The reasons why people would rent a unit and not a house are numerous. Some don’t need a lot of room and don’t want to rent a house for that reason, some are looking to save on rent, some like the low maintenance garden better than mowing the lawn every other weekend, etc. In many areas new units are rented out for roughly the same money as old houses, and people who prefer higher standards of living to having more rooms will choose to live in a new unit.
No matter what your reason is for renting a unit, one thing you should know and remember – not all units are born equal. Knowing this will help you find a property that will give you all the benefits of a unit without the drawbacks of one.
We all stereotype to some extent, and every word is associated with a certain meaning in our minds, whether we admit it or not, whether it’s conscious or not. This is why, when we say the word “unit”, many people automatically imagine a big block of units (10-15), and that puts them off the idea of renting a unit.
It does seem that living with 15 neighbors can spell more trouble than quiet enjoyment, and, personally, that sort of unit wouldn’t be my first choice. However, there are many cases when there are just three, or two, or even one unit on a block. How?
In suburbs that are “ripe for redevelopment” or “ripe for renovation”, a developer can buy a large block of land with an old house on it, knock the house down and build 2-3 new units on the same block.
A developer or an investor also can leave the old house standing, renovate it, and build an additional, new unit on the remaining land. In this case it’s up to the estate agent whether they advertise the renovated house as a house, or as a unit – but effectively both old and new buildings are units.
While we’re on the topic of real estate ads, how do you know the number of units on the block when you see one of them advertised?
Ways to find out:
Read the ad – sometimes the ad text says: “Only 3 on the block”, so it’s obvious.
Look at the property address – it may give away how many units there are. If you see “5/37 Parker street”, then you can safely assume there are at least 5 units on the block.
Look at the pictures – in case from the address it’s obvious that the property is a unit (for example “1/23 Parker street” or “23a Parker street” ), but you don’t know how many more units there are, then pictures can help – they may show how many houses there are standing close to one another.
Count the mailboxes – in some photos you can see the mailboxes, normally all gathered in one place by the entrance to the driveway (just like in the picture at the top of this post). Count the number of mailboxes, that’s how many units there are.
Use Google Maps – if the photos don’t show the outside of the house, look up the address on Google Maps.
Switch to Satellite view and simply count the rooftops, or switch to Map view and see how many smaller blocks the big block at the property address in divided into ( every smaller block is a unit). For example, in the picture on the right you can see 11 rooftops on the block marked in red square – it means that there are 11 units.
Equipped with all this knowledge you won’t have any problem finding a unit that doesn’t come with a herd of neighbors.
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Great tips! It’s really important to check not only the picture but also the actual unit. Thanks for sharing this informative article.