Before you decide on the kind of apartment you want to settle into, you have to truly establish what your needs are and how many bedrooms you really need in your apartment. There are salient questions you need to ask yourself before you take the plunge. Will a one-bedroom apartment be okay? Will a 2-bedroom apartment be too small? Is a 3-bedroom apartment what would really work for you? Would a 5-bedroom apartment be too much for you to handle?
In this article, we will look at pointers that will help you determine exactly how many bedrooms you need in that apartment you plan to call home.
Have you been honest with yourself?
Before you decide on the number of bedrooms you need, you have to be 100 percent true to yourself. The first question you need to ask yourself is – Why are you renting an apartment? Are you renting an apartment because all your friends have recently moved into a 3-bedroom apartment and you are keeping up appearances? Do you need an extra room in the house to use as an office or studio? Are you going for a 5-bedroom apartment because you are already married with 2 children? You need to be honest with yourself and assess exactly what your needs are. Take a look at your lifestyle and your priorities, these will be very different for each person.
Will it be within your long-term budget?
Ensure you make your apartment needs realistic by keeping it within your budget. You certainly don’t want to have to call your colleague at work or your cousin to loan you money to pay your rent. Therefore, it is important to keep the number of bedrooms you want in your apartment within your stipulated budget and make sure that it does not hurt other important outgoings. Don’t rent an apartment with 6 bedrooms just because you want your peers to say nice things about you. Would you be able to pay your rent for a month if you lose your job? Don’t put yourself in a situation where you have to reach out to friends and family year after year to bail you out of a sticky rent-paying situation.
Are you single or married?
Married people naturally require more space and more bedrooms especially if they are looking to raise a family. Single men and women can afford to live in apartments with one or two bedrooms but the same cannot be said about individuals who have three children or more. Your marital status plays a lot in determining how much space you would need to have in your apartment. A studio apartment or self-contained apartment might work well for a young university graduate but the same cannot be said for a middle-aged man with a wife, 4 children and a relative living in.
Do you have a lot of furniture?
Just before you decide how many bedrooms you need in that next apartment you want to rent, draw up a list of how much furniture you own and how much space you would require to arrange them in your home. If you own just a few pieces of furniture and you’re not planning to buy more anytime soon, an apartment with one bedroom would work just fine for you. However, if you own furniture like massive sofas, large water beds and other space-consuming furniture that you are probably emotionally attached to, then you might find yourself needing more space with more bedrooms.
Do you need space for entertaining?
What kind of activities do you like to indulge in when you are at home? If you are the kind of person who likes to play pool/snooker/billiards at home or you prefer to have a room transformed into a home cinema, then you would need to have an apartment with more than one bedroom. If you enjoy playing the piano, then you would want to keep this in mind when deciding how many bedrooms you want to settle for.
Are you sharing the space?
There are situations where two friends or colleagues put their resources together to rent a 2-bedroom apartment. This is a realistic option you could consider right before you put pen to paper on that apartment you recently checked out. Under this arrangement, you end up paying part of the rent instead of paying the entire rent all by yourself.
This is becoming really popular amongst colleagues and friends within the Lagos metropolis especially for apartments with 2 bedrooms or more. “The reason is not far-fetched. Some of the popular neighbourhoods in Lagos have pricey rents so more and more people are finding it rather convenient to share an apartment with a friend or colleague. So, instead of renting a mini-flat or studio apartment and bearing the financial cost alone, we find them searching for 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom apartments that they can share,” said Dada David, a Lagos-based real estate agent.
What kind of lifestyle defines you?
Your lifestyle will go a long way in determining the number of bedrooms you are going to need in an apartment in Lagos. If your lifestyle is on the modest side and you love to keep things small and simple, then a 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom apartment would make a lot of sense to you.
How much of your work gets done at home?
Do you work at home? Are you the kind of person who requires having an office at home? It could be a studio or just an office where you can comfortably carry out some research and get your work done on a daily basis. Perhaps, you have a family with little children, you definitely don’t want them shredding your documents or mistakenly watering your laptop like a flower. This gives you one more reason to get an apartment with enough bedrooms to accommodate a home office where you can work with a decent level of privacy. Always think about your needs, the extra space your work would need and how it could make your work at home more convenient.
How long do you intend to stay?
How long you intend to live in an apartment also determines how many bedrooms you would be looking to rent. If you relocate to a new town and you are merely looking for a place to settle before pulling your resources together to rent the space you really want, then a one bedroom apartment isn’t such a bad one. A good example of a situation where you might not necessarily need a lot of bedrooms is if you enrol for a course or degree in Lagos and the distance requires that you relocate temporarily into an apartment closer to the school or tertiary institution for a period of 2 to 5 years. In this sort of scenario, you don’t need a flat with 5 bedrooms or a 3-bedroom apartment. Rather, a 1 bedroom apartment or mini-flat would suffice.
However, if you are renting an apartment where you intend to spend the next 5 years of your life in, then you would naturally be looking at a space with more bedrooms.
Do you know about the neighbourhood’s reputation?
Certain neighbourhoods are known to have small living rooms and bedroom especially commercially vibrant or congested neighbourhoods. In such neighbourhoods, you might need to increase your budget if you intend to rent an apartment with sufficient space to move all your things into. Take note of the reputation of the neighbourhood you are scanning for your next apartment and be sure to speak with a real estate expert in Lagos.
Have you factored in the utility bills?
When you own a large apartment like a 3 bedroom or 5 bedroom apartment, you would definitely spend much more on your utility bills than if you owned a small apartment like a 1 bedroom. Now would be a good time to decide precisely how much you want to budget for your utility bills. You should also remember that the more electrical appliances you use, the higher your power consumption and by extension, the higher your utility bills become. If you have three bedrooms with each room having a split air conditioning unit, you can’t expect to pay the same utility bills as someone who has just one bedroom with a standing fan. This is something you would want to factor into your budget before you decide how many bedrooms you will be settling for.
Which neighbourhoods are you considering?
The specific neighbourhood where you intend to rent your next apartment is a very crucial factor. There are neighbourhoods in Lagos where you can get more bedrooms for a lesser budget and there are other neighbourhoods that are luxurious and pricey. Some of the most luxurious and posh apartments in Lagos can be found within Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Lekki and Ikeja while neighbourhoods like Agege, Oshodi, Mushin offer more affordable options for those with very slim budgets. It, therefore, should not come as a surprise that your budget for a 3-bedroom space in Mushin might only get you a self-contained space or studio apartment in Lekki. In Lagos, the location directly determines how many bedrooms you would be able to lay your hands on eventually.
Final thoughts
If you ask the right questions and answer them as honestly as you can, you will increase your chances of finding an apartment with the right number of bedrooms you need at that point in time. Now that you know what to look out for, are you searching for an apartment with 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, 3 bedroom apartment or an even bigger space?
