For many people their first experience of property once moving out of the family home is rental property. This is usually because they don\’t have the funds or the income to buy their own home at first. Renting is often the cheapest if not only option for such people. Finding the right property to let is not always easy though.

There are many things to consider, from how much you can afford through where you want to live to what type of home you want. Sorting your budget out should be your first priority.

As this is going to be your first home you probably won\’t have a clear idea of what utility, insurance, council tax bills and the like will cost, but your parents and friends can give you a rough guide to what they will cost each month. Using a spreadsheet put these costs and other financial commitments you may have, such as credit card bills, loan repayments and estimated food bills down against your income. What you have left is what you will be able to afford for rent each month – but don\’t forget to leave yourself a little spending money each month too!

Now you have an idea of what you can afford you can begin looking at the type of property and the areas in which you\’d like to live.

Your budget is likely to determine the type of property that will be available to you. For example, if you can only afford around £500 then a small terraced house or a one bedroom flat or apartment is going to be what you\’re after. If you have more available, say £750 or more, then a larger house or two bedroomed flat or apartment might be available. It\’s also going to depend on the areas you\’d consider living in. A more \’upmarket\’ area is obviously going to cost more and will mean you get less for your money, but an area under redevelopment will prove cheaper and you might find you can geta decent sized property for less than you might expect. At the end of the day it is going to come down to personal choice.

Decide on three or four areas, a couple of more desirable ones and a couple of less desirable, but cheaper ones. This will mean you can look at a wider range of properties to give you a better choice.

The best place to start is with local letting agents, which can easily be found in newspapers or online. If you wanted to live in Manchester, for example, search for \”letting agents Manchester\” in a search engine and you\’ll get a comprehensive list of agents in that area. You can narrow your search further by replacing \”Manchester\” with a more specific location – \”Northern Quarter\” for example.

Contact the agents and ask them to send you details of all the properties within your price range and for three or four areas in which you\’d like to live. They will either email or post you property details including monthly rent, photographs of the proeprty and details of the rooms, local amenities and other information.

Go through these and choose the ones that you like the look of then go and look at them in person. You can arrange viewings of the properties with the letting agents who will be happy to show you around and give you a bit more information about the property itself and the local area. Don\’t be afraid to ask questions – if there is anything that concerns you then ask about and if you don\’t like the answer then scratch the property (or the agent) off your list.

To be really thorough, take a look at the local area yourself, away from the agent, both in the day and at night to see what it\’s like. You\’ll get a much better feel for where you might believing that way.

When you have identified the right property in the right area at the right price it is simply a case of contacting the agent and letting them know you want the property. They will ask for certain details so they can do reference and credit checks – this is perfectly normal so don;t be alarmed – and once they are satisfied will send you a tenant agreement to sign and ask for a deposit to be paid. Upon completion of this you will be given they keys to your new home and you\’re ready to move in!

It should be noted that it\’s a really good idea to like the agent as well as the property and the area, as it is likely that you will be dealing with them when it comes to any issues with the property. If they are handling the property management on behalf of the owner of the property that will certainly be the case and you will want to know that they will handle any problems quickly and effectively. Worth bearing in mind when you\’re looking for your first property.

Author Bio: Ian Grainger is writing on behalf of Shepherd Gilmour, specialist letting agents Manchester.

Category: Real Estate
Keywords: letting agents, property to let, property to rent, finding property