Luke Schlenker

Apartments lose big chunks of money when their units sit empty. It makes much more sense for them to pay us a finder’s fee out of their marketing budget each time we bring them a new lease. And this is how we keep our lights on and our dogs fed!

Helping you find the best available apartment that meets your needs is a win-win-win for you, your new apartment community, and us - a local Austin company! 

Our locators work hard to satisfy our peeps, and it isn't always easy! Did you know apartments don't pay their finder's fee to your locator until 30 to 90 days *after* you move in?! The two most important things you can do to help ensure your Apartment Locator gets compensated for their time and efforts are:

1) making sure they are able to send a quick email to any property of interest before you make any contact with the property

2) listing their name or their office name (Social Earth Locating) as the referral on your application--or if there's no place to type that in, you'll select the "Locator/Real Estate Agent" option in the referral section! 

It is our honor to assist you in finding your next space to call home.

We work tirelessly to locate the best properties and deals around town. Our expertise and tools are great help to both apartments and residents. 

We simplify your searching by applying your criteria to what is currently available on the market. After presenting you with your top matches, we’ll double check fine details, schedule tours, stay on top of leasing agents to ensure your application’s approval, and much more.

Most apartments run on a 60-day notice with their current tenants, so we won't see most properties' full availability until within 60 days of your desired move date. 

However! There are exceptions to this "rule." Some properties run on 90 day notices, some tenants give notice very early, and we're regularly seeing new properties under construction popping up. Brand new apartments that are finishing up construction can often see multiple months in advance since they don't have any existing tenants and are working to pre-lease their soon to be completed units. New construction apartments are also where we'll most often see better rates and move-in specials (because their occupancy rate is at 0%, and they need to get to as close to 100% as quickly as possible.)

So with all of that in mind, get connected with us as early as you'd like! Even if your move is a year away, we'll put together a "snap list" for you to review just so you can get an idea of the market and what to expect. 

When you're about 90 days out from your desired move date, we'll begin to get more active with our searches for you (this way we can be early to catch any units at brand new spots with solid rates and specials. Once you're within 60-days, that's when we really start to party and begin deep dive searches to find you the best apartment options that match what you're looking for.

What an exciting question! The very first step is getting in contact with a good home loan officer to see how much you're pre-approved for. If you're ready for it, the pre-approval process is actually pretty simple! Most of the documents you'll email to the loan officer are the same documents (bank statements, tax return, copy of your ID) you'd have to send leasing agents to get approved for an apartment.

After you've sent those basic documents to the loan officer, they'll need just a few days to run your credit, crunch some numbers, and let you know how much you've been pre-approved for. Once you have your pre-approval letter, you'll send that to your Realtor so they know what price of homes to find for you, and y'all are good to start house shopping!

If you already know of a good home loan lender, that is key. And if you don't, that's a-okay; we can get you in contact with one of our trusted lenders who will have some great tips for boosting your credit, readying pre-approval documents, and securing the best interest rate available.

From the day your offer on a house gets accepted by the seller, the standard closing process takes at least 30 days. Anywhere between 50-90 days before you're wanting to be moved into your new house is a great time to start shopping. If you're not working under a certain timeframe, then one of the smartest things to do is passively peruse until you find what you're looking for. This is all the more reason to hire a good Realtor that can use their tools and resources to constantly watch the market for you.

Ask us for our Home Buying 101 Checklist.