Renters: Dress for success

The first Renters Rant and we have the most fundamental question of all: how do you become one?

To be specific, how do you stand out from the crowd – in a good way – in the very competitive market for the best apartments?

The question was asked by a very smart and presentable young woman who has a steady job, as does the other young woman with whom she plans to share.

And there’s the problem: two young women wanting to share an apartment see their applications bumped  for no other reason than it’s an easy way of reducing the number of applicants from which they had to choose.

Admittedly in some rental agents’ minds two girls flatting means everything from all-night parties, belligerent boyfriends and an inevitable falling out and breaking of the lease … like that never happens to couples.

The answer, we decided, was to make that point of difference the selling point.  So she and her friend treated the flat search like a job hunt, turned up in their smart work clothes and clipped CVs and testimonials from employers and influential friends to their applications forms.

It worked a treat.  They went from zero offers to 95 percent success.  The other 5 percent? Another trick, we are told, is to offer six months’ rent in advance. Money talks, nowhere more than real estate.

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