Paid housing

[luv2shopp85]

What is the paid housing like? Do you end up with horrible apartments that are extremely far from your work? Or can you choose between several? Right now I only live 10 min from work and I love that. I would be worried that I'd end up in an apartment that was far away from where I worked and I'd be stuck in traffic forever. How furnished are the apartments? Tvs? Computers?(haha... im just wishful thinking here!), sofa, chairs, beds? Are you able to view the apartment before you sign the lease and all that?

[bagladyrn, RN]

In my experience (13 yrs. traveling) the housing varies widely, depending on the location of the contract. I've been housed in everything from beautiful old victorian houses to modern condos to double wide trailers.

That said, most companies do try to house you close to the job. In the few cases where I was futher away (more than about 10 miles) it was because the housing available closer was considered unacceptable (e.g.: migrant worker housing) and my company notified me of this before I signed the contract.

Most furnished housing includes only your basic furnishing (usually from a rental company) although, especially in places where they rent from an owner or realtor instead of in a complex, you may end up in a "turnkey" accomodation - complete down to the towels and decorations. (Which can be interesting in itself - one place had a 6 foot tall wooden giraffe in the living room). If you don't want to carry housewares with you most companies can arrange to rent the housewares you will need, though I prefer carrying my own things.

Whenever possible my housing coordinators have sent me links to view the properties online.