Is it reasonable to see the exact apartment before you lease?

[KatInTheHat]

If it's a condo unit or apartment in a house, then I'd be interested in seeing the actual unit, but if it's a managed apartment complex, I'd be fine with seeing a comparable unit. I'm very close to signing on the dotted line to move into an apt. building where I've been in the lobby and common areas and walked around the neighborhood a lot, but I've never actually seen "my" unit since all of them were occupied when I visited (I take that as a good sign!). If it's a managed apt. complex, they will most likely paint and clean the entire apt, so I'm more comfortable with not seeing the actual unit. If I were to rent a condo unit from a private owner, I'd be more concerned since I would not be 100% sure that the place would be fully cleaned (most condo owners don't paint and clean very well even when new tenants move in).

[vegaspilgrim]

With extremely low vacancy rates these days, it's not likely to happen... unless if it's a vacant, immediate move-in ready apartment. If it's one of those, and you like it, better put down your deposit immediately before it's gone.

[Katarina Witt]

I think it is reasonable to see the exact apartment. You can look at a model, but you don't know from that if the one you get has decent appliances, stained carpet, etc. Even which way the windows face could make or break a decision in some cases. Every lease I've had had a clause that said the landlord had the right to show the apt. with "reasonable" notice, which usually meant a phone call and a few hours to clean the place up.

[Prodigal Native]

It's been a few years since I lived in an apartment, but as far as I know my apartment was never toured before I moved out (I was certainly never given the mandatory notice that they were going to enter it), and I would have balked if they did that.

My experience has been that I either toured the exact apartment I was going to have or I saw an empty floorplan (not a "model") and then was shown where the vacancies would be so I could walk around and get a feel for that part of the complex. I was also told the carpet color and any other variations (counters, appliances, etc) so there wouldn't be any surprises. Usually 90% of this was done in the leasing office.

The one exception was when we went to move into an apartment (courtyard view) and were told, "Oh, yeah, I think we have that pretty well cleaned up. There was a flood and then the AC broke and we didn't notice for a week or so so it got a little funky, but we have cleaned the carpets, so it should be OK".

We chose another apartment (parking lot view).