What to Look for When Renting

If you are thinking of renting a house there are a number of things that you should look for before signing a lease or putting down money. These might all seem like common sense things and they are… but even if you did not think of one of them before, it will save you a lot of hassle later on just to know.

First of all, always look at a place before renting it. Never rent sight-unseen. Make sure you take a thorough look at all of the rooms. How does it look? Has it been kept up? Is it in disrepair? Make sure that the landlord or property manager has at least gotten it partly ready for renting. If they care enough about their rental properties to spruce it up before showing it to you, then you know that they at least care about up-front appearances… and that is a good thing.

Are there any odors in the air that alarm you? Is there cigarette smoke or animal dander in the air? If so, then consider this a bad point. Some renters let their tenants smoke or keep pets, but this usually means that the apartment/house is not as clean. If you can still smell it, then you will probably continue to smell it for awhile.

Take a look at the neighborhood the rental is in. Is it in a nice neighborhood, or are the houses around it in pretty rough condition? Does it seem like a place where there is likely illegal activity going on, or does it seem like a pretty peaceful, law-abiding neighborhood? If you feel the need, ask some people you bump into about the neighborhood. Ask them if a lot goes on, or if it is relatively peaceful. Take note of any negative information and consider this a bad point as well. A nice house is not going to be very secure in a bad neighborhood. You should avoid dangerous neighborhoods at any cost, but you should also try to stay clear of neighborhoods that do not at least seem presentable.

Analyze your potential landlord-property manager. Is he/she irritating or hard to get along with? If you think they are now, then you can pretty much count on this being magnified by like 100 times once you start renting! You will be seeing a lot of them in most cases, so you had better make sure that your landlord is a good person, a fair person and a person that you want to be dealing with. You also need to make sure that you can call if you have trouble and that there is always a way to get in touch if there is a problem with the property.

You should also take a look at the condition of the rooms. Are they completely cleared out? Is there garbage all over? Has the trash been emptied? Are the appliances clean? These are all things to take note of. As said earlier, the cleaner these things are, the better. It gives you a sort of indication as to what you are getting into.

Courtesy Rental Choice