How to rent in Nashville (apartment complexes, rentals, appliances)

[emilyrobot]

Hello folks!

I'm looking for some advice on the details of moving to Nashville, and I'm hoping y'all can help me out. I got some great advice here on neighborhoods and what to see and do, and now I'm ready to get into the practicalities.

I'm looking to move to Nashville in August and I hope to plan a weekend visit to come see apartments and hopefully sign a lease. How much before the move in date are apartments usually advertised/shown? If I want to move in August, would June be too early to look for places? Would lots of stuff be taken by the time July comes around? Are there any apartment brokers or rental services I could use to make the most of my apartment looking time? Are there any specific, local questions I should ask landlords before signing a lease (I'm thinking it makes sense to ask about flooding? anything else come to mind)? I've seen some listings on craigslist noting that the apartment comes with a stove and refrigerator--are there many places where these DON'T come included (ie, will I have to worry about buying appliances)?

Any info on the quirks of renting (every city has them) would be really appreciated, as well as any commonly overlooked resources for finding apartments online (I've been looking at craigslist and padmapper, but I'm in the dark about anything else).

Thanks a ton!
Emily

[CountryGirl2b=]

I think most apartment complexes have a 30 day notice thing that usually happens at the beginning of a month. Meaning June IS too early to rent for August. Unless there's an unusual case of someone giving longer notice, which I suppose does happen. In a private home with an in-law thing, they might advertise longer in advance than 30 days.

The only thing I caution you against is signing a lease for an apartment you haven't actually seen. The rental place might show you an empty apartment so you can see the floor plan and tell you that they are sure one will become vacant in August. A friend of mine did that and found out his view was of the highway (65) and the NOISE was terrible. So if you DO put down a deposit and sign something, be sure to add in an exit clause if they try to put you in an undesirable (to you) location.

Pretty sure 95% of apartment rentals would come with all the appliances. Maybe a house rental might not - if the owners moved and took their fridge with them?

You can ask about flooding - were you even looking at apartments somewhere there was flooding? If you tell us where you are looking then we can probably tell you if that's unlikely to happen based on what DID happen 2 years ago.

As for other places to look . . . I'd do a really good search on this forum (upper right hand corner search button) as there are HEAPS of threads that deal with apartments. Best of luck!

[ariesjow]

OP, you may want to check with some of the property management companies. While you will not be able to rent this early for August, you may be able to see if some of the companies have rentals that will become available in August. They typically know whether current tenants will sign again about 2 months prior. I posted a few links in the thread below, but there are probably plenty more out there.

//www.city-data.com/forum/nashv...raigslist.html

Only other suggestion I can think of at the moment is to make sure that the landlord gives you a lease that conforms to the Uniform Landlord Tenant Act.

[emilyrobot]

Thanks for the replies! It's kind of overwhelming to try to find an apartment from out of town, so I really appreciate the info!

[Bryan1001]

Just finalized my apartment at The Colonnade in Hermitage. I'm moving from NYC and did everything over the internet. I'm moving in site unseen on the 26th. I'll let you know how it goes.