When is the best time to go house hunting

Searching for a good and rent-able apartment can be time-consuming.

While searching for an apartment, most people often get desperate and don't really take time to inspect the house they are paying for.

You move into such an apartment and then find out that the water is not running and the toilet facility isn't working properly.

This should not happen to you. When renting an apartment, don't get too desperate and don't make any hasty decision.

Again, if you aren't sure about the best time to go house-hunting, you should find these three tips helpful.

1. Weekend

In order to avoid making hasty decisions about renting an apartment, it is better you do the house hunting on weekends, preferably Saturday. This allows you to relax and inspect any apartment your agent takes you to.

You can check the apartment facilities from Kitchen to toilets. Check if there's a need to fix anything in the house and speak to the agent or the Landlord about it. If it takes you the whole weekend to do this, please do, I am sure you won't regret spending the whole weekend inspecting the apartment you like.

2. When the weather is fair

While you choose to go house-hunting with your agent on a Saturday, ensure the weather is fair enough to allow you to move everywhere you want.

However, if you are looking for an apartment in a city like Lagos, it is better you consider a rainy day. This is to ensure you're not getting a place that has flood issues when it rains.

Agents will downplay flooding issues as much as they can, but don't believe them.

3. When you are financially ready

If you're not financially ready to get an apartment, don't bother to look for one, because no landlord will allow you to move in when your rent is incomplete.

Apart from the rent, you must also prepare for other charges like agreement and commission fee, which may cost you N100k or N150k depending on the area. There's also a damage or caution fee which is said to be refundable after you decide to move out.

Thinking of renting a property in Lagos, then Visit privateproperty.com.ng to see a list of great properties you can rent in your preferred location.