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Renting may be generally cheaper than owning (no property taxes, no huge closing fees or major renovation costs), but that doesn’t mean there aren’t costs associated with it.  In particular, you probably spend more than you think each time you move to a new apartment on a new lease.

How To Decide Whether It’s Time to Move to a New Apartment

Tallying Up Your Moving Costs

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Credit-check fees. If you’re applying for a lease, you’re going to have to pay a credit-check fee, and these might be around $50 for each rental application you fill out.

Administration or “move-in” fee. Some places won’t ask for a “security deposit” but you will have to pay a one-time, non-refundable (unless your application is rejected) fee that might be between $200-$250 depending on what city or market you are in.

Moving Supplies. Unless you’re willing to spend alot of time rummaging through other peoples’ garbage or going door-to-door asking local shops for their used boxes (and getting only 1-2 at a time at that), then you’ll probably want to consider just ordering a set of brand new moving boxes from a place like UHaul or ULine.  Keep it simple and buy your tape and scissors and markers while you’re at it – you’re looking at anywhere from $20-$50 for a studio-one-bedroom move.

Moving help. If you’ve got 4 friends willing and available to help you lug out all your stuff (or 7, or 9, depending on how much stuff you have), that’s great.  Otherwise it might be easier to just pay a professional company and get it all done in three hours (a standard block of time for a personal apartment).  For loading, unloading, and driving – say, 3 people over 3 hours – expect to pay between $250-$350, again, depending on your area and how far you will be relocating.

Security Deposit or Last Month’s Rent. Some places might require “last month’s rent” or they might just call it the “security deposit”.  This will be refundable (or able to be applied to your last month’s rent), but you’ll need to have it up front.  So tack on an extra month’s rent for good measure.

Renter’s Insurance. Some property managers will require you to purchase renter’s insurance before you can sign the lease.  This might go from anywhere between $10-$25/month.

Add up the above, and you’re looking at about another $1200-$1500 to move (again, depending on the amount of your rent, etc.).  So before you start looking for a new apartment, get yourself ready and make sure you have this amount set aside so that you don’t run into financial hassles or surprises when it comes time to start dishing it all out (which can happen very quickly, and not always in time for your next paycheck).

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