Renting an Apartment

Step 1 - Check out the Vocabulary words - Renting vs Owning

 

Your goal is to research what it would cost to rent an apartment in a particular city. You will create:

1. A spreadsheet that accurately reflects the costs of renting an apartment in that city

2. A PowerPoint presentation to record all of the information and data you collect in your research including links to the websites that you used to gather this information and data.

For the purposes of this project, you will assume a yearly salary of $25,000 and this salary does include health insurance. You are required to buy renters insurance. Renter's insurance must be accounted for in your budget. If you are living in a city that does not have a good public transportation system, you must include a car and car insurance in your budget.

  • For planning and budget purposes, you have $2,000 in your savings account
  • Create a PowerPoint, and title it Apartment Research

 

Step 2 - Find a Partner
Step 3 - Do some research, and choose a city to live in. Limit your search to the United States.

Step 4 - Create your PowerPoint

Enter the following in your Apartment Research Document:

  • What are the expenses of renting an apartment?
    • As you discover web resources, record them in your Apartment Research document.
  • Why did you chose the apartment you did?
    • Was it the location, affordability, availability, etc.?
  • How will you furnish your apartment?
    • Include the cost of all items that you would purchase out of your savings
      • Furniture, supplies, decorations, appliances, shower curtains :-), etc.
  • Is there a security deposit? If so, how much?
  • What are some of the rules / regulations of the place you're renting?
  • Does it come with a washer & dryer or even a microwave?
  • What are your average utilities?
    • What utilities might be included in the rent?

Step 5 - Create a Spreadsheet and title it Apartment Budget Spreadsheet.

  • You will have 2 tabs in this spreadsheet
  • The 1st tab will be named Income & Expenses
    • You will record your income and ALL expenses in this spreadsheet.
    • Don't forget that you will need to calculate sales tax (6%) on all taxable purchases
  • The 2nd tab will be named Monthly Living Expenses
    • You must now calculate ALL of your monthly living expenses.
    • You have to take into account all of your fixed (rent), variable (electric), and occasional (doctor) expenses.
    • The following is a list of things to consider. You must document your sources for each of the following categories:
      • Rent
      • Utilities (gas, water, electric, garbage)
      • Phone/Cell Phone
      • Cable
      • Internet
      • Transportation (car payment, gas, garage/parking fees)
      • Insurance (car, life, health, renter’s, dental – include amount of coverage and deductibles)
      • Groceries and incidentals
      • Entertainment
      • Education
      • Savings (Pay Yourself First – you must save!)
      • Charitable giving
      • Miscellaneous – clothing, shoes (may be required for job)

 

Step 6 - Reflection questions on final slide of presentation

  • 1.  How many times did you have to adjust your budget to get it to work out?

    2.  What did you have to give up, to make your budget balance?

    3.  What have you learned about the support (or economic subsidy!) provided 
    by your parents?  What’s the impact on your standard of living having lost 
    your parents’ help?

    4.  What would be your opportunity cost of moving out?

    5.   How much did the “curve ball” affect your attitude toward saving? 
    How much will the credit payments affect your budget? 

    6.   In reality, how will your “real-life” budget be different than the one you 
    created for this project?

    7.   In conclusion, what have you learned?  Highlight at least three specific 
    things you learned or were surprised about.

 
Step 7 - Vocabulary Quiz and Update your portfolio (see mine)