Chapter 2

Evaluating Your Rental Hopes and Realities

IN THIS CHAPTER

Identifying the features you want in your new home

Figuring out how much you can afford in rent

Discovering how a landlord determines your eligibility

Weighing your rental needs against your wants

What does a dream rental look like to you? Does it have lots of natural light, an eat-in kitchen, built-in bookshelves, a lovely terrace, or something else? But here’s an even more important question to ask yourself: Can you have your dream rental in reality?

This chapter identifies the essential elements your rental home needs to ensure that you experience comfort and happiness throughout your stay. Just as important, it guides you through the math to determine how much rent you can afford and shows you the key things landlords consider to make sure you don’t get in over your head.

Perhaps you know exactly when you want to move into an apartment or a rental house. If so, start looking at possible places online (see Chapter 4) and pulling all the paperwork together (see Chapter 5). But if the idea of moving is still just that — an idea — your first step is determining when you want to move. Spring is the most active time of the year to find a new apartment or rental house. On average, finding a home that suits you takes 30 to 60 days.

Considering What You Want from a Rental

Most people want their home to be a sanctuary. They want a place where they can unwind without being bothered by neighbours or distracted by the noise of highway traffic, airplanes, blaring sirens, or train whistles. When embarking on your search for a new home, consider asking the following questions:

• What type of energy do I want in my home?
• What key elements of living am I drawn to?
• How much room do I need?
• Do I want the space and the surrounding building/neighbourhood to be quiet?

Choosing the right home can make the difference between a calm, productive life filled with happy moments and a life filled with low energy, chaos, and largely forgettable times. Many things contribute to whether you love a rental or can’t wait to get out of it, such as the following:

• Sound levels
• Natural light and the views out your windows
• Amount of living space
• Proximity to shopping, restaurants, activities, and your job
• Amenities that the complex or neighbourhood offers

These critical elements of a happy lifestyle allow an abundance of creativity, peace, and focus. The following sections offer food for thought on all these topics.

Building style: Old, new, or something in between?

If you’re someone who covets old-world charm and all things historic, then an older property may be your top choice. The charm and character these types of places offer makes them fun to live in. The original floors, walls, and decorative fireplaces add so much character and often become talking points at your dinner parties.

However, older buildings have their drawbacks. Older apartment buildings may or may not have elevators. The appliances and fixtures may be ten (or more) years old. If they have air conditioning, it’s usually a window unit, which may not cool the entire place but still be expensive (and noisy). Older buildings can be in great neighbourhoods, but they can also be in ones that time has passed by.

If your style leans towards modern and trendy, then you likely want to check out the newest apartment complexes or rental homes in the area. They have all the bells and whistles: smart thermostats, walk-in closets, fireplaces, bike storage areas, package lockers, and more. Maybe you’ll use all those features, or maybe you’ll use only a handful. But keep in mind that you pay for those amenities regardless of whether you use them. You get to decide whether the cost is worth it.

New apartment complexes and rental houses have their own shortcomings. The walls, floors, and ceilings may be so thin that you can hear your neighbour walking above you in their own apartment or the neighbour in the house next door sneeze. The demand is usually strong for areas with the latest and greatest amenities, so you may need to get on a waiting list to rent there. New rentals can also be expensive compared to similar older rentals in the area, so you need to have a good grasp of your housing budget. (See the later section, “Running the Numbers to See What You Can Afford,” for more information.)

If you’re looking for historic charm with modern finishes, then a marriage of the two may be a great fit for you. Often, landlords search far and wide to purchase an old building with tons of charm just to give it a makeover, blending all the original architectural elements with shiny, new, updated kitchens, bathrooms, walls, and floors. They offer modern comforts such as washers and dryers, stainless-steel appliances, central heat and air, in-floor heating, spa-like tubs, and much more. They also generally price these spaces at a premium.

If your budget doesn’t allow new and shiny but you still want mostly renovated, then an apartment or house renovated within the last five to seven years is your perfect match. This type of space should offer nice options at affordable prices.

If you opt for a rental that fits your budget but is short on the aesthetic you’re after, you can create the look and feel you want with creative styling and appropriate furniture (see Chapter 13). What’s just as important is to consider what you’re drawn to, or what immediately speaks to your heart as soon as you walk through the door. This approach ensures that you have a joyful stay.

Determining how much space you need

Before committing to your new home, figure out how much space will allow you to live a happy, productive life. You need room for everyone you plan to have live with you (two-legged and four-legged), but you also need room for all your stuff.

People and lifestyle

Consider how many people will be living in the rental. You alone? You and your teenage kid(s)? You and a sibling or roommate? Each of those examples likely requires different sleeping arrangements, so you should be sure about how many bedrooms you need.

Then you want to think about other space. Are you going to throw a party every weekend for a dozen friends or keep your privacy and solitude pretty tight? That influences how much kitchen and living room space you want. Are you going to work from home? If so, do you want a designated room for your office, or can you work from the kitchen table or a corner of your bedroom? Consider the many ways you can use living space and make sure your future home is conducive to your lifestyle.

Furniture

Having an idea of the sizes of common pieces of furniture can help you gauge how much space your stuff takes up in relation to room dimensions. A king- or queen-size bed requires at least a 10-by-10-foot space. A medium to large couch requires a room with two walls measuring at least 8 feet in width. Your dining space needs at least a 7-by-7-foot space to fit a table. These details are important to know (or find out) as you fine-tune your search.

The average one-bedroom apartment can range from small to large and approximately 500 to 800 square feet. Having an accurate floor plan helps you gauge what you’re potentially working with. A good floor plan provides the dimensions of the rooms, halls, kitchen, and bathroom(s). An exceptional floor plan provides the dimensions of the closets and the ceiling height.

If you have a special item that’s rather large (like a pinball machine or 75-inch flat-screen TV) that you want to put in your rental, make sure the place has space for it. Note the item’s measurements on your phone and compare those to the floor plan. Or take a tape measure with you when you view the unit and get a rough idea of whether the piece will fit the space. (Chapter 4 has more details on touring properties.)

Looking at amenities: Luxurious, scant, or middle of the road?

Luxury is a word that’s used often to imply world-class, top of the line, or, simply put, the best! What’s great about this idea is that you get to determine what luxury is to you.

Some new buildings offer shiny new apartments with on-site amenities such as gyms, meeting rooms, party rooms, and theatres, and even a concierge. Rental houses may be in neighbourhoods that have their own playgrounds, tennis and basketball courts, clubhouses, biking trails, and more. These services are often priced into the rent, and therefore you can expect to pay a substantial premium in comparison to older, less amenitized properties.

Amenities range from run-of-the-mill to over the top. Check out this list of examples:

• Dishwasher
• Custom countertops and cabinets, kitchen islands, and stainless-steel appliances
• Air conditioning
• High-speed internet access
• Plush carpet
• Hardwood flooring
• Bark park or doggie day care
• Balcony or patio, perhaps with outdoor storage
• Swimming pool
• Fitness centre
• Rooftop deck
• In-suite washer and dryer
• Laundry facility
• Secure parking
• Bike storage
• Gated access
• Package lockers
• Electric car charging stations
• Smart locks,...