The 15 Best Blogs for Renters – Packed with Apartment Hunting, Decorating, and Maintenance Advice

Here at RentCafe, we’re in the business of helping renters, be it by assisting them in their quest to find the dream apartment, the perfect city/neighborhood to move to, or simply by providing apartment living tips and guidance on how to best transform a rental into a home. But we don’t know it all (yes, we’re mature enough to admit that!), so we thought we’d complement all the info our apartment living blog provides with additional resources and bring together some of the most valuable and information-packed apartment blogs centered on renters’ lifestyle.

So we scoured the web to find highly relevant, truly helpful websites — that can save you the trouble of having to filter through tons of results when looking for inspiration for your apartment living needs. To get this out of the way, no RentCafe competitor made the list; so if you’re wondering why the blog of a certain apartment search website is missing from our list, know that it’s nothing personal, just business.

Without further ado, here are the 15 best blogs for renters — and make sure you bookmark the ones you feel are most helpful:

Apartment Living Tips & Décor

Apartment Therapy

If you’ve ever looked up tips on how to make your apartment interiors more appealing, you’ve probably already ended up visiting Apartment Therapy; but it’s worth a shout-out nevertheless, as its absence on a list of most useful resources for apartment dwellers would be dully noted.

Apartment Therapy has carefully categorized its tips by decor styles and by rooms to make it as easy as possible for their readers to find relevant advice in the wealth of resources and ideas meant to help people make their homes more beautiful, organized and healthy. So make sure to pay Apartment Therapy a visit whenever you’re about to embark on any decor, D.I.Y, or home improvement project.

Freshome

Scouting the entire world for beautiful apartments and unique interiors, Freshome is the go-to destination for decor inspiration; so if you’re on the look-out for great ideas on how to make your interiors pop — either by putting your collector’s artifacts in the spotlight, or by combining rustic charm with modern style — make sure you pay Freshome a visit.

A Part of Life

The UDR-operated blog is chock full of valuable advice for renters, ranging from genius cleaning hacks to walkthroughs on how to decide if it’s time to take the leap and move in with your significant other.

With the wonderful goal of connecting readers to the resources that are essential for a blissful and luxurious lifestyle, A Part of Life offers a wealth of knowledge and stands out as a fundamental resource for all apartment dwellers looking for apartment living tips.

Garden Communities

Albeit less frequently updated, the Garden Communities blog sacrifices quantity for quality; and we’re really grateful for that, especially when it educates us on how to best prepare our rental for earthquakes, or on how not to fall for the 8 money mistakes millenials are prone to when renting their first apartment.

Home Properties

Aimed at solving pretty much every problem a renter can have — before it even pops up — the Home Properties blog is painstakingly on point, pre-empting questions like:

• I’m moving to my very first apartment; what basic tools do I need in my new kitchen?
• I’m moving to a new area; how do I find new friends?
• I’m moving out; what steps should I follow to change my address?

Additionally, the Home Properties blog is a great resource if you’re considering moving to a new city altogether, as it provides some great overviews of what it’s like to rent in some cities; check out this quick guide on renting in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

AMLI Residential

Whether we’re talking apartment petiquette (yes, it’s a made up word, but it’s cute and it’s the perfect word to describe pet etiquette), or home decluttering 101, the AMLI Residential blog is a true repository of apartment living resources; updated nearly every day, the blog features tons of advice for apartment dwellers, not to mention local tips for a great deal of cities throughout the U.S.

Apartment Living 

Avalon Communities’ blog is a wonderful blend of apartment living tips, advice and motivation on how to work out more, eat better, and, more generally, how to live a healthier life.

So expect regular mouth-watering posts with great recipes, budget tips, and incredibly useful homekeeping advice.

Alliance Living 

Another blog operated by a leading property manager — Alliance Residential — Alliance Living promotes itself as your life and style insider; and it stays true to its goal, providing a wealth of resources for renters, ranging from valuable tips on how to split the bills with your roommates, how to secure your security deposit (pun intended), to what plants you should bring into your home for a healthy energy boost.

While mostly centered on apartment living tips and green living advice, the Alliance Living blog also features a great deal of (mouthwatering) food ideas — a big plus as far as we’re concerned.

Apartment Hunting

RentCafe

Yey, that’s us! And before you start thinking “well, of course they included their own blog to the list”, make sure you check it out first! We strive to help renters in all steps of the renting process, and regardless of whether they’re switching between apartments, neighborhoods, or even cities.

So if you’re looking for reasonably priced apartments, pet-friendly communities, rent price growth in cities throughout the U.S. (rental market snapshots), and even home and garden tips, our blog is here to help.

Rental-Living 

Most useful if you’re looking for an apartment in California, the Rental-Living blog — operated by the Irvine Company — is populated by blog posts listing the best rental options throughout the state. They regularly rank the top apartment choices, the best local employers, even the top upcoming events in selected cities, so make sure you pay them a visit before deciding on a new place.

Moreover, the Rental-Living blog provides some great general resources on how to pick the right apartment, what to buy as a first apartment gift, and easy D.I.Y. solutions for rental decorating issues (if in need, here’s the link).

BrickUnderground

For East Coast apartment hunters — particularly those trying to find even a mildly affordable apartment in NYC — BrickUnderground is the best resource around. Providing expert guidance on everything you need to know about renting in the Big Apple, BrickUnderground is definitely the place to go if you have important questions that you need answers to; a couple of examples:

• Can the landlord kick you out for a month while they renovate?
• Is there a way for me to set up a garden in my tiny NYC apartment?
• My rental was converted to a co-op years ago. Can I buy it at a discount?

Greystar

A real estate industry leader, Greystar pays a great deal of attention to all aspects of business; its consumer-facing blog is no exception, providing a great deal of resources for renters, ranging from tips on how to hack your spring cleaning routine to clever new ways to save water.

But that’s not even the best part: Greystar regularly features community spotlights — a great way for apartment hunters to learn about the particularities and opportunities available in each of the featured cities and communities. Make sure you check them out, especially if you plan on moving to a new place.

Apartment Blogs for Home Improvement & Maintenance Tips

REMiX

Did you know that rice and pasta shouldn’t go in the garbage disposal? Neither did we. But here are 5 of the most useful maintenance tips from REMiX – the Prometheus Real Estate Group official blog — a blog full of insight on how to make the most out of apartment living (and how not to screw up the basics).

Not to mention that it just taught me that I consume about 10 to 20 times more energy by streaming movies on my game console! So make sure you read their piece on how to save energy by gaming your video game consoles.

Modernize

While many of the articles may be directed at home owners, tons of the tips posted on the Modernize blog are incredibly useful to renters as well (unless you already know how to best protect your home from mosquitos and the Zika virus).

Morgenson 

You’ve probably already noticed what we appreciate most: a blog with well-written, to-the-point posts that renters can put to good use. So the Morgenson blog is a great fit for our list, answering some crucial questions renters have:

• Do I need renters insurance? Find out here.
• How much time in advance should I notify my building manager that I’m moving out? Here’s what Morgenson says.
• What do I do to prepare my apartment before I go on vacation? Here’s a very useful checklist.

What other resource-packed blogs for renters do you think deserve a spot on our list? Let us know and we’d be happy to add them!