Finding a suitable apartment can be tricky

Joko E.H. Anwar Contributor Jakarta

For many people, living in an apartment means easier living than living in houses. For instance, they will not need to do as much maintenance as they would have to on houses due its smaller size. They would not have to worry if their exterior paint has been discoloring or peeling.

Most apartments also have many facilities built inside their buildings such as a gym, a sauna, convenience stores, or even child day care centers.

You also will not have to hire your own security guards to feel safe since the apartment's management employ security staff who will be on alert 24-hours-a-day.

With the security, strangers will not have easy access to go inside apartment complexes so there will be less possibility of crime.

Since living in an apartment allows you to live above street level, you will also have an opportunity to avoid the notorious noise in the capital.

For those who do not have a lot of money, finding a nice house located near business centers in the capital is difficult. More affordable, decent houses are located far from their offices which mean they would have to waste a lot of time in traffic to get to work everyday.

However, there are many nice apartment complexes which offer more affordable lease terms -- as low as Rp 1.7 million (about US$180) a month -- than ever before.

Relatively low prices can be found in several apartment complexes such as Apartemen Semanggi on Jl. Gatot Subroto, West Jakarta.

Those who have a greater budget, mostly expatriates working for big companies, can choose from a wide range of apartments which can be rented for as much as US$2,500 a month.

Just like looking for any kind of place to stay, finding a suitable apartment to rent can be an exhausting job. First, you have to specifically determine your need. How many people will live in it, how many rooms you need and what kind of facilities you want.

Narrowing down your needs means avoiding regrets you may have after you move into an apartment.

It will also enable you to make a better decision of which apartment to live in and if the compromises you may have to make are worth other advantages you will get.

You may want to come directly to the apartments and meet with the management to ask for availability of their units. However, this means you may have to go to many apartments before you can find a unit which matches your desires.

If you are new in town or if you do not know many people who can provide information on choices of apartments, you are likely to browse through classified ads in newspapers.

The party which puts these ads in newspapers can be the owners of the apartments or can be brokers.

Dealing with owners is usually easier than brokers since there is unlikely to be other schemes in offering you their places. The price you will have to pay is only the price set by them and this is different if you deal with brokers.

Dealing with brokers can be tricky so you need to understand types of brokers before asking for their assistance. There are independent brokers who are either paid by the owners to find people to rent or buy their apartments or brokers who hear from other brokers about the availability of an apartment.

The longer the chain of brokers you deal with, the more money you will have to pay since every broker in the chain will want to have a piece of commission.

The longer the chains may also mean the more hassle and deviation of information you get about the condition of the apartment you are interested in.

However, if you are street-smart enough, you may be able to find the real owner of the apartment and then you can deal with them directly.

However, using a broker, in many cases, does work out. Just keep in mind that these brokers should not charge you with anything since they should expect their fee from their commission from the owner or from other brokers whom they deal with.

Some apartments, usually cheaper ones, have announcement boards in the building where owners can post their ads if they want to lease or sell their apartments.

But then again, the people who make the postings may also be brokers. Today, there are more and more professional brokers from franchised real estate brokers who can help you find a suitable apartment.

This method will not guarantee that you find a lower rent place but they can provide you with professionalism even though it varies greatly from one agent to another.

If you have more money in your budget, you can contact corporate housing services which can provide you assistance in finding a more suitable apartment.

Agents from these companies, whose services are usually used by expatriates will ask you specific questions and try to find a place which is suitable for your expectations and your lifestyle.

Contact number and addresses of such companies can be easily found on the Internet using any search engine.

Regardless of which method one chooses, it is very important to make the acquaintance of people who live in the same apartment you are interested in before making a decision.

You can ask for information about living in the apartment with more honest opinions.

However, due to possible subjectivity, the more people you ask for information, the better.