Renting a house or apartment when traveling abroad can give you a unique way to immerse yourself in a destination, and even save some money versus hotels! That’s one of the reason’s that we love using Airbnb when we travel. But few people know that you can actually go through real estate agents and get an actual short term rental when you travel! However, anyone who understands the value of renting understands there can be drawbacks as well. On the one hand, renting is something you can do to minimize costs. You don’t even need to have a major down payment in order to get your foot in the door, this includes short term rentals abroad. That being said, just because you’ve found a place to stay doesn’t mean you have found the best living situation. Pay attention to these items so you can ensure a much better experience in your rental.
General Upkeep
The upkeep on any given property isn’t something that most renters are initially concerned with because it isn’t their property, and they typically reason that they can live with minor problems for a short time. However, when you consider the idea that a landlord might be lazy, unprofessional or just not equipped for the job, even minor problems should be red flags to you. They could be indicative of how seriously your future landlord takes care of his or her properties.
The other thing you need to remember when you see minor problems within a property is that these minor problems could be a sign of what is behind the walls. When you consider the possibility that the landlord doesn’t have time to look into the surface problems, then you really have to wonder if they are consistently and diligently looking into the problems that could be occurring underneath the surface.
Lastly, you don’t want to waste time during your vacation dealing with maintenance or upkeep issues. So it’s important to know up front what is expected of you, and to get an idea of how responsive the landlord is so that issues can be fixed quickly.
Neighbors
When you think about the potential problems that can occur with neighbors, such as those stated by HGTV, you already know what trouble it could be to have neighbors that are a little bit off kilter. However, while the lease will protect you to an extent, you could also be stuck in the middle of an area where the people just aren’t your style or class. People (especially millennials, according to Yahoo!) don’t want to deal with problematic neighbors. And while some landlords are taking measures to protect against this, it is still a problem in many areas.
What if you have neighbors who produce a lot of noise? What if they are messy? What if they smell? Even if they seem like nice and normal people in a great area, it might make sense to drive by the apartment in the evening or at night to see what is really going on. You don’t need to be a sleuth before you move in, but you have to know about any potential problems before you sign the lease.
Immediate Surroundings
While you might not need a wonder of the world surrounding you in terms of sights, scenery, and general living, you will want to be sure you know what is in the immediate vicinity of your potential apartment. Are there businesses, parks, shops, or other housing? Even if you do have any of those specific things, is that what you actually want? This will obviously all come down to personal preference. However, you don’t want to see an apartment and then out of nowhere realize it is only a block away from a major airport, right next to some train tracks, or is located near something even worse.
The point of a home is simply to provide you with a place to not only protect you and your belongings from the elements, but also to make sure you are able to rest and relax. Why would you want to live in a stressful place? So, when you can see just how simple it can be to ruin a relaxing apartment by being next to high traffic areas or be stuck in the middle of a noisy (or unsafe) area, then you should be aware of all of the options you have for a house for rent in Petaling Jaya with PropertyGuru Malaysia. The key is just to make sure you can find a place that actually satisfies your desire of living in a peaceful home.
Distance to Locations
If you think about the possibilities of where you can live, one of the top items people consider is the cost. However, you don’t just need to consider the physical cost with respect to the money you will pay. You also need to consider the cost with respect to the time you will burn as well. Many people will be sensitive to what they have to give up to live in a given area, but the one thing that is arguably the most valuable is time. If you have to spend extra time commuting as a result of a given apartment’s location then you should probably continue to look and not settle.
When you consider the actual costs of commuting, you can see that a rental home you may consider to be a deal may in fact actually be much worse off than something more expensive but closer to where you need to go. Think about not just the gas money as well as the wear and tear on your car (it all adds up), but when you consider even ten miles to work one way, that’s a hundred miles per week on a round trip basis, or over five thousand miles per year. Throw in the extra stress that is added from having to drive and you have a potential problem. However, when you add in even a half an hour a day commuting one way, you can have five hours per week commuting and over 250 per year just spent on driving to and from work. While a rental home might seem like a tremendous value, you have to think about what it really is adding in terms of cost and efficiency (or inefficiency) to live there.
When you are looking for a place to live, you might have starry eyes when you first get a glimpse of any potential rental home. However, instead of just looking at the surface level it is important to fully understand what you could actually be getting yourself into before you commit to a lease for a long period of time.
