Surely you know a few good life hacks already, but did you know there are things you can do to save money when renting? You have many bills already that come with renting an apartment, use these helpful apartment renting hacks that will save you money!
Move-In During the Winter
Moving into a new apartment is a lot of work and moving in during the winter months only makes it more challenging. However, you can use this to your advantage if you’re looking to save some money. Many apartments will offer specials to help get units rented out during the winter months when fewer people move. Sometimes these specials can be free rent for the first or last month, or a reduced security deposit. Check around and see what move-in specials are being offered at apartments you are interested in. You can potentially save a lot of money if you don’t mind moving during the winter.
Negotiate Your Rent
Not everyone may know this, but you can always try to negotiate your rent. Examine other apartment listings in your area with similar amenities and offerings to the one you want. You may have some room to negotiate if there are similar units with lower prices in the area. Suppose your lease is up, and you are considering staying in your current apartment. In that case, you can also see if your landlord is willing to lower your rent if you sign another year-long lease as they would likely rather lose a little bit of money by giving you a deal than having your unit sit vacant for months.
Use Your Amenities
While getting your rent lowered isn’t always a viable option, you can save money using all of the amenities you already pay for. Many apartments offer amenities like fitness centers, pools, lounges, and even some offer wi-fi. Take full advantage of these amenities you already pay for to help you save money elsewhere. There is no need for an expensive gym membership if you have a fitness center in your building. You will even save a little bit of money by not having to commute to the gym!
Get a Credit When Things Break
One of the biggest perks of living in an apartment versus buying a home is you don’t have to worry about the costly repairs when things break. While you don’t have to pay for repairs, you pay for these things every month in your rent price, so you should ask for a rent credit if things break and are not fixed promptly. For example, if your washer breaks and takes two weeks to fix, you should ask for money off your rent as you can’t use the things you are paying for.
Find an Apartment with Utilities Included
Try to find an apartment that includes utilities in the price of rent. This will help you budget much more effectively as you will be paying one fixed price every month. In contrast, if you were paying your own utilities separately, they would fluctuate monthly, making it much harder to budget. One other perk of finding an apartment with utilities included is not paying set-up fees that often come with moving utilities to a new place.
