Discover What Type of Rental Property Fits Your Budget and Lifestyle

What type of rental property fits your lifestyle and budget? This is an important question to consider when starting your search for your new rental home. Below we offer a few tips to help you determine the answer to this all-important question. Once you complete these steps, you will narrow the scope of your North Carolina rental property search to rental homes that you can afford and fit your lifestyle.

Create a Monthly Rental Budget

How much rent can you afford each month? This is the most important question you should ask yourself before beginning your rental property search. There are many considerations to take into account when determining how much monthly rent you can afford, including paying monthly expenses, saving for down payments and contributing to retirement funds. While coming up with a monthly rental budget can feel quite daunting, you can simplify the task by using these three steps to determine how much money you can spend on rent each month.

Review Your Rental Plan

The first step to take before starting your search for a rental home in North Carolina is to formulate a rental plan. Taking this step will help save you time when searching for your new rental home. Your rental plan will narrow down your choices by forcing you to ask important questions about where and how you want to live, whether or not you wish to have a roommate if pets are in your plans and other important issues. You can read more about what to put in your rental plan here.

Brainstorm Features and Amenities

What features and amenities would you like in your next North Carolina rental home? Would you like a fireplace or a screened porch? Are you looking to rent a home that comes with a garage, a swimming pool, an onsite fitness room, extra room for a home office, ceiling fans throughout the home, or utilities included in the monthly rent? After brainstorming your list of features and amenities, take the time to prioritize this list.

Length of Lease

You need to understand your present situation and future plans to narrow your rental property search according to the length of available leases. If you know you will need to relocate for your job in six months, then you need to look for short-term rental properties which offer this option. Usually, rentals with longer lease terms are more plentiful because landlords are seeking to minimize vacancies. This does not mean, however, that property owners and property management companies will not be willing to negotiate the length of your lease. Have a question about leases? Contact us, and we’ll be glad to answer your questions.

Rental Property Types Pros and Cons

At this point in your rental property search, you should have a good list of potential rental properties. Your list may contain single-family homes, apartments, townhomes, and other rental property types which fit your budget and offer some of the important amenities you are looking for in your next North Carolina rental home. Each of these property types comes with its set of pros and cons. For example, living in an apartment means that you don’t have to worry about landscape maintenance, but it also means that you won’t have a yard. Spend some time listing these pros and cons to help eliminate or prioritize rental units by property type.

What’s next? Now it is time to start setting appointments so you can see these rental properties in person. Once you follow the steps above and are ready to begin your search for rental homes in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, contact Red Door Company, and we’ll help you get started.