2008.11.11. - Looking for an apartment

Bob and Susan are going to get married soon, and they want to find an apartment where they can start their life toghether. They began to look at apartments last week.  Now they are at their friends’ place, and talking about their plans to find a nice flat.
 

Susan:

Bob and I looked at several apartments last week.

Bob:

We looked everywhere  - in the city, in the suburbs ... and we can’t decide. If we rent a house in the suburbs  we’ll have to drive. And you know the price of petrol nowadays!

Susan:

We looked at every kind of apartment – one bedroom, two bedrooms. I can’t even remember all the apartments we saw. I’m also quite confused, I don’t really understand terms like security deposit, leases, utilities.

Tim:

Wait a minute! Before you start looking at apartments, you should decide what kind of apartment you’d like to rent, and where you’d like to live. If you know what you want, it’ll be much easier to find a place!

Susan:

I’d like a small house in the suburbs, three bedrooms, with a dishwasher, air-conditioning, and a swimming pool nearby.

Bob:

Sure! And I would like a villa by the seaside. Susan you know that we can’t afford such a big house.

Tim:

Did you make a budget? Do you know how much you can afford?

Bob:

Well, actually, we didn’t.

Tim:

First of all, you have to decide how much you can afford. The rent of an apartment and the utilities should cost less than one third of your monthly budget. Then you should decide what kind of apartment you want, how many rooms you want, you want it furnished or unfurnished. After you decided everything, you can start looking at apartments.

Bob:

Do you have any idea where we can find out about apartments for rent?

Tim:

First you should decide where you want to live – in the city or in the suburbs, which neighbourhood. Then get a newspaper and look at the classified ads.

Susan:

You mean the want ads?

Veronica:

There are other ways to find out about apartments. Drive or walk around the neighbourhood you like and look for ’rent signs’. Pop in the local esate agent’s, they generally have a bulletin board with notices about apartments for rent. But be careful, if you use apartment rental services, the agency may charge a fee!

Peter:

Talk to your friends and people at work. They may know about apartments for rent. At last, but not least you can surf property portals on the Internet to find apartments for rent. They generally show photos of the apartments as well.

air-conditioning

légkondícionáló

apartment rental services

lakásbérlési szolgáltatások

at last, but not least

végül, de nem utolsósorban

budget

költségvetés

careful

óvatos

classified ads

apróhirdetés

confused

összezavart

deposit

előleg, letét

dishwasher

mosogatógép

estate agency

ingatlanügynökség

estate agent

ingatlanügynök

fee

díj (fizetendő)

first of all

először is

furnished

bútorozott

in the suburbs

külvárosban

lease

bérleti szerződés

local

helyi

monthly

havi

nearby

közeli, közelben

neighbourhood

szomszédság

nowadays

manapság

petrol

üzemanyag

property

ingatlan, tulajdon

property portal

ingatlan portál

security deposit

kaució

several

számos, jónéhány

suburb

külváros

surf the Internet

böngészni az interneten

terms

feltétel, feltételek

to charge a fee

felszámol egy díjat

to decide

elhatároz, eldönt

to make a budget

kültságvetést készít

to rent

kibérel

unfurnished

bútorozatlan

utilities

közműdíjak, rezsi

want ads (US)

apróhírdetés