Any first-time experience is both exhilarating and daunting, isn’t it? Renting your first house is no different. On one hand, you have the freedom to live alone and make your own decisions without being answerable to anyone. On the other hand, renting a property involves many moving parts that might get the better of you if you have no experience or knowledge of what needs to be done. In fact, people with experience might also find the entire process tedious at times!
Planning and preparedness are key to dealing with issues that might come up while house hunting and after you’ve found the perfect place to live in. To face anything that comes your way, we’ve put together a list of 12 guidelines for you to follow.
Here is a step by step guide on how to rent your first home:
1. Figure out your budget
House hunting is what comes after you’ve figured out how much you can afford as rent. At the same time, you also need to know that rent isn’t the only thing you’ll be spending money on. Besides your loan payments (student, car, or credit card), there’s a host of other recurring expenses that require money. We can divide them into upfront costs and long-term costs.
Upfront costs are those that you’ll be paying your landlord even before you start living on their property. They include the application fees, security deposit, first and last month’s rent, and maybe a pet deposit if you have a furry friend who’ll be living with you.
As far as long-term costs go, these comprise your recurring expenses, monthly, weekly, or daily. They include gas, electricity, cell phone service, internet and cable, groceries, clothes, and water, sewer, and trash. So, over and above the rent, these are some major costs you’ll need to bear. You may want to set aside a little money for moving expenses as well.
Therefore, you need to set a budget because paying off all your debts and having money left over for expenses are just as crucial as saving money for a rainy day. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development advises us not to spend more than 30 percent of our gross income on rent. While it may work out in most cities, the ones with high costs of living like San Francisco and NYC may pose problems because everything’s highly priced here.
Finally, it might serve you well to use a rent calculator and using details such as your ideal location, bedrooms preferred, and your gross monthly income, details like the rent you can afford, and the houses in the preferred locale that match the rent, will be at your disposal.
2. Pick a neighborhood of your choice
Just like any other renter, you want a reasonably-priced dream house in an excellent neighborhood, don’t you? To that end, you need to consider a number of factors:
- Think of the distance of your ideal locale from your workplace.
- Remember that if the rents don’t work for you, you could move to the suburbs, but the transportation costs are bound to shoot up. So, you need to be prepared to pay more for travel expenses.
- Find out if surrounding neighborhoods are more or less affordable than the one of your choice.
- Ask yourself whether you’re okay with driving or taking public transit to work.
- Think about whether you’re the partying kind or prefer staying indoors in a peaceful community.
- Check whether the neighborhood is close to parks, museums, tourist spots, eateries, bars, coffee shops, groceries, banks, and post offices because you may not want to walk far to reach these basic amenities.
Interestingly, you have numerous portals that allow you to use filters to restrict your search to a specific distance within a neighborhood. Cirtru, the most reliable rental resource finder in America, is one such app! It contains a filter that you can use to choose the radius within a certain area and locate houses there.
3. See if you need a roommate
In cities with a high cost of living, it’s natural for your savings to take a hit. Or if you’re not a high earner but have multiple expenses to take care of, you might be facing a similar situation. Therefore, it’s a good idea to live with a roommate to share your expenses with so that you can follow the 30 percent rule and save a little for the future.
Also, give the idea of finding a roommate some thought in terms of your preparedness, physical and mental, to live under the same roof with a stranger. Prioritize between saving money and letting go of your privacy to some extent. Should you decide to go for it, vet potential roommates carefully and ensure they’re financially sound and can pay the monthly rent.
If you find someone you like, meet them informally, and ask questions to get to know them, their habits, and lifestyles better. They have the right to know about you as well, so share your details with them. Spend some time with your perfect roommate discussing potential problems such as the following:
- What’s the frequency and duration of parties?
- Are you both okay with pets? If so, what measures will the owner need to take to look after the pet and make sure it behaves well?
- How often can visitors come? How long can they stay over?
- Who’ll take responsibility for paying the rent and utilities? The onus of paying back the money lies with the other roommate, so make sure you clear that up.
- Who’ll pay for the furniture and other household items? How will they be divided when you both move out?
- How will you split the household chores between the two of you?
Based on points discussed and the decisions taken, note them down and add them to the roommate agreement so that there’s no room for confusion or placing blame. Assuming things work out between the two of you, you have the benefit of someone’s company and a support system in times of a situation.
4. Determine your credit score
If you have a good credit score, which is a significant measure of your financial worthiness as a perfect tenant, you’re on solid ground. According to FICO figures, if your score falls between 670 to 739, you have a good score. Anything in the range of 300 to 579 is assumed to be poor. Successful landlords use this to determine whether you have the finances to pay timely rent.
Before you begin the house-hunting process, request online credit reports from credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion by accessing the portal annualcreditreport.com. Read the reports thoroughly and look for inconsistencies. Raise a dispute if you need to and get them sorted out by any of the bureaus. Landlords will ask you for a copy of your credit report or your approval to secure one from the bureaus. Your eligibility as a potential tenant and the subsequent approval of your rental application will depend on your credit score.
However, if you have a low credit score or don’t have any credit history so to speak, you need to look for a cosigner. Their role, apart from signing your lease, is to make sure your rent reaches the landlord on time if you miss or skip it for some reason.
Reach out to a family member or a friend you can trust for life and who can do the same for you, and get them to act as your guarantor. Remember they need to have an excellent credit score to qualify as a cosigner. In this situation, their score is way more important than yours because if you choose to leave your landlord high and dry, they’ll go after your cosigner to collect the rental payments or go legal. So, use your cosigner’s credit sparingly and with caution.
5. Consider the conveniences you want
As someone who’s renting a house for the very first time, there’s a whole list of things you may desire for the exterior and interior of your new home. So, spend some time thinking about the conveniences you want. While some houses may have amenities such as pools, an in-unit washer and dryer, or even a gym, others might not.
Even if they have such amenities, they’ll come at a price you may not be able to fork over. Therefore, besides thinking it through, check your finances well and live within your means. Wait a while and when you’ve saved enough, invest in a property and furnish it with all the amenities you crave.
As far as the inside of the house is concerned, see if you need a fancy kitchen, a massive bathroom that accompanies the master bedroom, or even a huge balcony. If you think you have the funds to afford a few of these conveniences, go for it but be sure not to go overboard.
6. Search for a house at the right time
Select a time of the year when you don’t have to compete with hordes of prospective tenants and the rental prices are reasonable. Rents are higher during summer with the holidays and families wanting to move to new places. Around this time, college students move to other cities to attend different schools, so rental prices skyrocket.
However, they dip to much lower levels during winter because people don’t step out much and prefer remaining indoors. So, with very little competition, you might be lucky enough to strike a fantastic deal during the winter months.
Also, keep a couple of months in hand to search for your rental home because it’s a time-consuming process. If you find a place, give yourself a day to think it over to see if it has most of what you need for safe and comfortable living, and then decide.
Make sure you visit the chosen rental houses in person. If it’s in another city, see if you can take time off or have a friend or relative check it out for you. They can share pictures and videos of the place and any positive or negative feedback. You could even have the landlord set up a virtual tour, which is becoming pretty popular these days.
Whether it’s a real or a virtual tour, look out for signs of water damage, rodents, bugs, and mold. Whatever you can’t see, have the landlord share videos or pictures once the tour is over. If you’re physically present, check every nook and corner of the house, including cabinets, closets, faucets, kitchen appliances, doors, windows, locks, and fixtures to make sure they’re in working order. In the end, be sure to inspect any amenities, such as pools or fitness centers that come with the rental house as well.
7. Ask questions during showings
When a landlord or property manager shows you the property they want to rent out, have a list of relevant questions to ask them and clarify any concerns you may have about the rental house. Some sample questions you could ask include the following:
- What’s the length of the lease?
- What’s the security deposit amount?
- How often is the rent hiked and by what percentage?
- What utilities are included with the house?
- Are the utilities covered by the rent? Which ones are covered and which ones do we need to pay separately?
- Can a lease be broken early? Under what circumstances? Is a month-to-month lease possible?
- Do you have professional maintenance personnel? What’s the time they take to respond to requests?
- How much do we pay in late fees if we delay a rent payment?
- Do you have a pet policy?
- Is there a guest policy?
In summary, it might be wise to read up on the landlord-tenant laws of your state and neighborhood so that you know what legal action to take if your landlord decides to take you for a ride!
8. Put together your paperwork beforehand
During the rental application process, landlords and property managers ask for details from potential tenants. The information includes their rental history, credit score, income proof comprising pay stubs, landlord references, and professional and personal references. It’s essential to do this beforehand for the simple reason that there are so many prospective tenants that these properties get taken in no time! In fact, you should carry all these documents with you when you attend showings so that if you see something you like, you can apply then and there!
Additionally, speak with your previous landlords and request them for reference letters highlighting your behavior and financial worthiness. This should come in handy if you have a credit score that’s poor or you don’t have a credit history, to begin with. To sum up, also talk to your supervisors, roommates, coworkers, and people you trust and have them write a recommendation letter for you.
9. Give the lease a thorough read
The lease is a document highlighting the rights, rules, and responsibilities of both tenants and landlords and has legal repercussions. In other words, you and your landlord need to strictly adhere to the clauses in it.
If you’ve never read a lease before, it might be wise to become familiar with the terms or expressions used in these documents by looking up sample leases online. Else, the language might be tough to follow. Give it a detailed read and ask for clarification wherever you get stuck. Clauses related to behavior, security deposit, delayed rent payment, length of lease, consequences of breaking it early, and evictions should be read carefully and understood.
If there’s something you discussed with your landlord, but it doesn’t appear in the document, have it inserted into the lease in your presence. Likewise, if there’s something in the contract that you’re not comfortable with, discuss it with the landlord and ask for changes. Remember it works both ways, so there may be things they don’t agree with that you may not get to see in your lease.
10. Plan your move
Once the lease is read and signed, you can officially move into your new rental home. Talk to your landlord and fix a date for moving in if the date on the lease seems a concern. If you have very few belongings, your friends or family members can help you pack, and you can hire a moving van and be on your way. Else, hire a professional moving service because they have the resources and the manpower to deal with the stuff you have. If you’re moving to another city or someplace far off, moving companies will use weight and distance to charge you.
Your local hardware store can help you get moving boxes. Or you could check with neighbors, family, and friends. Start packing early so that you can wrap up early. The smaller boxes should be reserved for heavier stuff while the bigger ones can be used for the lighter items. Bubble wrap, packing tape, and markers are some additional stuff you’ll need. You must label each box to avoid confusion and make it easier for yourself to unpack.
To ensure that utilities such as the internet and cable can be accessed after you move in, set them up online. It’s obvious that you want your mail to be delivered to your new address. In that case, change your mailing address and arrange to have your mail forwarded to your new home at least 30 days before you move.
11. Consider getting renters insurance
Renters insurance isn’t a legal requirement but many landlords encourage you to get it because it benefits tenants while saving the landlords from legal hassles. Renters insurance safeguards your belongings from thefts, damage, vandalism, and destruction from smoke or wind.
Landlords use insurance only to protect their property and surroundings from damage. Should your belongings be destroyed, imagine the amount of money you’d need to replace them. Can you afford the cost? Moreover, if your rental house’s destroyed, renters insurance will cover your food and lodging costs since you’ll need a place to live while the house is being repaired. The policy premiums are pretty low, so buy one and do yourself a favor!
12. Take pictures of your new home before moving in
Before you start living in your new rental home, it’s important to walk through the place and check for damage. Should you see any mold, holes in walls, torn carpets, vermin, among other things, ensure that you click pictures and share them with your landlord. To build another layer of protection, make a short video of the entire house and share it with them too.
Let your landlord know the current condition of your home so that they know that it’s their responsibility to fix it. The evidence you’ve gathered also conveys the message that you’re in no way accountable for the pre-existing damage and you should get your security deposit back in full after moving out. This is of course if you manage to leave the property in the same condition it was in when you moved in or there’s minimal wear and tear.
Conclusion
So, are you all set to find your first house and move in? We hope the information shared here gives you the knowledge and inspiration you need to find your own place. While we’re aware that finding something as big as a house can be scary, you just need to have the funds and the paperwork ready, read up on things you don’t know, keep an eye on how much you’re spending, and know your needs versus your wants to find the perfect place!
