5 THINGS TO CONSIDER
WHEN LOOKING FOR A NEW HOME
As you all know, I recently moved to United States just last month and before I travelled here I made sure that I can have the best home that I can possibly have while being new.
It is essential that I find the right place to settle down. For months, I searched and studied reviews for each apartment. That is why, I wanted to write this blog post in order to give you some tips to consider when you search for a new place.
1. Safety
For me, I chose a place that is definitely safe even though it is more expensive compared to other places. This is my number one priority. Consider your safety everyone, it is more important to live in a place that will give you a peace of mind. That will make you feel more secured and be able to sleep better at night. The little money that you add for a secure location can also save you for possible financial losses.
Each neighborhood is different. Make sure to check the place if it is safe and research for any possible histories of crimes or burglary. If you have friends or relatives who is familiar with the location, ask their opinions too.
2. Use apartment or home search resource
In support to my number one priority which is safety. I use apartment search resources.
Trying out several sites that offer houses or apartments for rents or sale will give you an insight on how much is the average price. You will also be able to read the reviews that other people share, this way you will be able to weigh the pros and cons of each place.
There are a lot of apartment search resource that you can use online. For example, there is Zumper! Even though I moved to North Carolina, I also wanted to try the other states to live in like maybe somewhere in Virginia, Maryland, New York, or Miami!
It is easy to use Zumper because you can download the application directly to your phone if you do not want to use a website. They offer houses, rooms, condos or apartments for rent! Most importantly, the offer is real time for availabilities! You can also filter it by location, price range, bedroom count, if it is pet-friendly and type of amenities available.
Application and credit supports are screened online via TransUnion.
With these types of apartment hunting sources, it will definitely help you a lot. Specially if the search resource offers online tour or photos.
Sometimes when I have extra time, I check out other places via Zumper and I am also checking out Miami because it is near my mother's home.
3. Location
Next question is, how far is your new home from your work? How much are you willing to sacrifice for the time travel. This way, you can also zoom in your house hunting to a smaller space and narrow down your search within that area.
4. Cost of Living
Different states have different taxes and wages. List down your priorities and see which place will definitely fit your ways of spending and savings.
Others prefer states with lower cost of living but most of these places are far from urbanized cities.
For me, I consider the cost of living in choosing a place to call home but this varies from person to person.
5. Consider retirement
When choosing a new home, do you imagine yourself living there for good or just for a few short years? This way, you can budget your salary by renting first and maybe save up for downpayment for your future dream home! :)
I do hope that these five things to consider in apartment hunting will be able to help you. These things made it easier for me in choosing where to live when I moved from Philippines to United States.
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