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When renting a house – what to look for

A house is a house until you move in and make it a real home. When you don’t have the money or the need to purchase a house, renting a house is the option to find housing where you want to live. In renting from a landlord or a company there are a few things that you will have to consider before you ever sign a lease or a contract on where you are going to start moving your things into. 

In this article, I want to tell you more about some things that you should think about so you too are protected against landlords that don’t care for their properties and from those contracts that could cost you a ton of money if you are not careful and think about what is going on in your own future. 

When you are renting a home, or even an apartment you are careful about choosing the neigborhood, you are careful about meeting the rental needs in how much you can afford and you are careful in finding a place that will feel good while you are living there, so you should be just as careful in reading the wording of the lease that you are about to sign. Leases and contracts can be long, but they are important, for your protection and the protection of the landlord. 

Many times a lease is going to state if you can have a pet or not. If not you can’t have a pet or you are faced with eviction or losing your deposit. Either way this can be a costly price to pay for having a pet in the house. Think twice and read your lease before getting a cat, dog, snake or any type of pet. 

Another important thing when you are moving into a new home is how much parking is there. If you have two cars, and there is space for one, where will the other go? If there is no off street parking, and you have to move your car from one side of the street to the other during certain hours, are you going to be able to? Will you get to many parking tickets? Think about where you are going to park all the time so you don’t have a problem later after you actually move in. 

Some else to consider is what are the repairs that need done to make you happy about living in this apartment or house. If the landlord doesn’t have it done by the time you move in are you going to allow the landlord in? Should you move in or do them yourself? Do you get credit if you make the approved repairs by the landlord? Get it all in writing or at least with a witness that can back you up in case the landlord changes his mind about making or paying for repairs that are made. 

When moving in an apartment complex:
If you are moving to a new area, moving into a new apartment and you don’t know anyone there are subtle ways to tell about who is living next door to you and if you want to live in a place where these people live next door to you. 

Take a look at the cars in the yard or in the parking lot. If you see a few cars that are up on jacks, that look as if they haven’t run in years, or you don’t know how they possibly get from point a to point b, you might be looking at a low income housing area. If you find that there are no cars that are being worked on in the yard, and there are cars that look as if they are well taken care of, you are looking at a higher income apartment complex. 

If you find that there are several toys, swing sets and such lying in the yard, or various bikes outside of doors in the area where you are considering living you can assume there are many children living in the neighborhood. Picnic tables, bikes and toys in the outside area are a sign of children about somewhere. If you have children you might like this area. 

Take a ride by the apartment or house in the evening hours. If you find that the place is well lit, not lit, or that there are a number of people that are on the streets outside the apartments, you have to take into consideration why it is like this and if you like it. Sometimes we really forget to check out a living area in the evening hours when you are going to be spending the majority of your time in the house or apartment. 

Finding a safe, well equipped and nice area that you can call home for a month or for years does take a little more investigation than finding out what the rent is. Make sure you feel comfortable about all aspects of the house or apartment before ever signing a lease so you feel like your house is really a home.