Looking for a new apartment can be a very exciting time as you find a place that you will call home for the foreseeable future. However, there is more to an apartment than what is inside the four walls of the unit itself. Here are some things to consider when looking for your next apartment rental.
Parking
The parking situation with an apartment can vary depending on how big of a city you live in. If you live in a big city, it is common to not have parking offered or to need to pay for a spot. If you are in the suburbs, parking is usually included for free and is plentiful. Make sure that you factor the parking into your budget and your specific needs, since you don't want it to be an afterthought.
For example, if you need to use street parking, it is a good idea to check out what the parking situation is like during the entire day. While there may be plenty of empty spaces during the day when you looked at the apartment, you may discover that at night it would be challenging to find a spot when everyone is home after work.
Laundry
Laundry is another thing that can be incredibly different between apartment buildings. Some may have a washer and dryer in the unit itself, while others have a laundry facility. Even if there is a laundry facility, the quantity of washers and dryers can make doing laundry easy or a challenge. In some situations, you may even have to take your laundry to a nearby laundromat. You'll want to make sure that the laundry situation works for your needs and that you feel you can do laundry when you want to based on the quantity of units.
Find out how the mail is handed at the apartment building, since people are having packages delivered now more than ever. Is the mailbox located on the outside of the building, or do you need to go into a secure vestibule? The latter can put an extra layer of security to make sure that nobody tampers with the mail. Some apartment buildings even have a locked area for packages so that they are in a secure place until you are able to pick them up. Even something as simple as placing packages in a locked vestibule will be much better than leaving them on an exterior doorstep.