MY MEDALLION
Many North Americans consider owning a home or condo to be the better option over renting an apartment. However, the benefits of renting an apartment are often understated. From financial stability and short term freedom, renting an apartment building can the best choice for you for a quite a few reasons. Here are the six of the benefits of renting an apartment!
1. Financial
One of the biggest benefits of renting an apartment is the financial stability and affordability of it. Apartment buildings tend to be much more affordable in pricing and often you can find the perfect place that fits within your budget. There is an added benefit of one consistent payment every month, your rent. Some apartments may charge utilities separately, but condos and houses come with multiple extra costs to juggle: utility fees, condo fees, property taxes, costs to fix things, etc. There’s no need to worry when renting that next month you’ll have a larger than normal hydro bill, or that the condo fees will increase. For a more in depth discussion on the Financial aspects of renting, check out “The Wealthy Renter” by Alex Avery here.
2. Location
Apartment buildings are densely populated spaces, so you can often find them in downtown areas and the hipper parts of the city. This means that a benefit of renting an apartment is that they generally are in a more central or convenient area in the city, rather than on the outskirts of cities where bigger plots of land are more available. For those who like being in the heart of the city and the action, apartments are an accessible way to be where it’s all happening, rather than being on the outside looking in.
3. Amenities
Another benefit of renting an apartment is that many apartment buildings have convenient, built in amenities. Pools, gyms, laundry, and even grocery stores are usually available on site or nearby your apartment. While some of those can be things you find in a house, not having to maintain them or purchase this is a definite upside to renting an apartment. Condo units also tend to have similar amenities to apartment buildings, but come with the added condo fees which costs that can fluctuate.
4. Security
Apartment living comes with another big benefit: security systems. While homeowners can get personal security systems, apartment buildings often have quite sophisticated and advanced ones and invest a lot into maintaining the safety of their residents. . Keyless suite doors, key or fob, access to the premises, destination dispatch elevators are just a few of the features that make apartment living more secure.
5. Flexibility of tenure
One of the best things about renting is that you are not locked into anything more than 1 year term. Purchasing a house or a condo can be a lifetime investment, and locks you in to a mortgage that’ll stay with you for a long time. Renting gives you a certain flexibility with not just where you’re living, but for how long, and if you want to move away to a more expensive place it doesn’t come with the refinancing aspect. Apartments let you have the flexibility to make changes to your life as they come and won’t be an obstacle in your way.
6. Less to Maintain
Financial benefits definitely dominate the list for reasons why renting can be a blessing, but so is the time saving part. Home maintenance of things like cutting the lawn or shoveling the pathways in the winter are not your concern. If something breaks in your place, assuming it wasn’t through any fault of your own, it’s your landlord’s responsibility and not yours. This means saving money that you might have had to spend on fixing a boiler or a faulty toilette can be better spent on… Well, anything more exciting than that.
Renting an apartment can come with all sorts of benefits that can make it the right fit for your lifestyle. Whether you’re not ready to set down roots just yet, want to save some of your hard earned cash, or just don’t like shoveling snow, renting an apartment can be a great thing for you. For more information on some of the benefits of renting an apartment, visit the Medallion Blog.
