Make Your Corporate Apartment Hunt Way Less Terrible.
Admin
Published Date: 2019-04-04
What You Make Of It
In order to diminish the annoyance in finding a corporate apartment, you shouldn't look at just one unit. It's absolutely integral to examine multiple units. A rule of thumb you might consider is looking at a minimum of five units, no matter how much you fall in love with any of them.
What you want to do is examine multiple features of diverse units, and weigh pros and cons until you find one that gives you the most bang for your buck. Following are a few tactics to help you do this.
What Sort Of Remodel Opportunities Are There?
If you can remodel certain aspects of a given apartment, that can yield property value. This is good for your landlord, and may make it possible for you to reduce what you pay in rent or deposit. Sometimes landlords will allow you to work as a manager of the apartment facility itself in exchange for lodging.
As you book unit showings, keep in mind collateral angles like this. Look for opportunities, make suggestions, and ask to speak with those in authority of a given unit. It's very possible you won't find opportunities like this, but you'll never know if you don't look. Even a so-so unit is desirable to one that forces you to pay in excess of quality.
Cost Considerations: What's Your Ideal Budget/Quality Balance?
On the note of cost, quality and expense aren't always in a linear relationship. Location can drive up price on bad units. Likewise, older units can go for less even though they're better maintained than a block of apartments recently constructed. What you need to do is figure out what your budget is, and find apartments within this range.
Check out these unfurnished Dallas Galleria apartments for an idea of some qualitative, yet affordable, units. Today's market is likely to produce options that are reasonable in terms of a single unit dwelling at a range of between $600 and $900 a month—depending on where you look, and proximity to community amenities of one kind or another.
Some communities have skyrocketed in recent years. Denver used to have more affordable rental rates, but now they rival Los Angeles in cost. For either Los Angeles or Denver, you can expect a single bedroom unit to go for around $1,600 or more a month.
This is the case within ten miles of Denver's center. Getting away from either metropolitan center will produce available units at a reduced rate; but you're still likely to see an overall average that's higher in these areas than it would be in, say, Cincinnati.
Is The Neighborhood Good? What Do Commutes Look Like?
Keep in mind, a so-so unit in a rough neighborhood can make you feel perfectly at home if you freshen it up in ways that suit you. However, you may not have to settle for the cheaper option that's further away if you crunch the numbers. Start by considering your commute.
A unit that's within walking distance of your work, and one that's 20 miles away, have quite the value spread. Expect $9,122 in wear-and-tear for your vehicle over 15,000 miles. That translates to about $1.64 a mile. This actually works out to $328 a week on a 20-mile commute, 40 miles round trip, 5 days a week.
Now granted, wear-and-tear estimates used for tax purposes, property devaluation, and the like may not directly reflect your actual expenses on the vehicle; but just consider the gas on such a commute. You're looking at 200 miles a week. Over 52 weeks in a year, that's 10,400 miles. If you get 300 miles per tank in-town, and spend $50 to fill up, that's $1,733.33 a year. Additionally, you'll have at least three oil changes during that time; add another $200.
Washing the car and cleaning it will bring that number right up to $2k. Divide that out into 12 months, you're spending an extra $166+ a month on your “cheap” out-of-town unit. If you pay $166 more a month for an apartment within walking distance of your job, you actually don't lose a penny. So when you're considering neighborhood and commute, factor such items in.
Find The Best Apartment, And Enjoy The Hunt
An apartment hunt takes time, and it can be a real chore. However, if you explore your options, calculate expenses, and look at multiple units, you can get the best possible bang for your buck. Consider the neighborhood, potential commute, the budget you've put together, and collateral opportunities like remodel and working for a landlord.
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