Starting college most often also means moving out of home, if you are lucky you will end up with your own apartment. However most often you might get your own private space or a shared room in a sorority house or your college dorm.
This is the moment when a few of sorority home decor tips would come in handy. Most likely you are to star your new chapter in an all new city, as many students are to move out of their home town to their college. While even before moving out of home you probably already know how you would like your space to look like, however there may be a few obstacles on the way.
Whether you are renting a small studio apartment or got a room of your own in a sorority house, ninety percent of the time these humble abodes are not to be furnished. At best you will have some minimal furniture, for example an installed kitchen cupboards or just a bed. You may have to get rid off some furniture that wont fit. We recommend Mackers Skip Hire. The rest you will have to fend for yourself, furnishing your entire new address from scratch. This process while undoubtedly daunting and often expensive, even when you are not realizing might be quite good for you. The money you spend on furnishing your new home, will come back from a lower rent you are to pay due to renting an unfurnished space.
While it might be a hit on your budget, after a few months of cheaper rent you are to get the furniture investment back. Once you got the basics, such as your bed, desk and kitchen necessities you are bound to get to decorating part. It does sound unnecessary, but some of the decor items are used daily. Here are a few more tips and facts you need to know before your road to independence, a.k.a living-on-your-own.
Rent itself is always to be a big part of your budget, but before living on your own you will have to count in your other expenses as well, and there will be many. After you take the location and price into consideration, you will go through the renting process which often implies looking a ton of apartments which look nothing like the photos. However, in addition to the rent the height of monthly utility bill is as important as rent itself.
To stick to your budget you might have to sacrifice, perhaps opting for a smaller bathroom or settle into a smaller bedroom with not the best day light – small or big a one bedroom is much better than a studio option. Sacrificing this comfort may allow you to buy a new stove or perhaps live in your favourite part of town. For many of us the location is pivotal, living close to your work is more than beneficial, as well as close to your friends and your favourite restaurants.
A nice and polite landlord sure goes a long way, the same counts for you as a tenant. However for the price of being nice and in good relation with your landlord, you are not supposed to let them off the hook. Before you move into your new apartment, no doubt there is something broken or not working properly in it. While many landlords make sure to fix up the most obvious problems before renting, many will try not to invest as much or mask the existing issues. The first apartment I rented, had a stove as old as my grandma, while clean and cute most of the time it refused to work. Not checking if it actually functions properly, resulted in the landlord trying to fix it a few times till I just got sick and tired of asking for repairs and bought a new stove. To spare yourselves more than a few phone calls, since landlords often manage a few apartments and are bound to be more than busy when you have a problem, make sure all the appliances are in order and operating before you move in.
You do have the right to working appliances if you are paying a monthly rent and the same are included in the apartment. At the same this is about your health and safety, a hardly working refrigerator means that food poisoning is around the corner! If your landlord is out of reach, chase chase chase, twice a day! By the rule of thumb they are available only when rent’s due.
If the apartment needs painting, make sure you are not to move in before landlord is done painting the space. Don’t be shy, check every square inch of the space before moving in, once you are in the apartment calling the landlord to fix things will be much, much harder.
Your name and surname won’t be enough before renting a new apartment, you will need a lot, a lot of papers to get things going. Some landlords in New York are even to ask you for documents proving you are earning forty times the monthly rent in compliance to your credit report. However, if you do plan to live with several people combined yearly salary will be taken in account. Still, there is a list of documents you will need to whip up before renting your own place.
Government Issued ID or Passport copy
Recent tax retunrs
Information about your guarantor
(in case you can’t meet the 40 times rent salary)
Two recent pay check receipts
One year bank statement
Landlord Reference Letter
Employer Reference Letter.
That’s not all, after you provided all the necessary documents you will have to prepare a deposit. The deposit ranges from one to three months rent, you are to get the deposit back if the landlord decides to seize the contract or rents to somebody else before you are to move in.
If you are accepted before moving in, you are to set aside the first months rent, security deposit which is usually in the amount of two month rent, as well as a brokerage fee in case you did not find the apartment on your own. While no doubt it is a lot of money to go solo living, knowing whats beforehand is sure to ease the stress.
Image above – Kiev Apartment Interior Design by Designer Elena Fateeva
