How do you work out whether or not you will be able to afford to?
Take your monthly after tax income. Find out the likely utility costs for a typical property that you would like to rent and allow 25% more as a margin of error. There are various online resources that will give you estimated costs, or you can phone a utility company and ask about a given property. There are quite large differences between different gas and electricity companies. Water prices vary a lot, depending on where you live. Phone, broadband and television subscription services can also vary quite considerably, but TV subscription services are a luxury that most people can live without if need be. Find out property taxes, such as the UK's council tax, for your area and the property you wish to rent. Subtract all these costs and decide if it leaves enough for food, non-food groceries, car insurance, fuel and maintenance, public transport, socialising, clothing and any other needs not yet accounted for. Finally, you should have a little left for emergencies. Food costs vary enormously, depending on what you like to eat. I feel comfortable with food costs of 200 per month but, if I'm squeezed financially, I can exist on about 80pm. Likewise, socialising. It's nice to go out but when money's tight, once or twice a month is all I'll do. You need to decide what you need, how much you can afford to spend and how much you want to spend. That is, the difference between need and want is discretionary, in my case 120pm. If you have a pet, remember to include pet food and vet's bills in your calculation. Some rental properties may have monthly or annual fees additional to the rent. Make sure that you know about these and can pay them. In the UK it's conventional for rent to cover things like ground rent (where the landlord owns and lets out a leasehold property) but in some countries the landlord may pass on such fees.