Fed up with L.A.'s housing market, renters are turning to savvy apartment scouts for help - BERITAJA

Anna Katherine Scanlon was having sushi successful Marina Del Rey erstwhile she received an urgent matter from her champion friend.

“Just saw different spot that was awful.”

Scanlon’s champion friend, who was moving backmost to L.A. from Texas, had been flat hunting for complete a period and her moving deadline was creeping up.

In betwixt bites of salmon nigiri, Scanlon began scrolling done flat listings connected her telephone and came crossed a 1920s workplace flat successful Los Feliz that she knew her champion friend would swoon over.

“I sent it to her and was for illustration ‘This is fabulous,’” she says. “I’m going to circuit it immediately.”

Scanlon, an L.A.-based filmmaker who besides useful astatine a nonprofit, hopped into her car to spot the rental, which had Art Deco tile, beautiful earthy light, tons of retention and a stunning position of Griffith Observatory — a “rare find” for $1,900 successful the sought-after neighborhood, Scanlon says. She sent a elaborate video circuit to her champion friend, who applied instantly and signed the lease a fewer days later.

On the thrust home, Scanlon, 33, had a ray bulb moment: “What I emotion doing is thing about group find wholly overwhelming and exhausting,” she says. She could move her knack for flat hunting into thing more.

So aft uncovering apartments for respective different friends (not to mention a dreamy 1927 storybook flat successful Echo Park for herself) and building a pursuing connected TikTok by posting flat tours, Scanlon launched an apartment scouting business, LA Apartment Scout. She helps her engaged clients find historic, characterful homes successful L.A. wrong their budget.

She’s portion of a rising group of flat scouts — not licensed existent property agents, but savvy entrepreneurs who circuit apartments, stock videos connected societal media and, successful immoderate cases, activity one-on-one pinch clients to find a spot that fits their circumstantial artistic and budget.

Unlike brokers — licensed professionals who enactment arsenic intermediaries betwixt landlords and tenants, commonly utilized successful the apartment-hunting process successful places for illustration New York City, Boston and Austin, Texas, scouts run extracurricular the general lodging system. They aren’t connected to spot owners and they don’t grip applications aliases negotiations. Instead, they enactment arsenic integer lookouts who hunt for coveted vintage apartments that are different difficult to find without expertise.

The request for flat scouts highlights the pressures of L.A.’s competitory rental market, wherever vacancy is scarce and rental rates are among the highest successful the country. According to Apartments.com, mean rent for a one-bedroom flat successful L.A. was $2,182 arsenic of May, which is 33% higher than the nationalist mean rent value of $1,642.

“To immoderate extent, it reflects a dysfunctional lodging market,” said Richard Kent Green, head of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. “It’s very difficult for group to hunt and find what they’re looking for astatine the value they’re looking for, dissimilar galore markets wherever it’s beautiful straightforward.”

Apartment-scouting services thin to beryllium particularly appealing to younger Angelenos who consciousness priced retired of homeownership, but still want spaces that bespeak their personalities and tastes, alternatively than the progressively communal modular modern unit.

“There are tons of group who want to unrecorded successful a location that reflects the characteristic of the city, the beauty, glamour and drama, that is creatively inspiring aliases conscionable cozy, unique, has character— not grey laminate floors,” Scanlon says.

Those seeking a scout mightiness besides beryllium surviving retired of municipality aliases simply excessively engaged to endlessly hunt rental listing sites, Craigslist, Reddit and Facebook Marketplace, and past circuit properties. One of Scanlon’s clients turned to her for thief because they were finishing their PhD while getting fresh for a caller occupation astatine NASA.

Scanlon’s personalized services statesman pinch a consultation telephone to understand the client’s needs, past she curates a database of apartments, tours the ones they emotion and provides videos of the abstraction and the surrounding area. Scanlon says she useful likewise to a section master guideline and relocation assistant. Since the flat scout marketplace is newer successful Los Angeles, uncovering rates up beforehand could beryllium difficult (Scanlon did not wish to disclose her fees).

Indya Stewart, an interior designer and flat scout, wrong of a home.

(Gus Acord)

Indya Stewart, 24, of Hollywood is different L.A. flat scout. In precocious April, the interior designer shared an eight-second TikTok pinch the words “hidden talent: uncovering chateau style apartments successful L.A. for prices that consciousness illegal” and told group to interaction her if they request thief uncovering a spot of their own.

“Omg pls put maine on,” 1 personification commented pinch an emoji crying face.

“Moving successful the autumn and I neeeeeed u,” different personification said.

“Hmmm yes moving to LA successful a period and could only unrecorded successful a fairy castle sos,” commented another.

After receiving a flood of messages from people, she decided that alternatively of responding to each personification individually, she would stock her apartment picks connected her interior creation website. The database is free and is separated by region.

Unlike Scanlon, Stewart doesn’t circuit apartments for people, alternatively she provides a curated database of vintage apartments for group to browse connected their own.

“I walk truthful overmuch of my free clip looking for these places because I genuinely emotion the process,” says Stewart, who lives successful a 1920s-style townhouse successful Hollywood. “Sharing them conscionable feels natural.”

Miesha Gantz of East Hollywood pivoted from creation to existent esate.

(From Miesha Gantz)

While galore flat scouts do the activity arsenic an independent broadside gig, immoderate for illustration Miesha Gantz of East Hollywood are opening to transverse complete into the general existent property industry.

After stepping distant from her master creation profession owed to a monolithic salary cut, Gantz group retired to find a much affordable apartment. Her criteria was specific: A 1920s aliases 1930s Spanish-style workplace pinch oversize windows, tons of earthy light, a fireplace, hardwood floors and character-rich tile work.

She began posting videos of her apartment-hunting travel connected TikTok and earlier agelong group were asking her for help. Soon after, Gantz, who has a inheritance successful existent estate, launched a membership-based website called the Hollywood Waitlist, wherever she posts listings of charming, vintage studios and one-bedroom apartments chiefly based successful Hollywood. She updates the website play pinch homes that are mostly nether $2,500 per month. People could entree the website for $6 for 1 week and $12 for 1 month.

As her societal media and website gained traction, Gantz sewage connected pinch the Rental Girl, a boutique existent property brokerage based successful L.A. and decided to reinstate her existent property license. She precocious started moving for the company’s concierge team, helping clients successful a measurement that’s akin to her erstwhile activity arsenic an flat scout. However, the main quality is that she could now activity straight pinch clients passim the full exertion process and thief them unafraid the home.

Although uncovering the rental marketplace is highly competitory successful L.A., these flat scouts often foster a consciousness of organization online. In TikTok comments, it’s communal for group to connection tips from their ain apartment-hunting experiences, sharing whether thoroughfare parking is really feasible successful a peculiar neighborhood, if a building has a (seed) disease rumor aliases if a listing supplier was rude to them.

“When group cognize better, they do better,” says Gantz, who is besides a filmmaker.

It’s worthy noting that scams do exist successful the world of rentals, truthful workout be aware erstwhile utilizing societal media. As request for flat scouts grows, Scanlon says she hopes others get involved, tackling different niches and neighborhoods.

“I don’t consciousness protective of it astatine all,” she says. “I’d emotion to spot much group doing this.”