Renting a house or apartment is one option for providing housing. When renting there are two parties involved, the owner and the tenant. Before moving in, the owner and the tenant come to an agreement, called a lease, where the tenant agrees to pay a certain amount, called rent, to the owner every month. In exchange, the owner allows the tenet to stay in their home.

Renting a home is best for when you are first moving into an area, or if you are only going to be in that home for a short period of time. The reason for this is that you are only committing to the home for the term of the lease and then you are done. Once your lease ends, you can either walk away from the home or renew your lease.

The main disadvantage of renting is that, unlike buying, the money you spend on your rent does not go to building equity, but just goes to the owner.

Before moving into a home, you will be required to pay a security deposit, which is typically equivalent to one month rent. This money is used to protect the landlord’s property in case there is any damage done to the property. While it is true that it is possible to get your entire security deposit returned, it is difficult to actually get a full refund.

In this portion of the activity, you will select three different rental properties in each of the locations you want to live and determine how much rent you will have to pay for rent.