Eureka! You’ve found a place and you want to move in as quickly as possible! But before you do this, let go of the luggage and do some utility checks first so there’ll be no regrets later on.

Yes, you like the design but have you checked if the structure is still strong? Look for cracks or holes and examine the walls on every room. You should also check if there are water stains on the ceiling to make sure there’s no leak.

Turn the faucet on and check if the water is safe for drinking. You should also ask the super where the water supply comes from. Make sure you test every plumbing on the apartment until you’re satisfied that you won’t have plumbing problems. And make sure the plumbing works!

Check your air conditioning and heating utilities. Since you’ll be living here for a while, you should ensure that you won’t die of cold or that it doesn’t get so hot in the summer.

What kind of pests does this apartment have? Ideally, apartments should not have any pest problems and that the landlord has been prompt enough to haul pest control to take care of the problem. But hey, low-budget apartments would definitely have you sharing with some of these buggers.

Last but not the least, check your future neighborhood. You can talk with them to get to know if they are good people. If there are dark characters, then this is definitely not the place for you especially is you usually come home late from work.

Make sure your contract checks out. It would be good to photograph the unit first to make sure the damages are documented. You don’t want to eventually pay off damages that are already there before you moved in when you finally decide to bail out.