3 Things to Look For When Looking For a Rental Room

December 18, 2019

3 Things to Look For When Looking For a Rental Room

1. Cleanliness

Cleanliness of the place is extremely important. While you might think that as long as your room is clean, the other rooms of the house do not matter, sharing commons spaces with strangers (or even friends) will quickly make you realize how important it is to maintain these other rooms. The downside of living with other people is that you are not in control of them. You cannot make them clean after themselves because they are adults. You can only respectably bring to their attention some of their habits that bother you, but that’s it. They are not obligated to listen to you or change their habits if they don’t want to. You have to live with people that have different habits, manners and standards about what they consider clean. So when visiting a new place, make sure that the place is clean enough for you. If the place is messy or dirty when you visit it, it will be dirty while you live there! Don’t believe the landlord if he tells you that that you visited the place on a bad day or that it will get better. It won’t! Believe me!

 2. Room Temperature

If you live in a country or region that is cold, make sure that you will not freeze in your new place during the winter. Being cold at home is not a good feeling, especially when you spent the whole day at the office or outside cold. The last thing you want is to come back to a cold room at the end of the day. While visiting the place, assess the temperature of the rooms and the common areas . In addition, find out if you will be able to control the heat yourself or if the landlord will be the only person that will control the heat. If possible, try to talk to the current tenants and ask them whether or not the house is cold during the winter. If the house is a little cold, you can always get a heater. I myself have bought a heater that I turn on a few hours before going to bed to ensure that I have a good night a sleep.

3. Number of Tenants

Knowing how many people live in the house is crucial because you will be sharing all the common accommodations with them. If there are too many people in a house, you will suffocate. The bathroom, laundry room or kitchen will most likely be occupied when you need to use these rooms. In my old place, I shared accommodations with approximately 10 people and it was a nightmare. The laundry room was almost always taken which led to me only doing laundry every two weeks for some periods of time! Even cooking became a problem as the kitchen was always taken either by someone cooking of just people hanging out in the kitchen. Furthermore, there are high chances that the noise level will be higher in a packed house. If you are a student or just someone that values calmness and silence when you come back from work, this will be something that will become very difficult to deal with. In addition, too many people in a house usually means that the house will probably be more messy.

 

Finding the perfect place will be a challenge! And yes, you might have to make some compromises, but its okay to have dealbreakers. Never feel like you have to settle for a place. Find the place that is right for you!

 

Have a great rest of the week everyone! 

 

Marina 

PS: The picture is me in my old place during moving day! Let's say that this place was not the cleanest. Just take a look at the carpet. Yikes! I now live in a place that I love!





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