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Practical tips for your housing search

Short guides you can use today. Nothing to sign up for, nothing to finish in one sitting.

Watch: the rental application guideA short walkthrough of the same three-level approach below.

Shortcut to filling out housing application forms

Start by reading through the whole form and marking anything you don't know the answer to yet — you'll come back to those. Then work the form in three passes, easiest first. Most people finish about three-quarters of an application in under 15 minutes this way.

  1. Level 1

    No-lookup

    · Do these first

    Everything you already carry in your head. Fast wins that build momentum.

    • Your name
    • Phone number
    • Email address
    • Apartment size you're looking for
    • Car make and model
    • All the yes/no questions
    • “How did you hear about us?”
  2. Level 2

    Simple-lookup

    · Do these next

    A quick check of your wallet, your phone, or a search engine gets you each of these.

    • Driver's license number (from your card)
    • How long you've lived at your current address
    • Addresses from the past 5 years
    • Your employer's address (a quick search usually finds it)
    • Social Security numbers and birthdates for anyone else on the application — text them to ask
  3. Level 3

    Hard-lookup

    · Save these for last

    The parts that take digging. By the time you reach them, most of the form is already done.

    • Detailed income information (pay stubs, benefit letters, multiple income sources)
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