{"id":105,"date":"2018-12-21T06:40:30","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T06:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rentuncle.co.za\/blog\/?p=105"},"modified":"2020-01-18T11:33:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T11:33:04","slug":"tips-for-discovering-an-affordable-apartment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rentuncle.co.za\/blog\/tips-for-discovering-an-affordable-apartment\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 Tips for Discovering an Affordable Apartment"},"content":{"rendered":"\nFinding a suitable apartment on rent in South Africa is never an easy task.\n\nHowever, what is even more daunting is the idea of finding an affordable apartment.\n\nThis is your plight:\n\nOn the one hand, you like apartments but they are expensive.\n\nOn the other hand, you find cheap apartments but they are not worth living in.\n\nYou are wondering if there\u2019s a middle ground!\n\nThe good news is: yes, there\u2019s a middle ground.\n\nYou can find good apartments which are affordable.\n\nIt\u2019s possible.\n\nIf you are wondering how, your quest comes to an end with this post.\n\nWe have put together top 10 tips for finding a cool apartment at an affordable rent.\n\nLet\u2019s get started:\n

1. Define Affordable<\/h2>\nThis is quite important.\n\nThe reason is that you need to define exactly what you can afford and then look for an apartment that matches your budget. However, the starting point would be to know precisely what is affordable for you.\n\nNow there are various factors at work here.\n\nTo start with, it\u2019s all about your income. The thumb rule is that you should not spend more than 30% of your salary on rent.\n\nThe reason is that you will need to spend the rest on regular expenses and other things. If you spend a lot on rent, it will not be possible for you to allocate budget for essential expenses such as grocery, school fees for your children, healthcare, transportation etc.\n\nOnce you calculate what\u2019s 30% of your salary, you will be able to figure out what affordable means in your context.\n\nThe next thing is about expenses. It will depend on the city that you choose to live in. If you choose to live in a big city, the expenses would be more. For every small thing, you will need to spend a lot. It means that you will need to allocate higher budget for monthly expenses. Whatever remains is the amount that you can pay for rent.\n\nSo the remaining amount will precisely define what is affordable to you.\n

2. Work out Priorities<\/h2>\nSince you are trying to get the best possible apartment at a cheap rate, you got to admit that you may not get everything you hoped for in the apartment.\n\nYou will need to stop hoping for a perfect apartment and start thinking about it more realistically.\n\nTo start with, list the priorities you have in mind regarding the apartment. For instance, you may be hoping to get the apartment in a particular location because it is closer to your office or your children\u2019s school etc.\n\nIn the same way, you may be hoping to get a 3 bedroom or 2 bedroom apartment for a variety of family reasons.\n\nIn this way, you will have a set of things that you want to see in your next dream home. List all the things and then compare the new, prospective apartments against this list. You may not find an exact match for all your priorities.\n\nHowever, if you can get most of your priorities addressed by the new apartment, you can consider selecting it.\n\nBut it all starts by listing your priorities so that you can compare them with the new apartment and then make a decision.\n\nSo list all the things you consider non-negotiable and then look for an appropriate apartment that fulfills these criteria. In this way, you will be able to find some or the other apartment in some or the other area that meets your set criteria.\n\nRather than trying to get a perfect apartment, you should focus on getting one that fulfills most of your criteria. This way, you will be able to find something less expensive and yet worth living in.\n

3. Look elsewhere<\/h2>\nAt times, people fixate on locations and neighbourhoods.\n\nThey tend to equate living well to a particular location. They think that if they don\u2019t get a good apartment in a particular neighbourhood, it\u2019s not worth it. Or they just give up after searching for a good apartment at affordable rate in a neighbourhood of their liking.\n\nBut it\u2019s not a great strategy.\n\nYou should keep an open mind and look for an apartment in different neighbourhoods. It\u2019s possible that you may find it really expensive to rent an apartment in a location of your choice. However, no city can be expensive across the board.\n\nSo look elsewhere and find out a neighbourhood you have not yet explored. Focus on such a neighbourhood and try to find a decent apartment at affordable rate in this area.\n\nIt is possible that you may be able to find a considerably cheaper apartment in a different neighbourhood.\n\nTherefore, you should explore the relatively less explored areas and try to search for your new dream home in different neighbourhoods across the city.\n

4. Explore Developing Areas<\/h2>\nWhile you look elsewhere, you must not forget to explore the new areas which are developing at the moment.\n\nIt\u2019s difficult to find an apartment at a cheap rate in neighbourhoods which are fully developed and are central to the business and industry in a city.\n\nInstead, if you look into areas which are still developing, you will find that it takes a lot of time before such an area becomes overcrowded. There\u2019s a good change that you may be able to find an apartment at cheaper rates.\n\nHowever, you have to make sure that these areas are not too far away from where you work. Moreover, you should take into account safety concerns in the developing areas.\n\nIf you take care of these concerns, you can definitely find an affordable apartment in the developing areas.\n

5. Time it to Perfection<\/h2>\nAt times, people get the timing wrong and that\u2019s why they find it difficult to rent an apartment at an affordable rate.\n\nStudy the neighbourhood properly and consider the trends of renting. For instance, if you are considering living closer to a university or college, it will not be possible to find an affordable apartment at the time a new academic year or semester commences. So you should explore apartments after student population settles down.\n\nLikewise, avoid looking for an apartment during or before festive seasons. Whether it\u2019s Christmas or any other festive occasion, you will find apartment rents quite expensive.\n\nSo make sure you look for an apartment in a period of lull between festive seasons when nothing is happening.\n\nIf you can time it to perfection, there is a good chance that you can find out some pretty good apartments at fairly affordable rates.\n

6. Take Care of Hidden Costs<\/h2>\nWhen you look for an apartment, you will have to consider the hidden costs<\/a> as well. You might wonder what these hidden costs could be and how much they could be.\n\nWhen it comes to renting an apartment in South Africa, you need to consider every small cost associated with renting an apartment such as gas, electricity, water charges, and Internet connection etc.\n\nIt may happen that you may just consider the rent and if it does not include these charges, it could take a toll on your budget.\n\nTherefore, you should look for an apartment wherein all these charges are included in rent. This will make sure that your budget does not go topsy-turvy because of these charges.\n\nIf they are not included in the budget, they should at least be reasonable or minimal. You should bargain with your landlord to either reduce the rent or do something about these additional charges.\n\nThere is a good chance that you will able to save some amount from these additional charges. It means that your budget will not go awry.\n\nThis will ensure that you will be able to reduce the cost of renting an apartment. In other words, it suddenly becomes a little less expensive for you!\n

7. Be Flexible<\/h2>\nWell, it\u2019s a good thing to list the priorities but it would be a good idea to remain flexible.\n\nAt times, you can miss out on a good apartment because you rigidly stick to a particular item on your priorities.\n\nFor instance, let\u2019s say, you are looking for a furnished apartment. A furnished apartment is likely to be more expensive. In certain areas, the rent is likely to be twice as much compared to unfurnished apartments.\n\nSo if you rigidly stick to this and look for only furnished apartments which are affordable, it may not be possible to find one.\n\nOn the other hand, if you remain flexible and keep an open mind, you may be willing to explore even the unfurnished apartments.\n\nYou might able to spot an opportunity in renting an unfurnished apartment at a considerably lower cost and seize it too.\n\nLikewise, you may have your list of other such priorities and set criteria but you would do well to remain flexible about them as well.\n\nThis will enable you to find and grab opportunities that you would otherwise miss if you remain too rigid about your priorities.\n\nSo remain flexible and adjust a little and see how your prospects of finding an affordable apartment change overnight!\n

8. Negotiate<\/h2>\nDon\u2019t you negotiate for everything in your life and work?\n\nConsider this scenario: your boss gives you a deadline for a task and you shrewdly negotiate by stating how it is difficult and how he needs to give you a little more time.\n\nThere\u2019s a lot that you can manage if you have the requisite negotiation skills\n\nLikewise, it applies to rent an apartment as well.\n\nA lot of people don\u2019t know how to negotiate regarding rent and end up paying higher rent.\n\nThere\u2019s no reason to believe that you have to accept the rent that the landlord proposes to you.\n\nYou can always bargain and negotiate in order to get some sort of relaxation either in rent or utilities or something else. It may not be easy to convince the landlord but if you do some background research, you will find a convincing argument as to why the rent should be lower.\n\nNegotiation could be a minor but important factor in getting an apartment at an affordable rate.\n\nSo learn to negotiate and get an apartment at affordable rent.\n

9. Join Facebook Housing Groups<\/h2>\nAs most people use social media sites such as Facebook, it\u2019s natural that they will use it to communicate all kinds of information including the bit about apartments available on rent.\n\nIf you are on Facebook, you can explore social media sites and find relatively affordable apartments in South Africa. There are some dedicated Facebook groups on housing which you can join.\n\nThese groups contain posts and news regarding apartments available on rent in South Africa.\n\nThe best part is that you get all the information without any charges. You don\u2019t have to make special efforts as you check your Facebook anyway. While you log in, you can just explore Facebook for information regarding apartments on rent.\n\nYou can explore not just Facebook but also a few other social media sites for getting useful information on apartments on rent. This could very well turn out to be the key to finding affordable apartment that you are looking for!\n

10. Search Online<\/h2>\nBusinesses have gone online and users also explore different products and services online.\n\nWhat makes you think that you cannot find affordable apartments online?\n\nAll you got to do is search online and explore.\n\nYou will be surprised by what you will find there.\n\nThere are various sites where you would find apartment listings that you can explore.\n\nThe good thing about technology is that you can customize according to your needs.\n\nSo you can go to these different sites which serve as a sort of search engines for apartments on rent<\/a>. You can enter your query based on different parameters such as rent, location, number of rooms etc.\n\nThis is different from an ad in the newspaper that you see. In the case of an ad, you have nothing else to compare with. In the case of such a website, you can compare the rent of similar apartments in different locations and see how apartments are available at comparatively affordable rate in certain areas.\n\nHowever, you need to find the right kind of websites in order to access the accurate and real-time information.\n\nSo take your search for affordable apartment online and find amazing apartments at cheap rates!\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\nFinding an affordable apartment in South Africa can be quite challenging.\n\nHowever, if you analyze the rental market in South Africa and use the right strategies in these different ways, you can surely find an apartment at affordable rate.\n\nThese tips will help you navigate the rental market and enable you to identify the right sort of renting opportunities. In spite of all the odds, you will be able to discover a decent apartment if you explore these tips and implement a few of these ideas.\n\nIn any given rental market, it is never easy to find an affordable apartment. However, if you follow some of these tried and tested tips and tricks, it would be possible for you to find your dream home sooner!\n\nSo explore these tips and find the affordable apartment that you are looking for!\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finding a suitable apartment on rent in South Africa is never an easy task. However, what is even more daunting is the idea of finding an affordable apartment. This is your plight: On the one hand, you like apartments but they are expensive. On the other hand, you find cheap apartments but they are not … <\/p>\n

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