You've undoubtedly heard of the plight of the nation's youngest congressman, 26-year-old Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, who was denied an apartment lease in Washington, D.C., due to his credit. Unfortunately, he isn't alone: Millions of would-be renters across the country can't get approved.

Even though rents have stabilized in some markets, and even dropped a bit in others, many tenants either don't make enough money to pay what landlords are asking or don't meet the credit qualifications.

Conventional wisdom says you shouldn't spend more than 30% of your income to put a roof over your head, including rent (or a mortgage payment) and utilities. Spending more than that classifies you as "housing cost-burdened." According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, 47% of low-income renter households fall in that category.

Even in such a difficult market, there are ways to improve your chances of finding an apartment. One is to shop when the market is slow. Another is to get your credit in order.

The best time to move is in the winter, says David Bitton, co-founder of DoorLoop, a property management software company headquartered in Miami. Rental rates are lowest between October and April, he reports, with the best deals being offered in January and February.

"Fewer people move during this time of year," Bitton, a property manager himself, told me. "They're busy with the holidays, the weather isn't favorable and schools are still in session. As a result, property owners tend to reduce their rates, and moving companies and storage facilities run promotions."

If you're apartment-hunting right now, you missed that window, but there may still be some deals left. And if you have a longer-term outlook, there's plenty you can do to set yourself up for success next fall.

The first step is the same whether you want to rent or buy: Establish credit and use it wisely. Pay your bills on time and don't use more than 30% of your total available credit. These steps should help you earn a higher credit score, which Bitton says should be at least 650.

If you already have credit, check your record for errors. If you find any, work to have them corrected or removed. This could take several months, so be diligent and forceful; you must be your own advocate.

Next, start your search long before you plan to move, so that when the time comes, you'll know exactly what you want and where to find it.

To begin the process, research rental rates in your area of choice. Doing your homework now will tell you whether you are getting a good deal later. "Knowledge is power if you want to negotiate for the best prices," Bitton says.

Make sure you set a rental budget. You want to be able to live comfortably and enjoy your new place, so try not to exceed the 30% threshold mentioned above.

"Don't make the mistake of overestimating" what you can afford, Bitton says, adding that as a rule of thumb, your monthly income should be at least three times your rent.

A big part of what you'll pay will be determined by the amenities the building or community offers. Obviously, places with pools, workout facilities, covered parking and the like are going to be more expensive. But interior features such as walk-in closets, fancy appliances and hardwood floors will also cost more.

Realize, too, that many landlords these days charge for -- or pass along the costs of -- practically everything. So along with utilities, account for such recurring costs as trash pickup, cable and even pest control in your budget. Some places even charge an administrative fee just to process your rent payments.

When preparing to negotiate a lease, find out what the rents are in comparable properties. You'll strengthen your position considerably when you are armed with this information. Then, tell the landlord why you'll make a great tenant: You pay your bills on time, you have a good credit score and you are fully employed.

The landlord still might not budge on the rent. But if your negotiation is successful, Bitton says it's possible to knock a few hundred bucks off your annual rent -- or even thousands. It all depends on the local market, the property's condition and the landlord's willingness to bargain.

It's a good idea to set a target date for moving in as far in advance as possible. After all, you'll likely need a few days off from work for the move, plus time to arrange for a moving company (or enlist friends to help).

Start looking at places at least 60 days before you want to move, Bitton advises, adding: "I also recommend starting your search on the first weekend of the month. That's when fewer people are looking for apartments, and there's less competition."

When you show up at the rental office, come prepared. Bring your ID, bank statements or pay stubs showing your income, recommendations from previous landlords, credit card bills showing punctual payments and low (or no) balances -- anything that will put you in the best possible light.

Finally, while tattered jeans may be in fashion these days, leave them in your closet. A business suit isn't necessary, but do dress presentably.

"You must make an excellent first impression," Bitton says. "You want them to feel you'll be a reliable and responsible tenant."

Bathrooms are receiving a lot of attention from homeowners who are staying put rather than braving a housing market beset by high prices and climbing mortgage rates.

Last year, according to one major supplier, sales revenue from vanities with countertops grew 27%. Sales of soaking and jetted tubs were up 22%, and sales of tub and shower surrounds grew 20% -- even while prices of those products were up roughly 20%.

Hopefully, owners who chose to remodel are enjoying their new spa-like retreats. Because if they went to all that trouble so their places would sell for more, they likely won't come out ahead.

Actually, you won't come out ahead on any of the 34 different remodeling projects covered in a new report from Today's Homeowner, a media company based in Mobile, Alabama. You'll only get back 60 cents on the dollar for a midrange bathroom remodel.

In hard dollars and cents, if you spent $15,737 to update a 35-square-foot bathroom with a new tub, vanity, toilet, lighted medicine cabinet, tile floor and wallpaper, only $9,500 of your eventual selling price can be attributed to the remodel.

You'd do a tad better by spending big bucks for an upscale bathroom addition, according to the research. It will cost $74,882 to add a 100-square-foot bath with a high-end soaking tub, shower, stone double vanity, separate commode area and in-floor heating. But when you sell, just 64% of that -- $48,020 -- will be recovered.

You'd do even better by making a bathroom in your house wheelchair-accessible, with wider doors and an accessible toilet and shower, along with various cosmetic improvements. Here, the cost would run $16,554, but you'd get back $13,000 -- 78% of your outlay -- when you sell.

There are all kinds of surveys like this one. The trade journal Remodeling has one, the National Association of Realtors has another, and so does Modernize.com. But they rarely agree on which home projects are worth the time, expense and hassle.

The differences, basically, rest in their methodology. While some surveys rely heavily on the opinions of local realty pros, the Today's Homeowner study took a "very granular" approach to both sides of the equation, says researcher Elizabeth Thibodeau, whose firm, Three Ships, conducted the study on behalf of the media company.

On the cost side, researchers built a data set based on discussions with suppliers, who were then vetted by contractors. And on the value side, they combed through 70,000 Redfin listings in 1,300 cities, looking for a number of geo-specific factors.

Of course, just as all real estate is local, so, too, are all remodeling projects. The cost-vs.-value figures mentioned above are all national averages, meaning that some undertakings do better on the local level -- and some do worse.

For example, replacing a garage door was the only project with a 100% payback on the national level in the Today's Homeowner study. But do that in San Francisco and you'll get back 180% of the cost when you sell.

Nationally, a screened-in porch nets only 92 cents on the dollar. But add one in Honolulu and your return will be 182%. (In decidedly colder Cleveland, your return will be just 72%.)

Similarly, replacing vinyl siding, a net 91% expense nationally, is worth 140% in Seattle, according to the study, but just 83% in El Paso.

The research also found some interesting anomalies. For one thing, the least expensive improvements tended to offer the greatest returns. Take that garage door again. The cost, a little over $2,000, had the same return, at least nationally. Replacing your windows, adding a concrete patio, installing hardwood floors and replacing your gutters also did fairly well.

On the flip side, finishing a basement had the worst ROI of any of the projects covered. The cost nationally was estimated at nearly $50,000, but the price gain at sale was just $11,300 -- a measly 22%. Other big-ticket improvements such as remodeling a kitchen did twice as well, but still only earned back about 53%.

Another surprise, at least on a national basis, was the return on adding a backyard swimming pool.

The conventional wisdom is that pools are a poor investment: one that turns off many buyers who don't want the maintenance, hassle or cost. But the research found that an in-ground pool that cost $46,802 coincided with an extra selling price of $42,150 -- a 90% return.

Also, while replacing your old, worn-out appliances is always good for living more comfortably, you can expect to get back 74 cents on every dollar you spend. If you're redoing your kitchen, stay away from the more costly counters: The net on both quartz and granite is only 62%.

Finally, homeowners who are about to put their places on the market would do well to invest in their homes' exteriors: All seven projects with an ROI exceeding 90% in the survey were outside jobs, including siding, roof and gutter replacements.

Real estate agents who are up on the latest technology are at a distinct advantage these days. They can search the market on behalf of buyers and set up appointments almost instantly; for sellers, they can create videos and marketing plans at the touch of a button or two.

Those who still operate like they did in the old days -- that is, just a few years ago -- can still get the job done, but it's often a slow, arduous task. It's like driving a six-cylinder car on five cylinders. It will still get you there -- eventually -- but it won't be a smooth ride.

Whether old-fashioned or tech-savvy, though, some agents are being held back from the best, newest versions of their greatest tool: their local multiple listing service, or MLS.

An MLS is a cooperative database of houses for sale in a local or regional market. There are nearly 600 MLSs across the country, powering more than $2 trillion in annual residential sales. Using a specific format, agents can search these databases for houses listed by other agents. They can specify any number of criteria, from the number of bedrooms and bathrooms to swimming pools and acreage.

Even when people shop online before contacting an agent, an MLS is valuable because it sets the rules of the road -- protecting consumers as well as agents and brokers.

In effect, MLSs are the governing bodies by which houses are bought and sold within a given market area. Listing services rule the roost. Without them, there would be chaos.

But some MLSs are being prevented from modernizing by their own business rules -- the foundational instructions that guide technology firms in deploying their products and services inside their systems. And that's keeping their agent-members from adopting the newest technology.

No one disputes the need for these rules; they are vital in allowing MLSs to copyright their proprietary information and determine how that data is organized and presented.

But without getting too deep into the weeds here, some listing services are still operating under outdated, sometimes inaccurate, regulations and controls. They may have switched vendors, for example, or changed their software in some way that is in conflict with what the rules require.

For example, suppose an MLS wanted to adopt a new technology that would speed up the system and keep listings up-to-the-minute fresh. But if the rules contained an outdated mechanism that requires two software components to communicate with each other -- or if the mechanism no longer existed -- the tech firm would have to start over from scratch.

Consequently, vendors tell me that flawed business rules extend the time it takes to integrate the latest software, as well as the time it takes to deploy it after it is successfully incorporated. And they could create a liability and possible litigation risk for the MLS, leading to increased costs.

Ocusell, a platform working to modernize the listing process, is one firm finding it difficult to penetrate the boundaries of the outmoded firewalls around MLS data. And it is not alone.

"It's not just us that's trying to break through antiquated rules," co-founder Hayden Rieveschl told me in an interview. He said outmoded rules have become "a huge barrier to implementation. They are creating major headaches."

Bill Fowler, a real estate technology veteran, said he has "repeatedly run up against" obsolete rules over the course of his 23-year career. He adds that MLSs, which started out as printing companies publishing books of listings but are now basically technology firms, have been slow to adapt.

Greg Moore is chief technology officer of RMLS in Portland -- one of eight MLSs in Oregon and the only one with its own development team. He says the rules many listing services use "have evolved over decades."

"(Services) don't have a single document that says, 'These are our rules,'" Moore explains, "so they almost have to reverse-engineer the process to get to the point where they can add or change content."

Both Rieveschl and Fowler have empathy for listing services trying to deal with the problem. "Business rules often are unreliable because they can be tedious and expensive to maintain," Rieveschl explains.

"It's not because they are against change," adds Fowler. "It's governance that's the problem. They recognize they need to change with the times, but they are not structured to work that way."

The good news is that MLSs are accelerating their adoption of new technology from various vendors. And as more of them merge with one another, they acknowledge the need to update their business rules so they can onboard new tools for their agents and brokers -- and ultimately their members' clients.

Fowler, for one, says "the tide is turning." Some MLSs, he reports, are now hiring staff whose job is to "go out and find the newest technology."

"The easier we can make it for MLS members to integrate with cutting-edge tech," says Rieveschl, "the more MLS members, buyers and sellers will benefit."