Search carefully for new apartment

NEW YORK---AS THE WEATHER warms up and the school year ends, it'stime to start hunting for a new apartment.

This year it's a renters' market in many areas. Low interest rateshave lured many families to buy homes, leaving a lot of vacant rentalunits around the country and making it difficult for landlords toraise rents.

Still, consumers need to shop carefully to find a place they canafford -- with a reasonable security deposit, no surprise fees and alease that protects their interests.

It's not always easy.

Jason Getz, a fund-raiser for the World Wildlife Fund, has beensearching for an affordable place in suburban Washington, D.C.

"I was looking at big buildings, some with luxury apartments andgood amenities," Getz said. "But there were fees everywhere."

Some buildings demanded $50 application fees to process papers andrun credit checks, he said. One wanted a nonrefundable $150 "holdingfee" to save a unit for him.

"Then there were move-in fees, nonrefundable of course ... aparking fee of $25 per month per car ... and a $75 fee for a basementstorage locker," Getz said.

He has since changed strategies, following up on newspaper ads andsearching for leads on Web sites including the community bulletinboard www.craigslist.org, which has apartment listings for a numberof big U.S. cities.

William Friedman, chief executive of Tarragon Realty, which ownsand manages rental properties from Connecticut to Texas, said thatbecause a lot of units are available nationwide, "rents are not castin stone." That means, he said, tenants can try to negotiate a lowerrent or seek other concessions, especially if they're willing to signa lease of at least 18 months to two years.

"We might be willing to put a new refrigerator and stove in theunit, or retile the kitchen or throw in Internet service," Friedmansaid.

He said many landlords hesitate to give big price concessions --say $500 off the first month's rent -- because "that's worth more tothe people who stay the shortest amount of time," and those aren'tnecessarily the best people from a landlord's point of view.

Mari McQueen, associate editor of Consumer Reports, said apartmenthunters should try to check out prospective landlords by talking totheir tenants or to residents in neighboring buildings. They alsoshould aim at holding their rent to about 25 percent of their takehome pay, she said.

"You don't want to stretch too much, especially if you're tryingto save to buy your own home someday," she said.

She urged tenants to get leases -- rather than taking theapartment on a month-by-month basis -- for their own protection.

"It could keep you from a situation I heard about lately, where alandlord was hit with higher water bills and was coming to the tenantpractically every other month trying to raise the rent," McQueensaid.

She suggested consumers read the lease carefully, especiallyprovisions about the size of the security deposit and the conditionsfor refunding or withholding it.

The norm on security deposits varies by market, with somelandlords requiring the equivalent of one month's rent, some twomonth's rent and others even more.

Gina Gesmond, a public relations specialist in Chicago, said shefound a lot of apartments available after she decided earlier thisyear she was tried of living with roommates and wanted a place of herown. She checked with property management companies and followed upon ads in a Chicago weekly. Nothing clicked, so she hit the road.

"I live in Wicker Park, and I wanted to stay in the neighborhood,"she said. "So in between appointments for work, I drove around tolook for 'for rent' signs."

One of them turned out to be attached to a one-bedroom apartmentin a three-story building with high ceilings, hardwood floors and afireplace.

"It was so much better than anything I had seen that I was evenwilling to go over my budget for it," Gesmond said.