Rent an Apartment Online without any tension because now days it has been become very easier. Many different agencies and real estate companies offer databases apartments for rent on their websites. You can see photos of apartments, read the reviews left by other customers, and even book online your own apartment.
While online offer apartments makes the process of renting an apartment easier and fun, it has also opened the door to new forms of fraud. To ensure that your experience is safe and positive to rent an apartment online, there are several details that you should pay attention when you look for an apartment.
Top 10 Things You Should Avoid When You Rent an Apartment Online
In this article, we describe 10 things you should avoid when you are going to rent an apartment online. We also give advice on how to find safe agencies and apartments to make your rental experience online apartment Be really fun!
1. Do know who you’re trying to rent an apartment
When you rent an apartment online, you can bump into four types of people involved in the sector rent apartments. Make sure you always know who you’re dealing with, since the various stakeholders in the business offering services and different guarantees. The main players in apartment rentals area are as follows:
Dealing directly with owners
Although it may seem the most personalized way to rent an apartment, always remember that in dealing directly with the owners, you may find that some did not get a contract.
Moreover, it is usually more difficult to know if you can trust the owner announcing its online apartment, because not involve any neutral party or trustworthy company.
Market online
The online markets offer a platform for owners to include their properties. Here you not have guarantees, as these markets do not check the apartments before advertising them online. The same owners are those who put photos of the apartments, so you can not be sure that genuinely reflect the apartment you want to rent or whether their general condition is real.
While most owners hang pictures that reflect the conditions in which the apartment is located, beware of swindlers who sometimes hang photos of completely fake apartments, or are too old and do not reflect the current state of the apartments rent. Therefore it is important to stay alert while you browse these pages: while staying online content can not be held responsible in case something goes wrong.
Travel agency
Travel agencies often offer a certain level of security, such as a right to reimbursement or insurance. However, travel agents do not usually visit the apartments, so do not know what products are selling personally. Even so, some travel agencies working with estate agents reputation as Pakistan Habitat.
Real estate agents
Real estate agents are professionals and should have a good command of the market. Pakistan Habitat, as authorized real estate agency, works with property owners to ensure that customers are protected from the start. Service integral part of Pakistan Habitat is holding all necessary to collect information on the rental property before announcing online and offer customers inquiries.
More specifically, Pakistan Habitat seeks to ensure that the rental property has the appropriate and necessary papers to allow the owner to legally rent your apartment.
In Pakistan, before an apartment online publication, Pakistan Habitat also visit the property, take several pictures of the rooms, points are the amenities available in the apartment are, and make a sketch of the floor plan, to give customer accurate perspective of rental apartment.
In order to distinguish the good apples in the drawer, it is essential to know the reputation of a real estate agency and ensure that they comply with the requirements mentioned in the following sections of this article.
2. Believe in deals that seem too good to be true
Our second tip is related to an old proverb: if you think something is too good to be true, you’re probably right. When looking for good opportunities for online rental, you should always use common sense. If you see an ad offering a two bedroom apartment in lahore Pakistan at only 500 per month, you can be very sure that this is some kind of deception.
One way to avoid being scammed is to perform some searches the average price of apartments in the places you are interested. For example, if you are looking for an apartment in Lahore, you can quickly discover that Karachi apartments are more expensive than Iskamabad. If you google an area or neighborhood before looking apartments at that location, you take an advantage over scammers. You can also visit some estate pages reputation as Pakistan Habitat proven to make you a good idea of market prices.
3. Send money by means of payment unsafe, or not recognize phishing scams
When you must pay for your apartment, either alone or the whole deposit rent, be careful not to use payment services can not be tracked. If you make a money transfer to a bank account, or by credit card, you can be sure that payment can be tracked. You can also use verified PayPal accounts, or pay directly through a web page that shows certain payment methods.
Moreover, when it comes to numbers and other bank account information, you should be very careful of phishing. Phishing is a very common method used counterfeiters to take away money, which is to try to get your personal information (user names, bank account number and credit card) through online media. Scammers use all sorts of methods, such as fake pages, unreliable emails and many more, to convince you that they are who they claim to be. One way to protect yourself from phishing is to be very careful who you give your information online.
4. Do ask for additional details, photos, videos, maps and more information on the apartment in which you are interested
If you find an apartment online you like, but you can not go visit him in person, try to get as much information you can about it. Legitimate estate agents have access to much information about the apartments advertised for rent.
It is very important that the owner can legally rent the apartment. Pakistan Habitat achieves this by requesting administrative documents to the owners, which vary depending on whether the property is a condominium or cooperative ownership. In addition, Pakistan Habitat organized a visit to the property for rent to see the apartment in person, pointing the amenities offered, draw a draft floor plan, and identify the points of interest around the apartment, among other things. Our estate agents are experienced in this type of visit, and are trained to detect potential problems, if any. The information obtained is recorded in our office, and we created a file on the owner and your rental apartment that incorporates all the information collected.
Then Pakistan Habitat adds a description of the property that includes the factual information obtained during the visit. Pakistan Habitat has even gone a step further and makes video tours of properties for rent that can be seen in the apartment page or YouTube channel Pakistan Habitat.
In these modern times with digital cameras, internet and smartphones, it not really makes sense that an agency can not provide at least some pictures. Note that this visual information available also makes it easier for a fraudster to steal photos of apartments and use them for their deceptions. Always check that the information you receive about an apartment is consistent between photos, details, reviews and videos.
5. Do check the backs of the real estate agent or owner
Legitimate estate agencies have legal certifications on their websites. For example, Pakistan Habitat website demonstrates its membership to various real estate entities, You should always look for this kind of accreditation on websites that offer accommodation.
While usually these logos are a symbol of the legitimacy of a company, some scammers hang them on their websites when in fact they are not accredited by these organizations. To test the validity of a company, you can contact the association through its website, sending an email or calling them. Most of the time will confirm you what information they have about a real estate agency in particular.
In addition, you can search on Google the company to find supporting information. There are also many sites that evaluate and outline estate agents online, as Yelp, Insider Pages and others.
Visit Meet Pakistan Habitat through evaluations and customer reviews (in English) , to discover what web pages can look with contrasting reviews.
Finally, the growth of social networks has enabled it increasingly easier for customers outlining online companies. You can look at the presence and agency feedback on sites like Facebook and Twitter to make sure it is a real company. If you see that is very active in their social network profiles and ensures answer questions from users, this is another sign that this is a real company.
6. Do check the reviews of the apartment you are interested
A promising feature of the real estate pages is hanging their reviews written by people who have stayed truth in them, instead of using friends or family members of the owners apartments.
When checking be reviews written by real people, you can easily see if an apartment is good choice for you or not. To read an example of an apartment with reviews written by customers who stayed at him, look at this 3 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, Pakistan on our website. The reviews speak about the owner, location, and include details about the apartment. Remember this when you read other reviews, they are so easy to counterfeit. The false reviews are usually short, impersonal, without details and unanswered owners. Some of them may even have information that does not match that given the apartment (number of rooms, if there fireplace when in fact there is none).
Another way to distinguish a false account of a true is to check if the apartment owner has responded to the review. You can see in the case of this Chelsea apartment that the owner has written a personal response to each reviewer, and this helps to validate the legitimacy of the reviews.
7. If you pay with foreign currency, no check on your bank if surcharges apply
If you send money to another country with a different currency, there will likely be additional costs. Check with your bank what costs are. Also remember to discuss this with the real estate agent or owner of the apartment before the transfer, as they must decide who pays extra fees before: the sender or recipient. Sometimes you can even pay in the currency of your country, and this will save a lot of money. Never stop to ask whether this is Possible, either for rent or the deposit!
8. Ensure that no added costs or hidden when renting an apartment
Be sure to ask for additional costs when you rent an apartment online. Sometimes you find online apartments with a “cleaning fee” included in the price. If this is not so, be sure to check with the owner of the apartment if you are expected to clean it after your stay, or if there will be additional cleaning costs. Since you’re at it, also ask if there are other fees that you should know, as booking fees, facilities or departure.
Often this differs with each apartment, so make sure you have clearly understood the owner, and vice versa, before renting an apartment.
9. Do put everything in writing when you rent an apartment online
Signing a contract is essential to defend your rights when renting an apartment online. If you use the services of a real estate agency, be sure to sign a contract between the agency and you, that clearly indicates what you are renting, and for how long. If you rent an apartment directly from its owner, always make sure you sign a lease. When the owner copper rent, also be sure to ask for a receipt.
Having a lease is absolutely essential when it comes to defending your rights, and also confirms the legality of the agency you are renting.
If the company works through internet, receive an online contract is also an option, so much as one paper! Before accepting the terms and conditions of the contract, make sure you really agree with them and do not hesitate to ask if you think something is not clear enough. Also, make sure all the details are correct and reflect the terms you agree with the owner or agency.
However, please remember that a confirmation email is not a contract. Although many online markets use confirmation emails not protect you as you would a contract (in fact, not protect you in any way). As licensed real estate agency, Pakistan Habitat always check that you receive a valid contract when you rent an apartment, either if you stay 3 days or 12 months.
10. Do trust your gut when you look online apartments
As a last tip, we would like to re-emphasize common sense. If you do not feel comfortable about an apartment or its owner, not rent it. It’s as simple as that.
Also, if you work with a real estate agency a certain size, and feel that the agent will not provide all the information you need about some of the points covered in this article, asked to change agent who works for you, and not finish the reservation until we know all the details you want. Prevention is better than cure!
We hope this article is helpful, and if you think we have forgotten an important point when it comes to safely rent an apartment online, do not hesitate to leave us a message!
