Renting a new house, things to look for?

Legionnaired

Myself and some of my friends are looking into renting a house for the coming school year. I'm relatively uninitiated into the world of real-estate or finding a place for ourselves, and was wondering if anyone had any sort of seckrat gnostic wisdom for finding a place.

I'm looking at something today with 2100 square feet, 5 bedrooms, a firepit in the back, neighbors who won't care about noise, and ample on-street parking for $1200 a month, but I need some more suggestions for other stuff to look for.

Forbe!

Take time stamped pictures of any damages to the property prior to moving in. Landlords will stick you with bills/keep your security deposit if they think you damaged the home in some way.

Also, if the property has a basement, look out for cracks in the foundation and previous water damage. Its not fun living in a house when the basement can retain a few inches of water during a light rain.

Sounds like you are looking for a dream place. Good luck finding neighbors that don't care about noise.

witch_ie

Where are you looking (what city, state, etc.)?

Hawkstone

1200 is pretty low for 5 bedrooms almost everywhere. Some of you may have to double up. Ask what the utilities run, how old the roof is and make sure the heater isnt 15+ years old. Roof leaks and Heat issues effect you immediatley, anything else can be repaired when the Landlord gets to it. For noise acceptance, try college towns usually they are accepting of the noise young people make and often the neighbors will be just as bad as you are. Also a truck rim from any junk yard is a servicable fire ring, if money isnt a big deal they make Chimineya's which are raised up off the ground a bit and wont ruin the grass in that spot. Just realize open flames are often illegal inside city limits so its wise to keep it in the back yard.

MikeMcSomething

I think he means he is going to check out the 5-bedroom house today

Lintilla

The sorts of places that house five (or more!) people, rent to students, and have neighbors who don't mind noise are not going to be prime real estate for anyone but other students. Most colleges have neighborhoods nearby that amount to ghettos for off-campus kids. Over the summer, almost the whole neighborhood will be up for rent. Usually, someone or some real estate group owns a big block of the properties like that and they can give you a a list of them, with locations and rent and # of bedrooms. Ask people at school who they rent from and how well they were treated. Check your school's newspaper and bulletin board. My college's student government even had a directory of renters with ratings and reviews.

Hawkstone

MikeMcSomething wrote: »

I think he means he is going to check out the 5-bedroom house today

ahhh, oops In that case ignore half of that post , but the other half still applies.