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renting

How to Get Your Rent Security Back – All of It!

By //  by Kevin M

If you are a tenant, the ability to get your rent security back can be an emotional issue. It’s your money, but it’s being held by your landlord – just in case. That last part is what you worry about. What if “just in case” turns into you’re not getting your money back?

There are ways to avoid that ugly scenario, and to get all of your money back.

Going back to the beginning – doing a thorough inspection at move-in

This is something that you really need to do before you even more into an apartment or rental home. But if you didn’t do it at the beginning, you should do it as soon as possible. What you want to do is establish the fact that the home might contain certain deficiencies that are not as a result of your occupancy.

[Here are 5 reasons why you may be better off renting than owning!]

It has become common in garden apartments for landlords to offer tenants a checklist that they can complete confirming the existence of any problems prior to move in. Even if your landlord doesn’t provide you with such a checklist, you should write a neat and detailed list on your own, and then send it to the landlord either by email or by certified mail so that you will have evidence that it was completed prior to move in.

Don’t cut corners with this step – it is your very best protection against being held responsible for problems you didn’t create.

Get Back Security Deposit

Study your lease and give proper notice

Before giving your landlord notice of your intent to vacate the property, first study your lease in great detail, paying particular attention to the provisions dealing with the termination of the lease.

The lease should spell out the amount of notice the landlord requires. This is generally 30 or 60 days. Don’t assume that the landlord will know automatically that you intend to leave at the end of the lease. There is usually a notice requirement that relates to not renewing the lease.

Also, if you will be terminating the lease early, there should be written provisions in regard to any penalties for doing so. As a general rule, leases will contain language that will require you to forfeit at least one month’s rent if you break the lease. Be ready for this.

Be sure to pay your last month’s rent

Many tenants mistakenly believe that their security deposit covers the last month’s rent. In reality, your security deposit is to cover damage to the property upon the termination of the lease. Your last month’s rent is required even though the landlord is holding a security deposit.

This is especially important if you live in an area where the security deposit normally exceeds one month’s rent. In some areas, it is customary to pay first month’s rent, a security deposit, and the last month’s rent. In other areas, the security deposit is equal to 1 ½ month’s rent.

If you assume that your security deposit is for the last month’s rent, you could forfeit any amounts that exceed the monthly rent. The landlord can easily absorb the extra amount as a penalty for failing to pay your rent on time, or to exaggerate the cost of making relatively minor repairs.

Leave the property in better condition than you found it

Before leaving the rental property, be sure to go through it with a fine tooth comb, and make any necessary repairs. This is particularly important if the damage was done by you, but it can also help if you repair anything that was defective before move in, but didn’t report to the landlord.

[5 tips to prepare for a move.]

It should go without saying that you should leave the home in squeaky clean condition. Vacuum the carpets, mop the floors, and especially clean the kitchen and bathrooms. A landlord can charge a cleaning fee if you leave the property a mess. In addition, it can also cause the landlord to hunt around for other issues he or she can charge you for.

Leave nothing behind

Nothing irritates a landlord quite so much as a tenant who moves out, but leaves a couple of rooms full of furniture, or a basement or garage full of useless storage items, or a backyard filled with yard waste or old tires. If you brought it in – you need to bring it out!

A landlord can charge a hauling fee to remove anything you don’t take with you. And he will take it right out of your security deposit. Then he’ll start hunting for other things to charge you for.

Stay in close contact with your landlord after giving notice – and until your security deposit is returned

A little bit of diplomacy can go a long way in encouraging a landlord to return your security deposit. The relationship between you and your landlord should not deteriorate into open hostility as a result of your moving out of the property. Keep the lines of communication open, and do all that you can to coordinate your departure and the landlord’s transition to a new tenant.

By being a pro-active tenant, you will improve your landlord’s opinion you, and make it easier to get your full security deposit returned, and returned quickly.

Have you ever had trouble getting a rent security deposit back from a landlord?

photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net

Filed Under: Housing Tagged With: contract law, Landlord, Landlord-tenant Law, Lease, Leasehold Estate, Leasing, Monthly Rent, Pay Your Rent, rent, Rent Security Deposit, renting, security deposit, Security Deposit Return, Your Rent, Your Security Deposit

5 Reasons You May Be Better Off Renting Than Owning A Home

By //  by Kevin M

For many, many years the renting-vs.-owning question was a done deal when it came to housing. Everyone who could own a home did, and everyone who couldn’t aspired to do so as soon as possible. Is that still true today? Is renting a better option? And if so, what changes have caused it?

Renting Vs. Owning: 5 Reasons You May Be Better Off Renting

House Prices Aren’t Rising Any More

When house prices were rising steadily owning made far more sense than renting. You were building wealth in the form of increasing home equity while you were living in the property. But that dynamic has been missing for the past five years and even if it does return, it’s unlikely that it will be anything like the price increases we’ve seen in the past.

Renting vs Owning

Consider the following:

  1. Mortgage rates are at historic lows, house prices are lower than they have been in years, and yet prices show few signs of recovery
  2. The 76 million-strong Baby Boom generation have entered the retirement years—a typical time of trading down or selling off housing completely
  3. Generation Y is showing nothing like the fever to own a home that previous generations did
  4. Millions of households have been impaired by the financial meltdown, effectively removing them from the housing market for a very long time
  5. Though employment has been improving, jobs security is conspicuously absent

It seems that the combination of these factors are putting a lid on house prices and probably will for the foreseeable future. And if prices aren’t rising, there’s no imperative to own right now. Better to rent and see how it all plays out.

Freedom To Follow The Jobs

Let’s spend a little more time on item #5 from above. When you buy a home you’re usually signing a mortgage note that will bind you to the house for something like 30 years. Can you conceive of a job that you’ll have for 30 years?

Probably not.

Jobs and even careers are becoming notoriously unstable for reasons that appear to be beyond the financial meltdown. A 30 year mortgage requires some level of income stability for the term of the loan, and that may require not just changing jobs, but also uprooting to follow them to distant places.

If you have to make a geographic move to find work in your field, owning a home will complicate matters. You’ll have to sell or rent out your home in order to make the move. And if you can’t do either, you may have to pass up the job opportunity.

When you rent, it’s far easier to pick up and follow a job.

A House Is A Capital Trap

It’s not just a mortgage you have to contend with when you buy a home; you also have a down payment tied up in it. That wasn’t much of a problem when you could easily sell a home after just a few years—for more money than what you paid for it—or borrow out the equity any time you wanted. Today, your down payment is likely to be tied up for many years.

In addition, when you own a home you have to put money into repair and maintenance, adding thousands of dollars to the money you already have tied up in the house.

At a time when so many people are dealing with job and career issues, as well as debt problems, can you afford to tie up thousands of dollars in equity in a house? When you rent, all of your money can be held in liquid accounts ready for your use.

Maximum Financial Flexibility

Here’s something we don’t like to think about too much…if you were to experience a permanent income reduction, what would you do to lower your house payment to adjust to the smaller paycheck?

If you rent, you can move to a lower priced home or apartment, or even move in with family. If you own, you first have to sell your house. In today’s market, selling a house can take months or even a year or more. Worse, if you’re in a negative equity position, you may not be able to sell at all.

Renting provides the financial flexibility that’s more consistent with today’s economic and employment circumstances. Owning, because it’s long term in nature, is rigid and locks you into a lifestyle you may not be able to sustain—or get out of.

Some people may consider such thinking to be negative; I consider it being prepared.

The Mortgage Interest Income Tax Deduction Isn’t What It Used To Be

Real estate agents often hype the mortgage interest and real estate tax deductions as a compelling reason to own a home rather than to rent. Renting, after all, offers no income tax deduction. Two factors are now weighing against that assumption though.

First, interest rates are at very low levels—a 4% interest rate on a $150,000 mortgage, will produce only a $6,000 mortgage interest deduction. Second, the standard deduction is $11,900 for a married couple filing jointly in 2012; it’s possible that even owing a house will not get you any more than $11,900 in deductions. At best, you may only get additional deductions on part of your housing costs, but nothing like the 20%, 30%, or 40% deduction agents are quick to point out.

The mortgage interest and real estate tax deductions continue to be a real factor for higher income households buying higher priced homes. But for many middle class households, and most lower income ones, the deduction will make only a minor improvement in your cash flow.
Am I saying you shouldn’t buy a house? In many cases, yes, that’s what I’m saying. It’s not as “right” as it was a few years ago, not for a lot of people. Consider the value of owning against the possibility that the home could drop in value—would you buy knowing that might happen? Do you feel your job/career is stable enough that you’ll be able to make the payments and not need to move to another city for the foreseeable future? Is your financial situation strong enough that you could weather a prolonged period of unemployment and still keep up the house payments?

These questions were always a part of the homeownership equation—they’re just more relevant now than ever.

What do you think about owning versus renting today? Do you think the pendulum has swung in favor of renting?

photo credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Filed Under: Housing Tagged With: 5 reasons, affordable housing, causes of the united states housing bubble, economic tax, Economics, finance, home mortgage interest deduction, home prices, Housing, mortgage, owning a home, owning versus renting, real estate, real estate tax deductions, recent economic, rent, rent control, rent vs own, renting, renting out your home, renting vs buying, subprime mortgage crisis, tax changes, tax deduction, taxation, the rent

Save Money On Textbooks By Renting

By //  by Sherrian Crumbley

One of the most expensive and tedious things I had to worry about in college was purchasing my textbooks for class.   I hated trying to find the best deals online, or holding off for the first week or two after classes started, hoping that someone who dropped would try to unload their books at a discount.

There were many times when I did give up the fight and just pay whatever exorbitant price the school’s book store was charging, of course buying used if it was available.

Thankfully, things have improved quite a bit over the past few years, and smart students have many resourceful ways to save money on textbooks.  Seeing the necessity, websites like ecampus.com and the ValoreBooks textbook marketplace are offering, not only great deals, but making the process quick and simple for textbook consumers.

Textbook Rental Reviews: eCampus

Right from the home page, one has the option to buy, rent, or sell textbooks. RENT TEXTBOOKS?  This was something I would have done all through college.  There is nothing worse than buying a textbook new for $200, and then selling it back to the bookstore for $17.  The renting option is broken up into three price tiers based on the length of the rental: the longer the rental, the better the deal in price.

Save Money On Textbooks With e-Textbooks?

I was also impressed that many textbooks are available in an e-textbook format (no more lugging heavy texts around).   With the examples I perused, one would be purchasing a subscription for the e-textbook for a period of 180 days.  In these examples, the cost of the e-textbook was quite a bit higher than purchasing the physical texts.

In at least 2 cases, it was almost twice as much as purchasing a new hard copy.  While this would dissuade me from using this function, I can see how one could justify the extra cost for the convenience.

Besides showing the available new, used, rental, and e-textbook prices, there is also a “The Marketplace” tab, which allows you to purchase the text from private sellers at prices set at their discretion.  This option could offer you possible additional savings, and makes it quite easy to provide  textbook rental reviews, when their are multiple options to save and make money on a site.

The site offers other products such as DVDs and college clothing and other paraphernalia.  I compared the price of the DVDs to Amazon.com, where I usually purchase them, and the difference in prices were negligible in many cases.

I also compared a few textbook prices to my favorite site for textbook purchases, and that is where the difference was more noticeable.  In all fairness, this site in particular is all “marketplace”, and so the private sellers were asking for a great range of prices for the textbooks.

Compared to the prices at other bookstores and online retailers, ecampus.com is definitely a great bargain.

Since I am considering re-entering academia again in the future, I am glad I had a chance to review this site.  I will certainly revisit it for the textbook rental option, especially since they have free shipping on orders over $59.   Not only that, but they supply you with a shipping label to send the book back at the end of the semester.

Good prices, stress-free experience, and finishing touches to make sure you’ll come back – ecampus.com is worth a look.

Reader Questions

  1. How have you been able to save on textbook costs?
  2. Do you have a lot of professors who don’t require them at all?
  3. Have you had success using and following the previous edition of a textbook?
  4. Do you have any other tips that should be included here?

Filed Under: Education, Reviews Tagged With: book stores, chegg, e textbook, ecampus, rentals, renting, Saving Money, sell textbooks, shopping, student, Textbook Rental, Textbooks

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