Picture a large, bustling city complete with taxi cabs, crowds of people and skyscrapers. Now imagine taking an elevator to the top floor of a high-rise apartment or condominium building and entering the most luxurious unit in the building. There are no other apartment units on either side, only impressive views of the city below. You've entered the penthouse apartment.

There are a lot of exceptional reasons to live with roommates. Namely, splitting rent and bills for a two-bedroom apartment is often a lot cheaper than paying for a studio or one-bedroom space on your own. But living with a roommate you don’t get along with can be a terrible experience.

When apartment hunting, you will come across a wide variety of apartment types, one of them being a basement apartment. As you might know, a basement is a part of the building that may be fully or partly below the ground level. With the demand for living space on the rise, these spaces are increasingly being adopted as apartments, and while there are many upsides of living in a basement apartment, it is important to keep in mind the downsides as well.

A studio apartment, otherwise known as studio flat or a self-contained apartment, is a living space that features one central room that has areas designated to serve different functions such as the kitchen area, bedroom area, and a living room. A studio apartment typically comes with a separate bathroom space as well.

A rental agreement is a legal document describing the arrangement between the owner of real estate and another party who will pay rent in exchange for permission to occupy the property.

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Although listings usually show how much you expect to pay in rent, a lot of things could change in between posting the ad and signing the lease.

Make sure to ask how much the rent is and what is included. Does it cover utilities? If so, which ones? What about parking? It is imperative to get specific here so that you know exactly what you are paying for. Other than that, ask if there are any rent increases, incremental or otherwise.

A railroad-style apartment is a dwelling traditionally found in older tenement buildings or subdivided brownstones with a layout consisting of succeeding rooms that lead into one another often via a central hallway from front to back. This means you have to walk through one room to get to another, as if moving through the cars of a train (hence the name).