Living on your own means having the responsibility to maintain your home as long as you are there. It is possible to not do a great job and then the repairs will come out of your security deposit. But, if you are looking for a rental home and you know that you are not a fan of maintenance, you should make it a priority to find somewhere to live that keeps these responsibilities to an absolute minimum. Knowing what features to look for will help you choose rental homes that satisfy this specific requirement.
Vertical Blinds
Many rental places will come with window treatments on all the windows in the home. This makes it easy for you because you do not need to buy your own to enjoy sun protection and privacy. But, you may want to analyze what treatments each house uses as there are different levels of maintenance required. Even if you like how horizontal blinds look, you should try to avoid them because they are difficult to clean.
You must be extra delicate with cleaning to avoid breaking a slat and there are lots of slats. Vertical blinds are better because their design makes it hard for dust to stick to the surface. Also, you can take a damp paper towel, wrap it around both sides of a slat and slide down with your hands for easy cleaning.
Landscape
If you take on a rental home that has a beautiful landscape, you may be expected to keep it that way. You will want to ask the landlord to see if professionals will come over to handle the work. The ideal situation is when you find a low-maintenance landscape with an automated irrigation system. It will prevent you from having to do any work outside aside from mowing and picking up leaf litter occasionally.
Flooring
The flooring is another aspect that can either be simple or challenging to maintain. While all flooring types are not hard to vacuum, there are other concerns that you should take into consideration. For instance, carpet can get stained quickly and require an immediate response to avoid lasting wear and tear. On the other hand, tile or sealed hardwood flooring does not need to be spot treated as fast for a proper cleaning.
Although there are other aspects that involve home maintenance, analyzing these features in the rental homes that you look at should give you a strong idea of which ones will be the easiest to maintain. Work with a real estate agent such as Steve Cohn - Keller Williams Realty - Petaluma for more information on finding a great new place.
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