Advice please

lolasmit

Hello, 

My husband and I are looking to move in January when our lease is up in our current apartment. Since we are having a baby and she will be 10 months in January we figured we would get a two bedroom. Now our issue lays in the fact that the apartments are the same price as renting a house would be. I don't know much about the topic, but can someone tell me the pros and cons of renting a house vs an apartment. We would like to buy a house in about 5-7 years due to my lack of stability in a job. 

Let me know what other kind of information you need. 

short+sassy

Some of the pros of an apartment is there are often amenities like a gym, pool, etc.  Plus they usually have at least one full-time maintenance person to fix problems right away.  Negatives are your neighbors are literally right on top of you and there are more of them.  Also, the atmosphere of an apartment is usually SO "vanilla", blah. Everything is off-white or light tan. The cheapest cabinets, the cheapest fixtures, the cheapest appliances.

Renting a house, the positives are there is more privacy.  For me, when I first moved from apartment living to renting a house, it was almost a psychological feeling that it was more MINE, even though I didn't own the house.  Plus houses are usually more spacious.  They are also likely to have more character than an apartment and higher end finishes (though not always).  Some of the negatives are getting things fixed can take longer and be more difficult.  Especially if you have a bad landlord.

ab6704a

What PP said is true, and in renting a house you need to be sure you check the lease terms about what services are included.  Depending on where you live and the requirements of the area, the landlord may not include yard maintenance, snow removal (if you're in a cold climate), etc.  and you will then need to take care of those yourself. 

lolasmit

Thank you. 

Currently we live in an apartment, and in looking for two bedrooms we are finding that they are  (no utilities included)  1300 or more. That's the same price we would pay for a house or less. Such a tough decision. 

Any other advice?

Sillygirl45

PP's all have great advice. When I was single I rented because I liked having other people around (felt a little more secure), 24/7 emergency maintenance, and the snow/lawn/pool/gym included was great. 

In your situation I would be careful of the landlord and the neighborhood. Are there any townhouses available? My condo was a townhouse and it provided more privacy, some green space, a nice deck, while still having the amenities of an apartment. Many of the homes were rentals. I would look into something like that. 

The beautiful thing about renting is it's only a year at a time if you choose to change your mind!

lolasmit

Thank you!!

That's true! We have noticed that there are some condos and townhouses in the area. Does anyone know when we should start looking since our current lease is up on January 1st? Is it too early to look now?