by Simon Wright

Created on: August 15, 2009

Whether you're a student or young professional, getting a good deal on your apartment is likely to be vital for the wellbeing of your bank balance. This has always been the case but the importance of being frugal and minimizing the amount of rent that you have to pay has been accentuated by the recent economic hardships.

How then can you ensure that you get a good deal? Well, like with so many things, the answer is that some hard work is required. Rather than just accepting the first apartment that you hear about, you need to do some thorough research and make sure that you're getting value for your money.

It's worth stressing at this point that it's not just about finding the cheapest apartment. You don't want to find yourself living in some rat infested dump that has holes in the roof and is freezing cold! In most cases, the necessity to be kind to your bank balance doesn't need to mean that you have to put up with intolerable hardships. It just means that you may have to work harder to find an apartment that ticks boxes both in terms of price and quality.

With this in mind, then, here is an approach that you can use to get the apartment that you want.

1. Consider how far from your work or college you are prepared to live?

In any city, you will find that there are some areas that are more pricey than others. In general, for example, the closer you are to the city centre, the higher the prices will be as you are paying for the convenience of being close to all the city centre amenities. If it's practical for you to live further a field, then that might save you some money.

2. Consider associated costs, such as the cost of commuting.

An apartment on the outskirts of a city may be much cheaper than a city centre equivalent. However, make sure you factor in any extra commuting costs that you might incur.

3. Are there any areas you simply don't want to live in?

It's possible that there may be parts of the city that you wouldn't countenance living in, perhaps due to them being too run down or having a reputation for high levels of crime.

Based on points 1, 2 and 3 above, you should be able to work out what areas you would consider living in. You're now ready to start looking at what apartments are currently available and what rent they are charging.

Conducting your research:

In most cases the easiest way to come up with a shortlist of possible apartments is to scan local newspaper property sections and/or websites that list local properties. If you're

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