Finding the right apartment is the No.1 goal of every renter. But part of the due diligence required for apartment hunting is taking the time to tour a property before signing the housing contract. After reviewing the pictures, descriptions, and online reviews, schedule a property tour to confirm all of the information you have gathered about the living community.
To make the most of your apartment tour, it’s essential that you ask the right questions. Whether you’re touring student apartments, houses, or townhomes for rent in Gainesville, FL, asking the following five questions, as suggested by Contemporary Management Concepts, LLLP, will help you determine which place is the best choice for you.
Landlords use different strategies for determining the prices of apartments for rent in Gainesville, FL. Some landlords or property owners use fixed prices, while others provide a range — which may reflect the prices of different floor plans, seasonal fluxes, and other factors. A number of landlords may ask renters to call for the price instead of providing an upfront cost.
In addition, there are variables that may complicate the manner in which online installment payment prices are perceived, including limited promotional discounts as well as the risk that prices listed on second-party websites might be out-of-date. The last situation you want to encounter is to budget for an apartment, sign the housing contract, and only then discover that the monthly expenses are far above the anticipated cost. As such, it’s beneficial to confirm during the tour the monthly installment payment for the apartment in question.
After verifying the price of the apartment, a good follow-up question is which features, amenities, and services are included in the monthly installment payment. This question especially applies to students who attend — or those who plan to attend — the University of Florida. Many UF student apartments include in the installment payment Internet service and a number of monthly utilities. In addition to the provided convenience to renters, amenities- inclusive housing can also reduce students’ living expenses due to fewer additional costs.
Many renters are surprised when they first discover that their landlords’ insurance policies don’t also protect tenants’ property — for that protection, tenants need renters insurance. At most student housing, Gainesville renters are required by their landlords to have renters insurance. Similar requirements apply to tenants in the majority of high-end apartments. Seeing as renters insurance protects the value of the property, it makes sense, from a financial perspective, to have acquired a policy. If you’re opposed to paying for the insurance, an apartment tour is your opportunity to ask about the landlord’s requirements for insurance.
The restrictions on campus dorms are a big incentive for students to move out and rent off campus apartments. Instead of being subjected to strict rules for quiet hours, guest policies, and similar lifestyle inhibitions imposed by resident assistants, students live as independent adults in student apartments near UF. At the same time, life in apartments isn’t lawless. Landlords may have policies for parking, trash disposal and recycling, and the use of amenities, among other matters. And even though the fine-print about resident policies is typically found in the housing contract, you can inquire about the details during a tour.
It’s the job of the property maintenance teams to keep appealing the state of apartments and functioning the interior features within a community. But the precise services performed by maintenance teams can vary among apartment communities. While some communities employ on-site maintenance teams, others hire outside contractors, resulting in varied response times to maintenance requests. It’s also worthwhile to find out the most effective method to request maintenance and which apartment features are covered by property maintenance.