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Norfolk Short Term Rental Options

Where to Start

  1. Prior to looking at housing (the longer before, the better), ensure that you have established some positive credit history. Your credit will be helpful in securing housing from prospective landlords.

    1. Check your credit first for free. Setup an account on creditkarma.com. Use it for information but don’t pay much attention to the score. Then set up an account on Credit.com where it is not as informative but the score is more important there than on Creditkarma.

    2. If you have no established credit history, I recommend getting a Capital One secured credit card or Discover secured credit card. Both have no annual fee. The Capital One card offers the ability to have a higher limit than the money that you put in as a deposit to get the card. For more on using credit cards to build your credit, click here

    3. If you have established credit history and it is below 720 (especially below 650), see if you can boost it. For methods, click here.

2. Determine some things for housing:

  1. What is your budget going to be for housing?

  2. Do you have a car or will you be relying on mass transit?

  3. If you have a car, consider parking since sometimes you have to pay for parking in Norfolk.  

  4. Are you comfortable with rooming with others, whether they are in the program or someone else looking for a roommate?

  5. Be sure to share these factors with Adam & use them as you navigate your personal home search. 

3. Look into housing possibilities.

 

Here are examples currently available:

I suggest securing an apartment now rather than waiting until the last minute since you will find that sometimes there is a waiting list for the kind of room that you want.

 

Often, even if a landlord is offering a room or house for a year lease, they will be willing to go for a shorter time with a larger security deposit &/or a higher rent payment. If you get turned down for a room or house or it looks like you’re going to get turned down, offer it. Before spending the money to apply for a place that says that it’s for a 6 month lease or longer, talk about that with the landlord in advance.

 

With apartments, usually they have a set in stone policy and most apartments do not allow 12 week leases or less (like Belmont at Freemason, Eastbay, Ghent Village Apartments, 201 21, Brittany Place Apartments, etc.) 

  1. Apartments:

    1. http://www.apartmentratings.com/va/norfolk/

    2. www.apartments.com

  2. Houses/condos etc.

    1. www.realtor.com

    2. www.zillow.com

    3. www.hotpads.com

    4. www.trulia.com

    5. See Craigslist & Airbnb under 5.

  3. Extended stay hotels - weekly rates starting at $240. See an example here, but keep in mind that last time I checked it had some pretty poor reviews. They have locations in Norfolk (1.5/5 review on Expedia), & 3 in Chesapeake starting at $230 (Sun Suites 2.8/5).

  4. Rooms for rent:

    1. http://www.padmapper.com/

    2. http://www.easyroommate.com/

    3. http://www.brickunderground.com/blog/2011/11/find_a_roommate_online_12_websites_that_do_the_heavy_lifting_for_you

    4. See Airbnb under 5.

    5.  http://norfolk.craigslist.org/ - go to housing, rooms for rent & shares available. Be sure to search by radius from 23513 if you want to be close to work. The availability feature was not working for me here, so if an error pops up when you search in part by availability, take that off the search by having it say "all dates".  If you're looking to bring a pet or want a furnished room, Craigslist also has options where you can narrow down by those and other criteria. Watch out for scams on Craigslist and similar sites through these instructions.  

  5. Multiple options:

  1. https://www.airbnb.com  Like craigslist, it’s a decent option if you’re looking for the cheapest possibility and are alright with higher risks. Sometimes you have rooms for rent and sometimes you have the whole place to yourself.

  2. http://norfolk.craigslist.org/ Look under housing. Be sure to search by radius from 23513 if you want to be close to work. 

 

 

4. When looking through options, be sure to check the crime of the area. To see that, look here.

5. Determine how your room is going to be furnished, whether by the landlord or you. Here are some options. 

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