<prompt> Human: Hi all,Moving to a new city after graduation next month. Will be living in an apartment complex. Have a job lined up, but due to industry norms there is a significant possibility that I will be leaving within 4-5 years for business school or an opportunity elsewhere. Given my situation, I was wondering if it made more sense to rent or buy furniture. ___RentingSimplicity; Delivery and assembly service included.Flexibility; if I leave for school it will be much easier to move out.Guaranteed quality-More expensive in the long-run?BuyingCheaper? If I buy from IKEA or something though idk how much cheaper it will be.-Transportation will be difficult. I drive a small car and atm dont know anybody in the city who owns a truck or anything.-Difficult to liquidate if I move for school.-Craiglist is a bit sketchymore of a hassle if I go that route.___What do you people think? Any other considerations or insight you have are appreciate.  <response>: Let me give you my experience with renting furniture through your apartment complex: If the apartments are new, so is the furniture, and it will be fairly nice if you are at a decent complex. The bed frame is usually metal, and sits high off the ground for storage underneath. It will squeak like crazy. The mattress is a set of springs wrapped in plasticrubber. Seriously, I dont think there is any padding at all in those damn things. I slept on a twin mattress in Iraq that was light years better than those damn things. After a year, depending on the rental cost, you probably could have bought your own budget furniture. After two years, you could have bought fairly decent furniture.I would personally never do it again. I dont want anything that someone else has had their nasty body all over. I would rather invest in furniture that I can take with me wherever I go.EDIT: If you do a google image search for prison mattress, you will get a very good idea of what the rental furniture mattresses are like. This is no joke. I live in Tuscaloosa, AL and I have always lived in apartments that rented to mostly college students and those are the mattresses that every single place uses. I currently own a TempurPedic. Havent had any back problems since getting it and always feel very good after sleeping in it. People say to invest in your mattress for your back. Those people are right. 