One of the most basic and important considerations to take into account when you rent an apartment is whether you want a furnished or unfurnished unit.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both apartment options. However, it's important for you to take all of the following considerations into account before you decide so that you can end up with the apartment that best suits your needs:

The costs of renting

Renting a furnished apartment will inevitably be more expensive than renting an unfurnished apartment. If you're looking for the lowest possible rent, you'll probably end up in an unfurnished apartment.

Of course, overall costs might be less for a temporary apartment rental if you opt for a furnished apartment. If you don't have any furniture yourself, you might be better off renting a furnished apartment rather than buying new furniture to fill your apartment home.

Liabilities regarding damage to furnishings

You're responsible to damages to apartment furniture in a furnished unit. Any damages could come out of your security deposit or be charged to you in addition to your security deposit when you move out.

You therefore should consider how susceptible any furniture that comes along with your rental is to damage. If you've got kids or pets, it might be a good idea to rent an unfurnished unit without any fragile or expensive furniture pieces. 

The volume of possessions you already own that you'll need to move in

If you've got a lot of stuff that you need to fit into your new apartment rental, it's probably a good idea to opt for an unfurnished unit.

Usually, an apartment that's listed as furnished will include all or most of the necessary furniture to fill out all its rooms. This means that you'll have trouble fitting any furniture pieces of your own. 

How long you'll be staying

If you're only staying in an apartment unit for a few months, putting the work into relocating furniture into the apartment is probably a waste of time.

Furnished apartments are ideal for short term leases because they drastically reduce the work involved with moving and getting settled in to a new home.

How much time you have

Often, those who relocate to a new apartment are starting up a new job in an unfamiliar area. If this is the case for you, you probably don't want to have to be putting a lot of time into furniture shopping and moving furniture in.

If you're going to be very busy in the days surrounding your move, furnished is the way to go. 

To get started in your search, check out a company like Meadowdale Apartments.

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