Five Things to Do Before Moving into Your First Apartment in Little Rock

Five Things to Do Before Moving into Your First Apartment in Little Rock

Looking for and moving into your first apartment in Little Rock is an electrifying, sometimes crazy, and always chaotic experience. Preparing is one of the best things you can to do keep it all from becoming mind-boggling. If you are moving into an apartment for the first time, here are five things you should think about before you move the first box.

1) Ask questions before signing the lease.

A lease is a legal, binding record between parties. Sometimes, the language can get confusing and the terms might not make sense. Or, perhaps, you notice a clause in the contract that concerns you after you read through it. Possibly you see something in the initial walk-through that you need to know more about. Whatever your question is, do not wait to ask it. A good landlord would rather have you walk away with the answers and not signing a lease than see you sign it and have issues later because you were confused about something from the start and never asked for an explanation.

Landlordology has a worthy of review list of questions to ask your landlord prior to signing your lease - 20 Revealing Questions that Every Renter Should Ask (from a Landlord's Perspective).

2) Do a walk-through of the apartment with the landlord, if possible, ahead of moving your stuff in.

On moving day in Little Rock, before you get caught up in the whirlwind of moving in all of your furnishings, see if you can get the landlord to do a once-over of the apartment to look for damages or any other pre-existing issues that might have gone unnoticed when they were readying it for your arrival. This is a sound idea for multiple reasons. The first is so that you both can see what is going on without the jumble of furniture and boxes. The second reason is that once you move your belongings in, your landlord can contend that they have no way to know for sure the issue was there prior to your arrival. If the damage can be blamed on you instead of the previous tenant, the cost of repairs will most likely come out of your deposit when you get ready to move away. Depending on what that cost is and the terms of your lease, you might not get any money back.

3) Ask for help.

Part of being an adult is being independent, but part of it is also recognizing when you cannot do something by yourself and need to ask for assistance. When it comes to moving, you will always need help - with moving boxes and assembling furniture on move-in day at the very least. If you have family or a friend you trust in the area you are moving to and you cannot do a inspection before you move in, make arrangements to have them do it for you. Be sure they are aware of what information you need beforehand.

4) CLEAN before unpacking.

Usually, renters are tasked to make sure an apartment is tidy and in acceptable condition before they move out, and most landlords will give the apartment a more thorough cleaning in between renters. However, every now and then, an apartment sits uninhabited for a little while or things get missed. Then, there is the mayhem that happens when you move in. Cleaning up before you unpack will help you find what might have been missed. It will also familiarize you with the layout you have and give you a better feeling for how you can arrange things than you might have gotten during the walk-through.

5) Be considerate of your neighbors while moving items in.

When you are in the middle of moving in, it is easier to look for easy ways to get your stuff into your apartment. Unfortunately, the most convenient [methods|ways]166] to do so can make it a hassle for your neighbors to come and go as they are used to and give them the wrong initial impression of you as a person. It is their community you are joining when you move in, after all. You will have an easier time becoming a part of the community in Little Rock if you are mindful of them from the beginning.