The post-grad moving guide nobody gave you

Your broker is quite possibly the worst person on the planet. Your situationship is a close second.

Jun 11, 2026

Congratulations, you graduated! You’re educated, you’re f*cking broke, and some landlord is about to ask you to prove your entire financial existence just for the privilege of renting a “cozy” 400 square foot apartment that’s “full of character.” (The character being a radiator that sounds like it’s grieving a divorce.)

First apartment season is here, and I’m here — hi, I’m Ariel, a real, certified CPA to some of your favorite influencers! — to tell you everything you need to know before you smash that DocuSign, have a breakdown in an IKEA parking lot, or hand anyone a single dollar of your work-study savings.

How much money do you actually need (right now and like, in general)

The romanticized version of getting your first apartment does not include the math. Upfront, you’ll need the first month’s rent, the last month’s rent, and a security deposit — that’s three months’ rent due on day one. Yay. On a $2,000/month apartment, you’re looking at $6,000 before you’ve hired a mover or a TaskRabbit to assemble the furniture you didn’t realize required power tools.

Then there’s the income requirement. Brace for impact. In NYC, most landlords require you to make 40x the monthly rent at a minimum. So, on our same $2,000/month apartment, you need to make $80,000 just to qualify. Outside NYC, most landlords use the 3x rule. This means your monthly income should be three times the rent — which is slightly less brutal, but still a reality check for a starting salary.

Don’t meet the threshold? A guarantor is your best option. Basically, someone who co-signs your lease and agrees to cover rent if you can’t. In NYC, they typically need to make 80x the monthly rent, which is why this conversation usually ends with you calling a parent. In most other cities, the bar is lower, but they’ll still need solid income and good credit, so don’t ask someone on a whim.

Keep a small savings buffer if you can. Something will absolutely go wrong, and even $500 sitting untouched will save your entire nervous system the first time you get locked out at 2am because everyone assumed someone else had their keys.

How to prepare for the apartment showings (be ready to sacrifice a small piece of your soul at minimum)

Here is what nobody tells you about apartment showings – you are not just touring an apartment, you are auditioning for the privilege of paying someone else’s mortgage. Come prepared. That means having your documents ready before you even walk in the door. These typically include pay stubs, bank statements, a letter of employment, tax returns, and your ID. In a competitive market, the person who gets the apartment is often just the person who applied fastest.

Now, the apartments themselves. The listing said “cozy,” which means you will need to turn sideways to get past the bed. “Charming original details” means the radiator sounds like it’s processing something emotionally. “Natural light” means one window faces a brick wall, but technically, the sun still exists. Go in with your eyes open, a list of actual questions (is heat included, when was the last inspection, how do you reach the super), and a healthy emotional detachment from anything you’ve seen on Pinterest.

How to split the rent so you don’t fucking hate your roommates for the next year

More friendships have been destroyed by the “your room has a bigger closet” conversation than actual betrayals. This is the conversation to have up front before signing the lease. Not after three months have gone by and you’re ready to murder your roommate in her sleep because her room is six inches closer to the bathroom.

There are two schools of thought here — equal split or proportional split. Equal split is simple; even if someone is living in a glorified closet, you all pay the same amount of rent. If you’re going this route, I’d recommend using a randomizer unless someone is volunteering as a tribute. Alternatively, you could split the rent based on the room size or perks – bigger room, bigger closet, private bathroom, etc., would pay more in rent.

Either way is totally fine as long as everyone is on the same page. Put processes in place early on. Use tools like Splitwise for utilities and rent. Decide who is paying the landlord monthly. Determine what happens if someone pays late. It sounds so intense for a friend group, but it’s way easier than the passive-aggressive group chats months later.

Your broker is quite possibly the worst person on the planet (except for maybe your 14-month situationship that you can’t quite kick)

Your broker will love-bomb you, text you listings at midnight, and then give you attitude when you decline to sign a lease for a 6th-floor walk-up sight unseen…

There are some recent updates in major cities that you should be aware of regarding broker fees. NYC and Boston just passed laws that prohibit brokers from charging renter fees.

Previously, they were able to charge 15% of the annual rent just to show you an apartment you found all by yourself on StreetEasy. This is steep. On a $3,000/month apartment, the broker fee would be $5,400 due up front.

The bad news is that the owners said, “cute new law, lol,” and just increased the monthly rent. Some brokers are trying to scheme the system and trying to get you to pay a one-time fee to lower your monthly rent, calling it a “forever fee”. Just watch out, ask questions, and do your research.

Everywhere else (Chicago, LA, SF) was already way ahead of this trend. So you’re safe there. Phew.

Look, your first apartment will not be perfect. The walls will be thin, something will break at an inconvenient time, and you will have at least one house meeting that gets uncomfortably real. But getting there informed — knowing the numbers, having the awkward money conversations early, and walking into every showing with your documents and your skepticism — makes the difference between stressed and completely blindsided.

And honestly? Five years from now, you won’t remember the broker’s fee, the security deposit, or the moving truck that was two hours late. You’ll remember the first night you and your friends ordered pizza and drank White Claws on the floor because you didn’t have furniture yet. The 2am kitchen conversations after you told that guy from the bar he couldn’t sleep over. The chaos of building something that was entirely yours. The money stuff is just the price of admission.

You’ve got this. Probably.

Ariel LaFond is a CPA, fractional CFO, and tax planning expert that provides all financial concierge services. She founded her firm after becoming a celebrity CPA (yes, it’s a thing), and quickly realized that even the most high-powered clients struggle when it comes to their finances. She is also the voice behind the popular personal finance Substack, dumb rich.

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