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About Benton
Benton is the largest city and county seat of Saline CountyGR6, Arkansas,
United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the
city is 25,673, ranking it as the state's 15th largest city, behind West
Memphis. It is part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-AR Metropolitan
Statistical Area.
There were 8,713 households out of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18
living with them, 55.9% were married couples living together, 11.8% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 29.0% were non-families. There are 226
unmarried partner households: 208 heterosexual, 11 same-sex male, and 7 same-sex
female. (Note: Stigmatization of homosexuality may prevent same-sex couples from
reporting themselves as such on the US Census, especially in more conservative
areas.) 25.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.9% had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household
size was 2.46 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.3% under the age of 18, 8.8%
from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.7% who were 65
years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there
were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $41,503, and the median income
for a family was $51,064. Males had a median income of $32,493 versus $22,386
for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,797. About 5.8% of
families and 8.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.9%
of those under age 18 and 11.5% of those age 65 or over.
Some Things to Consider When Looking for an Apartment...
When searching for a new apartment make sure to take your time to
think through what are the most important things to you in an apartment
and plan your search based on those priorities. Here are some things to
consider when planning your move:
1. Consider the areas where you would like to live
* What is the crime rate?
* If you have children - what rating does the local school system have?
* Is there area convenient shopping, health and recreation services in
the area?
2. Make a list of your housing priorities
* Do you have pets?
* Do you need parking?
* Do you need to be on the ground floor?
* What amenities are important to you - swimming pool, fitness room, in
unit laundry?
3. Evaluate the building
* What is the condition of the unit and building?
* Are the grounds maintained?
* Are windows, steps, and railings in good condition?
* View the property at night. Is it safe and well lit?
4. The security of the property
* Are there security service? When is the guard on duty?
* Does the building have controlled access?
* Does each unit have secure door and window locks?
5. Talk to the neighbors
* Ask other residents whether they are satisfied with the building.
6. Amenities
* Who is allowed to use the amenities?
* When are they open?
* Are the fees charged to use those facilities included in rent?
7. Ask about Utilities
* Does the owner or tenant pay the utility bills?
* Are any utilities included with monthly rent?
* Do units have separate thermostats to control heat and air
conditioning?
8. Review the lease
* How much notice must you give before moving out?
* Can the rent be increased? If so, by how much and how often?
* Are pets allowed?
* What is the security deposit and cleaning costs upon move out?
* What is the responsibility of tenants for damage to property?
* Is there a penalty for breaking a lease?
9. Information too bring to a lease signing
* Credit Report
* Pay stubs/tax returns
* Reference
* Application
More Apartment Information
An apartment (or flat in Britain and most other Commonwealth countries) is a
self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. Apartments
may be owned (by an owner-occupier) or rented (by tenants).
Some apartment-dwellers own their apartments, either as co-ops, in which the
residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development; or
in condominiums, whose residents own their apartments and share ownership of the
public spaces. Most apartments are in buildings designed for the purpose, but
large older houses are sometimes divided into apartments. The word apartment
connotes a residential unit or section in a building. Apartment building owners,
lessors, or managers often use the more general word units to refer to
apartments. Units can be used to refer to rental business suites as well as
residential apartments. When there is no tenant occupying an apartment, the
lessor is said to have a vacancy. For apartment lessors, each vacancy represents
a loss of income from rent-paying tenants for the time the apartment is vacant
(i.e., unoccupied). Lessors' objectives are often to minimize the vacancy rate
for their units. The owner of the apartment typically transfers possession to
the occupant by giving him/her the key to the apartment entrance door and any
other keys need to live there, such as a common key to the building or any other
common areas, and an individual unit mailbox key. When the occupant move out,
these keys should typically be returned to the owner.
Apartments can be classified into several types. apartment, efficiency, bed-sit,
or bachelor apartments tend to be the smallest apartments with the cheapest
rents in a given area. These kinds of apartment usually consist mainly of a
large room which is the living, dining, and bedroom combined. There are usually
kitchen facilities as part of this central room, but the bathroom is its own
smaller separate room. Moving up from the efficiencies are one-bedroom
apartments where one bedroom is a separate room from the rest of the apartment.
Then there are two-bedroom, three-bedroom, etc. apartments. Small apartments
often have only one entrance/exit. Large apartments often have two
entrances/exits, perhaps a door in the front and another in the back. Depending
on the building design, the entrance/exit doors may be directly to the outside
or to a common area inside, such as a hallway. Depending on location, apartments
may be available for rent furnished with furniture or unfurnished into which a
tenant usually moves in with his/her own furniture. Permanent carpeting is often
included in an apartment.
Laundry facilities are usually kept in a separate area accessible to all the
tenants in the building. Depending on when the building was built and the design
of the building, utilities such as water, heating, and electric may be common
for all the apartments in the building or separate for each apartment and billed
separately to each tenant (however, many areas in the US have ruled it illegal
to split a water bill among all the tenants, especially if a pool is on the
premises). Outlets for connection to telephones are typically included in
apartments. Telephone service is optional and is practically always billed
separately from the rent payments. Cable television and similar amenities are
extra also. Parking space, air conditioner, and extra storage space may or may
not be included with an apartment. Rental leases often limit the maximum number
of people who can reside in each apartment. On or around the ground floor of the
apartment building, a series of mailboxes are typically kept in a location
accessible to the public and, thus, to the letter-carrier too. Every unit
typically gets its own mailbox with individual keys to it. Some very large
apartment buildings with a full-time staff may take mail from the mailman and
provide mail-sorting service. Near the mailboxes or some other location
accessible by outsiders, there may be a buzzer (equivalent to a doorbell) for
each individual unit. In smaller apartment buildings such as two- or
three-flats, or even four-flats, garbage is often disposed of in trash
containers similar to those used at houses. In larger buildings, garbage is
often collected in a common trash bin or dumpster. For cleanliness or minimizing
noise, many lessors will place restrictions on tenants regarding keeping pets in
an apartment.
In some parts of the world, the word apartment is used generally to refer to a
new purpose-built self-contained residential unit in a building, whereas the
word flat means a converted self-contained unit in an older building. An
industrial, warehouse, or commercial space converted to an apartment is commonly
called a loft.
When part of a house is converted for the ostensible use of a landlord's family
member, the unit may be known as an in-law apartment or granny flat, though
these (sometimes illegally) created units are often occupied by ordinary renters
rather than family members. In Canada these suites are commonly located in the
basements of houses and are therefore normally called basement suites.
Staying in privately owned apartments rather than in a hotel is quickly becoming
popular with travelers.