Apartment renting questions?

Question

Ok, well im almost at the age when I can legally get my own apartment. I want to understand in detail how it works. For example how much total for all my expenses will it cost a month around. What is covered by the apartment and all that.

Thanks for all the help!!

Answer 1

I am renting an apt for the first time this year...

you will need:

a deposit-

usually the amount of rent you are paying a month... my apt is 500 a month and so when we signed the papers we had to give the landlord 500 dollars that we will get back if there is no damage done to the place... and if you have a pet there may b an extra pet deposit

rent money-

its the dreaded bill that comes once a month... and if you pay it late you may be kicked out or have an additional fee added on... the price varies on the place you get and where its located... ive known it to be 190 dollars and up

utilities-

your utilities may be included on with your rent... with my situation our water bill is added on to our rent (our original rent is actually  475 a month and water is 25 a month) and our electric and gas bill comes in the mail (another dreaded monthly bill)... in the place that i live the temperature can range from -10 degrees in the winter to 110 in the summer, so our gas and electric bill vary by month... we've had a bill as low as 90 dollars and as high as 300 dollars... another thing that may be added on to your bill is a deposit... our deposit was 350 dollars... you will most likely get that back if you pay your bill on time... you can ask the landlord if they know what the utilities are approx a month and if they dont know see if they can get a hold of the previous renters and they will know

additional bills-

ive pretty much discussed the main bills but there are the extras... the extras all depend on preference...

some of the additional bills may be:

telephone (cell phone or land line)

tv (cable or satelite)

internet (we have dsl... but there is also dial up, cable, adsl, and t1... depends how fast you want it and what you need it for... with our dsl we needed to pay a deposit for the modem that we use... ask around in your city which internet people use how much it costs and how good the signal is)

other-

kitchen-

when moving on your own you may need to buy some small appliances... most apts that i looked at before deciding on this one came with a refrigerator and a stove... you may need to buy a microwave, blender, mixer, or toaster depending on what you want... also take in to account what dishes you will need... when i first started off i went to walmart and bought an 8 set dish set for 30 dollars that had glasses, coffee mugs, saucers, small plates, large plates, bowls, forks, knives, and spoons... you may also need steak knives and other random kitchen utensils... walmart and big lots had the best deals on things around where i live... as far as pots and pans go you could probably get by with a pot, sauce pan, frying pan and cake pan (you can use them to bake anything in!)

furniture-

it all depends on what you want... i was on a really tight budget when i first moved out so i went to thrift stores... futons work great!!! they can be a bed or a couch!!! i also found a popison (spelling?) chair that is really comfortable for 20 bucks... my dining room table (which is a gorgeous dark wood) was free from one of my moms friends and the chairs that we found match amazingly and we got them at a thrift store for 50 dollars for 4 of them

other other-

some other things to take into account are food, toiletries, and anything else that you use on a daily basis at your current home.

i hope i have helped, and good luck on your first apartment!!!