The important thing that you should keep in mind while renting a house is your assurance or security. Selecting a right rental option is very important. You will always have a certain budget to rent a house. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides necessary assistance to the owners so that they can offer low rents to their tenants who have less income.
01. What is "renting?"
Renting is the monthly payment done to the landlord to stay in a house which he owns. Sometimes a part of a huge house is rented. Following are the types of houses that can be rented.
02. Types of Rental Houses in USA
Following are the different types and sizes of rental houses which are available from which you can decide which rental house you can choose. There are many advantages and disadvantages associated with each of them and satisfying your different requirements.
- Budget - Sometimes you do not care as much about the type of house than you do for your budget (and rightly so). The general rule of thumb in US is that one should be able to afford upto 25% of his take home salary. But you can always rent a home for much less than that in most cases. For eg, depending upon the area, a ‘1Bed 1Bath’ apartment/condo can cost from $700 per month in a suburb to $1800 per month in a downtown (or even more in somecases). This is just a rough estimate. Do your research for your area and you should be able to figure a rough estimate easily.
- Single Family Houses - This is again a type of residential unit that has open space on all four sides and is not attached to any other structure. Think of them being similar to a single bunglow with open space all round in India.
- Duplex/Townhouse - You can expect similar conveniences as with a single-family home when renting a duplex or townhouse. These rental units offer greater privacy and independence.
- Small Apartment Buildings - offer more amenities than single family homes or townhouses, while simultaneously providing a living situation that you share with a small number of other tenants.
- Medium Apartment Buildings - will often provide many of the amenities expected from large apartment buildings, but shared with fewer people.
- Big Apartment Buildings - are comprised of numerous rental units and house the largest number of tenants under one roof.
03. Furnishing your apartment while living in USA
Most of the rented houses include general appliances for the house like gas or electric stoves, geysers, refrigerators, air conditioners, laundry and other specialties. Some come with only furniture. Depending on the facilities provided the rent will be either high or low. You could go shopping and purchase your requirements from many departmental stores. You can use some help from the people of your community clarifying about the best buys in town.
04. Legally renting a house in America
For renting a house you need to sign a contract and deposit some cash which is mostly first month rent and some extra money. The rental payment per month is usually less than the amount of money you deposit. The owner will be responsible for the all the maintenance and repair work of the house before renting the house to you. Quite often the electricity, cable and water will be included in the monthly rent payment. If your needs are too much then the owner might charge you extra rental money.
05. Credit history
Some landlords may want to have a look at your credit history before renting the house, so be prepared with a credit history. You might need letter of recommendation or good references if you are new to U.S (if you do not possess a credit history). Sometimes a huge amount of deposit might also be necessary.
06. Subletting in USA
There are cases when a person goes on a long trip or move somewhere else but would want to keep their lease. During this time the house can be rented to another person while it not in use. This is often a good way of renting a house as the term of lease will be shorter. Make sure you clarify all of the guidelines before moving into a rented house and that the renting is legal.
