Alright, since I've acquired a new job, I'm now looking for a place to live on my own. I will most likely be renting an apartment (1 bedroom). I've rented before, but it was super cheap because I had a lot of roommates and the houses were really crappy (college houses). My question is, what should I be looking at as far as how much to pay for rent? I don't want this to be a numbers game, so basically if anyone has a recommendation of a percentage of income per month...or something like that. And no...I don't want to buy a house.
Well i live in a 2 bedroom townhouse and my roomate and i pay 425 each. But i have seen places anywhere form 400-2000 a month it all depends on what you want and where
25% to 35%. Less is more when it comes to rent. If you're by yourself there's nothing wrong with an efficiency/studio. My first place was $395/mth for 450sqft in downtown Chicago ('95). It is the only prior personal residence I miss...
Its kinda hard to haggle especially if its a complex. So your gonna pay watever it says on the lease agreement or watever. Like dude said it ranges but usually you pay for what you get.Pools, weight room, pets all make rent go up.
Rule of thumb for rent is 28% or less of monthly income. Kiplinger says mortgage should not be more than 33% so this should give you a good baseline. Good luck and if you do decide to buy then now is the time to do it if it works for you. http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/starting/archive/2005/st0714.htm ** Sorry, repeated what others have said about 5 min's too late.
Where do you want to live and how much do you make? Also, make sure you factor in transportation costs and parking if you live far away from where you work/study. If I didn't live so close to school, I'd be paying over $100/mo more for gas and parking. Still, even in the "best areas" of MSP, there's no reason to be paying juch more that $1000/mo on a 1 br.
I would be looking at moving into the St. Louis Park/Plymouth/Hopkins area. My new job is right off 169 and 55, so transportation wouldn't be bad at all. I kind of went into this situation thinking I would be willing to pay $800 and it seems like I'm finding some decent options. It's going to take a lot of looking to find everything I want in an apartment though.
