Spring is right around the corner, and it’s also prime time for apartment hunting.

But as the housing market changes yet again, renters are still trying to keep up with prices and availability.

What You Need To Know

  • Springtime is prime time for many shopping for apartments

  • The housing market is cooling off, which means there are more homeowners and more apartments for rent

  • Zoe McDonald and her sister Tally are looking for a new apartment

  •  The McDonald sisters say it's still challenging finding an apartment that's available and within their budgets

“I feel like a lot of places, once they’re posted, they’re swept up almost as soon as they’re posted,” Zoe McDonald said.

McDonald is on the hunt for a new apartment for her and her sister, Tally. 

“The places that I am finding that say are like a grand a month are the ones with off-street parking, large bedrooms, maybe even like an additional room like a home office,” she said.

McDonald says these are all priorities for working from home, but adapting to higher prices and more demand has been challenging. 

“On average, we’re looking at like $100-200 extra per person a month from last year,” McDonald said, "which is unfortunate, but it’s just kind of the world we’re living in, especially with renting.”

She says she’s already visited a handful of apartments this spring, with no luck. She says just getting a chance to tour a new place is exciting.

“I’m going to meet my sister right now at this really nice apartment,” she said. “We found a nice updated kitchen and appliances, off-street parking, laundry in-unit, and it has room for a home office. I’m very, very excited about this one. This one checks everything on my list. So I feel high expectations and hopefully, they live up to them.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have made money selling their homes and moving into apartments, but that can make the hunt for a new apartment more difficult for renters like the McDonald sisters.

Joe Massaad has been a landlord in Rochester for eight years and has recently renovated his properties. During the pandemic, Massaad witnessed a spike in mortgage rates for homeowners. But he says even though rates have dropped in 2023, renters have not seen that change.

"There are less apartments out there available for new renters, which means prices are going to go even higher,” Massaad said. “There’s so much demand for apartments, a lot less supply. Same thing with buying a house.”

Massaad explains the demand for apartments is still on the rise. The week he listed his property, he scheduled nearly 25 tours.

"This is a phenomenal property,” he said. “But that’s the thing. Properties like this get snatched up so fast.”

McDonald says this is a reoccurring issue. Massaad says the girls are looking for their June 1 lease at a good time, but in order to get a leg up in the application process, he says renters should offer stability.

"If you really are looking to move in right away, you have to negotiate and give something to the landlord that actually would want to choose you,” Massaad said. “That makes it more convenient for them to actually choose you as a renter. Longer leases, maybe more money.”

Massaad explains it's also becoming more common for renters to pay double rent to have an overlap between their current place and their new home. He gave his advice to the McDonald sisters, who are hoping their more competitive offer will keep up with the competition in the market.

"We're really excited,” McDonald said. “So he did say that he had a few other tours scheduled, but we got an application. We're going to put that in as soon as possible, so fingers crossed.”