Headed on a journey of scouting for homes for rent? If you’re a first-time home renter, you might already be wondering what you should be looking for in an ideal place-to-be that you can call your own. So, we’ve compiled these tips from experts to guide you as you find the home-for-rent you’ll want to stamp your name on in gold.
4 Steps In Looking For A Rental Home
1. Budget
Before getting ahead of yourself and before you launch your home-searching quest, it’s important to determine what your budget is. All you need to do is to think in a practical sense and start with your monthly paycheck or payslips.
How much of your earnings go to fixed utilities, insurance, credit card payments, and other regular expenditures? How much goes into your savings and/or investments? From there, map out the amount to be allotted to the monthly rent. Experts recommend that 30% of overall income should be the maximum a person spends on rental fees.
Apart from this, decide on the type of rental home you have in mind. Is it a bachelor’s pad? A flat? An apartment, like these apartments for rent in El Paso? A family house with one room each for the kids? Two floors? You name it. Then, average out what such rental structures cost in the neighborhood you wish to take residence.
***A Rent Calculator is a tool that can help you formulate an estimation of what your rental costs could be, against the rest of your expenditures and savings.
2. Location/ Neighbourhood
Second on this list is location, location, location. Choosing the right location and the right neighborhood will impact so many aspects of your day-to-day, from budgeting, scheduling, transportation, etc.
*How far away is the place from your office? How long will it take you to travel to and from work?
*Is it accessible via public transportation? If you have your own car, how much will you be spending on gas?
*Is it close to shops and markets?
*Do you want a quiet and remote location? Or is a bustling neighborhood your cup of tea?
*Is it a family-friendly, family-residential area? What are your neighbors like?
3. Amenities And Rental Agreement
After having a closer review of the physical structure of the rental facility and its surroundings, the next point to consider is its amenities. Besides checking on the regulars like water access, and electricity (separate meters is preferable), the kitchen and kitchenware, the laundry room, and the bathroom layout are to be checked as well. Especially if these are shared amenities.
4. Do Your Homework
Do not immediately sign the deal for the first rental you look into, even if, at the onset, it miraculously fits your standards to a T. Search for other places to make comparisons. Pit their amenities, location, accessibility, and price against each other.
If you want to go the extra mile of ensuring that the rentals are licensed, it’s not an issue to ask said owners for records that can stand as proof of business registration.
Furthermore, don’t rely on pictures. According to studies, over 90% of renters use online platforms as their basis for a first impression of places for rent. However, you’ll have to leap a step forward and beyond this. Schedule drop-ins to be able to inspect the rental in person.
HussaiN is a full-time professional blogger from India. He is passionate about content writing, tech enthusiasts, and computer technologies. Apart from content writing on the internet, he likes reading various tech magazines and several other blogs on the internet. Email ID: [email protected]
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