Make Moving Out of Your Apartment Easier

Here’s another installment from our friends at Rocket Lease. Rocket Lease provides online rental applications and credit checks for landlords. Read more posts like this one on their new and improved rental blog.

Though Apartable is focused on making finding an apartment an easier and all-around better process, part of finding a new apartment is also moving out of your old one.

In addition to ensuring that the switch goes smoothly, it is important to know how to get the most money back from your old security deposit as possible. Many renters use a good portion of this money for the security deposit/first month’s rent on their new pad.

Here are five things that we here at Rocket Lease recommend to make the moving out process easier:

1. Line Up the Dates – It is almost easier to move out of an apartment and into a new one when the move-out date and move-in date line up. For most people, anything more than a day or two difference makes the entire process a heck of a lot harder. So try to line up the dates as closely as possible. The ideal situation is a move-out and move-in date on the same day so that you can just haul your stuff from one pad to the other.

2. Start Early – A lot of people wait until the last minute to begin packing for a move. This is, of course, all too easy to do. Force yourself to start early and pack a handful of things per day.

You’ll be thankful when your move-out date arrives.

3. Have Someone There to Help – If you live by yourself, you might already know just how much it sucks to move alone. You should enlist the help of a reliable friend or family member to help you move boxes and especially to lift heavy furniture items. If you don’t have a spacious car (or truck) yourself, you might want to make this a friend who does.

4. Clean Thoroughly – Cleaning thoroughly is the number one thing that you can do to increase the chances of getting all of your security deposit back (as long as there are no major damages to the apartment, of course). Spend some time cleaning the floors and walls and pay special attention to the bathroom and kitchen.

5. Plan a Walk-Through – Talk to your landlord and plan a walk-through before you move out of your old apartment. This will ensure that you know exactly what they are charging you for if they decide to subtract any damages from your security deposit.

So – there you have it! Following these five tips should make the apartment move-out process that much easier. Do you have any other tips that might help?