How do i rent an apartment?

We are moving to another state in about two months. We are just graduating college and starting careers in the new place. We have previously been living in on-campus apartments, and now we are living in low-income housing. I have no idea how to rent a normal apartment, especially from a distance. Are apartment offices open on the weekends so we can visit there and look at them? Will I have to have references, and if so, can/will the housing authority and university housing office be my references? I have aksed for help from my parents, but they don't understand my concerns. They just say 'you just go and get an apartment'

Most apartment communities are open on the weekends, and do much of their business then. Just call up places, ask them what the rent is, ammenities, utilities, etc. its actually a lot more hassle-free to rent a normal market rate apartment than a low-income apartment- those places get major tax write-offs, and therefore have an extensive screening process and require lots of paperwork. You should be able to use your campus housing as well as your current housing for rental references. Also, if you go to websites like forrent.com or apartmentguide.com (which are apartment advertising guides) you can look at floorplans, pictures, even take virtual tours! this should give you a good idea of the places you may be interested in so you can narrow down your search! Good Luck, I hope you find this to be an easy experience!

The reason that you're getting vague answers is because the renting process is pretty dependent on who you're renting from. I recommend that you look at a rental website like rent.com or apartments.com for information about area apartments including photos, prices, office hours, and contact information. Once you have a list of places to visit, the rental office will provide you with information and their requirements for renters (such as minimum income, credit checks, deposit amounts, etc). It's not a scary process, it just seems overwhelming if you've never done it before. Hope this helps!