate depending on when you choose to end your lease. Takeaway: Understand that buildings change prices for different lease terms to give them more leverage to raise rent or replace you with another renter. Make sure the lease term makes the most sense for you personally and then, all things equal, try to have your lease expire in November through March when rents are lower! Don't Forget to Check for Cranes! The average apartment tour lasts about 45 minutes, but we live in our apartments for thousands of hours every year. The odds we get the full picture on nearby noise during an apartment tour are extremely low. On a personal level, I had no idea that the CTA train 2 blocks from my building would annoy me so much until after I moved in. We want to help you avoid this! As we mentioned earlier, most cities are building like crazy, so the chances that a building will go up right next door is pretty high. Construction can start at 8am so it's really important to consider what's happening near a building before you move in. Takeaway: Check out the surrounding area for new construction, traffic noise, and the CTA. If any of these are an issue, seek a unit as far away from noise as possible. Pro-Tip: When gazing out of the floor-to-ceiling windows at the gorgeous lake view from your perspective apartment, take a second to look down instead. You might see some new construction breaking ground. Or, check out our guide to The Best Apartment Views in Chicago. Which Utilities Are Included? One of the first things renters ask when they're interested in a unit is "how much are utilities?". Unfortunately the answer to this question can vary widely by building. Some buildings include everything but electricity (Cable, internet, heat, AC) for a fee of $60-$100 per month. Others including nothing, which can mean you're out hundreds of dollars more than rent. This means not...

Dan Willenborg

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