cookie2112

I have accepted a job in North East PA and now have to find a property.

Is it best to use a realtor, if so how to identify a good one?

or

use the internet as a realtor cannot provide much help while I'm based in the UK, if so what are the best sites to use?

Thanks

GeoffM

If you use the Internet, there are plenty of websites that list apartments. Make sure you read the reviews too, noting how old the reviews are (might be out of date) and how many there are (need lots for a representative sample). Most people will only post if they have something negative to say, so the % ratings are often low.

www.apartments.com/
www.apartmenthunterz.com/
www.rentals.com
www.forrent.com
www.rental-living.com

bilbos92

Morning Cookie2112,

I second what GeoffM says about reviews - we found many that were very negative, but upon reading found that they were specific to a small issue they may have had.
We are based just outside Exton, which is a little way from Bethlehem (from your previous posts) but if you need to ask any specific questions regarding certain developments, I can ask around for you (PM me if oyu want).
It is difficult to find accomodation from the UK, ours was set up by the OH employers and we had furnished accomodation for 2 months. The place was a little dicey (but close to his work) and wouldn't have been our choice - but that short term let gave us the ability to look around and find a townhouse we wanted to rent. Many Rental developments have a couple of these short term, furnished lets available and I would highly recommend going in that direction.
In addtion be aware that many ask for a seperate Pet deposit that can only be paid by cheque (difficult when you've just landed without anything but a credit card and cash - which resulted in a dash to the local Wawa)

Sarah

Are you going to Scranton?

NSBlake

LOL - I think its Bethlehem from his other posts. What's funny is that we have an office in Bethlehem/Allentown and I always joke that I'm off to "Scranton" when I go down there........

The Bethlehem Brewworks is always worth the visit! :-)

Bob

Allentown is a shit hole...but, anyway.

To the OP, it all depends. Looking for a house, apartment, multi family home or condo?

If you've got family or what not, realtor will be more helpful, because of the school boundries.

They'll also be good advice on what the winter situation is like, ploughing, rubbish collection and general well care of the roads in the area, which you'd be hard pressed to find from a craigslist ad.

They cost though, usually anything from 1-3 months worth in a fee, so find out the small print if you go with one, will they still want the fee if you find a place yourself or what happens if you have another realtor find you something etc.

If you don't know the area at all, use one, a good one will be very helpful. Get recommendations from people you'll be working with though as some are definitely better than others.

MoshiMoshi

Yup, we had this issue when we looked: how do you pay the first month's rent/deposits on arrival, when you haven't yet got an American bank account? Our apartment complex manager initially wanted cheques for everything, but agreed to take payment by credit card. It's worth asking.

Depending on the local rental market, I'd recommend making initial contact by phone, if possible. I feel like I wasted my time with emails; lots of places never replied, and I thought they couldn't be bothered dealing with anonymous foreigners who hadn't yet got social security numbers. They were much, much more helpful when I called up in my best Mary Poppins accent.

AddyLaddy

We flew out to the USA with 4 kids and no accommodation lined up apart from a week in a VRBO property.
The realtor we were using let us down badly and so we ended up just using Craigslist to find somewhere.

We had done a lot of research online and so knew where we wanted to be and the school boundaries.

This site plots Craigslist rental adverts onto a Google map;

http://www.padmapper.com/

We also used Hotpads;

http://www.hotpads.com

EJ3

Hi,

My husband and I moved to PA this summer, though not from the UK. Best advice I could give is to Google local newspapers for the area you plan to move to and scour the rental properties in the classified sections. This was a tool we only utilised once we had already arrived.

Our contact with realtors via email and telephone proved fruitless, perhaps because we were only interested in renting and not purchasing.

Husband's employer offered to check out areas, apartment complexes for us and advised where to move to and where to avoid. Hopefully you might have a contact who could advise you.

Going back to newspapers, you could put your own ad describing what you are seeking and when you need it for. Friends have suggested www.pennswoods.net as a good site for rental properties in PA. I think it requires membership.

Ja5on

craigslist for the area your moving to.