Hello, my dear readers! With the increasing cost of real estate and mortgages, more and more people turn to rent as an alternative solution. Renting an apartment also has the added benefit of flexibility: if you get a better job in a different part of the country, it is much easier for you to move if you are a renter instead of a homeowner. Would you like to learn 5 key tips on how to find your dream apartment? If so, come along with me!
1. Use a reliable rent research resource
To find your dream apartment, you will want to use a reliable rent research source to find available options in your city or neighbourhood of interest. Armed with this wealth of knowledge, you are much more likely to be successful at finding the apartment of your dream.
2. Reach out to people who live in your city/neighbourhood of interest
Once you have a general understanding of your target area, you may want to reach out to people who are familiar with the area and ask for their opinions. If you have friends and family who live in that area, fantastic! Reach out to them, and ask what they like and dislike about their are. You can also leverage social media to reach out to people that you may not personally know. Facebook, Twitter, Reddit are all platforms that I recommend you try using.
3. Visit the apartment in person
Of course, you will want to visit the apartment in-person whenever possible. After all, you want to make sure that whatever you see online is real, and that there are no bad surprises when you arrive.
I understand this may be difficult if you are moving quite far away from your previous place, but please try to put in as much as possible into investigating the new place. If you can’t make it yourself, you may want to ask someone you trust to visit in person for you.
4. Visit the surrounding areas
In addition to visiting the apartment you are thinking about renting, you will want to visit the surrounding areas as well, to understand what is around your apartment.
I recommend that you visit the surrounding areas more than once under different circumstances. For example, you will want to visit when the weather is nice, and when it isn’t so nice. You will also want to visit in the morning, afternoon, evening, and late at night, to truly understand the atmosphere of the surrounding areas. After all, you will be spending plenty of time there once you move, so you want to make sure that the area is safe, well-lit, and has all the amenities (e.g., grocery store) that you need.
5. Estimate costs
To avoid bad financial surprises, you will also want to estimate costs that are on top of rent as well. This is especially true when your rent is not all-inclusive, meaning that you have to pay for utilities, cable, internet etc yourself. If there isn’t a washer and dryer available in the apartment, you will also want to estimate how much laundry would cost as well.
Final Words
The above are five key tips that will help you find your dream apartment. Leave a comment down below if you have any other tips you’d like to share!
