1. How far ahead from desired move-in date should I be searching in general? I see you can move in within 1 month of a designated date, but how long does it take to get a response on the application?
2. Is it worth using a 3rd party agent (e.g. [https://www.ur-housing.com/](https://www.ur-housing.com/) or [http://www.ur-chintai-info.com/english/](http://www.ur-chintai-info.com/english/)), especially if I don’t speak Japanese? Supposedly it’s free, is there any catch?
Sorry if these were asked already, did a quick search here but couldn’t find any answers for the first question (there are threads on question 2 but they’re 7 years old)
2 comments
I don’t know about your second question. We looked at a place, signed that we had intent, and they kept the unit for a month. If you finalize the rental agreement in that time, it’s yours. I’m sure there is a little wiggle room. But don’t expect them to keep a place in a busy market for much longer than that.
Always go through a third party agent that has a campaign going on. You can often get a full month rent cash back at literally no cost to you. (The agent gets a 2-3 month kickback from UR for doing essentially nothing, so they split it with you)