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Deposit Dilemmas

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If you’re renting a home, you most likely had to pay some amount as a security deposit when you signed your lease. The security deposit basically covers the repairs that need to be done once you’ve moved out of your property. If nothing deposit was damaged and needed fixing, you’ll get the sum of your deposit back. But if you move out and left something broken and needing repair, it’ll be deducted from your deposit; as the saying goes: you break it, you buy it!

How can you avoid having tons of money being deducted from your initial deposit?

Well, for starters, take care of your home! This one is pretty obvious, but it shouldn’t be left unsaid. Another important thing to do is check the home for damages when you move in. Your landlord will most likely give you some kind of form to fill out where you can list the existing damages in each room of the home, so that they know what repairs they’re liable for. Although this is a good place to start, there are a lot of things that you won’t notice until you’ve lived in the house for a bit of time. For example, you might not use the garbage disposal until a week or so after you’ve moved in, only to notice that it does not work properly. Make note of things that you notice do not work, and notify your landlord immediately. If your landlord is aware that something doesn’t work, and that it isn’t your fault, you won’t be held accountable for the cost of repair when you move out.

Now, if for some reason you did manage to break something on your own, and you know it’s fixable, do it yourself! If you accidentally knocked your window blinds down right before moving out, just go buy a new set and put them up on your own. Though it will cost you some, it definitely won’t be as much as what would’ve been taken out of your security deposit.

 

Rental Wonderland

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Finding a rental home may not be the easiest task, but it doesn’t have to be the most difficult, either!

First question: where should you start your search? 

Friends and family! Ask around and see if anyone you know may be renting a home, or may know of someone else renting a home. If you’re renting from someone you know, or a friend of a friend, the lease process can become a bit easier because you’re not dealing with a complete stranger.  Even if your friends and family don’t know of anyone renting a home, they can still keep their eyes open to see if they come across the place that’s perfect for you.

If that didn’t work, what’s next?

rentalThe internet! This is probably the most obvious place to look for a rental home, but you still have to keep some things in mind. If you know the specific area you want to live in, you can look into websites that offer rentals in only certain places. For instance, if you want a rental in Austin, Texas, check out tenant.rentals. Services like this one save you the time of sifting through tons of rentals that are all scattered around. If you haven’t 100% decided where you want to live, that’s okay! There are plenty of websites that serve as huge databases for real estate listings. Check out Zillow, or Apartments.com. They’re trusted sites whose sole purpose is to help you find your next home.

Now, you may have seen the greatest home ever, only to realize it’s for sale and not for rent….but don’t fret! Believe it or not, sale listings can also lead you to your next rental. If a homeowner has a home for sale that’s been on the market for a long time, they may be willing to rent it out until they find a buyer. It’s already probably costing them a lot to keep the house empty and on the market, so renting it out to you will help the both of you.

 

Summer Gardens

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Is your garden showing off the season?

Though we tend to associate spring with gardening, it’s important to see that summer is also a great time to make our gardens look good.

Take advantage of summer to add some berries to your day! Since you may not be able to grow berry bushes in the yard of your rental, you can plant dwarf versions in small pots instead. Given the right amount of sunlight and water, you can easily have yourself your own mini berry garden. As an added plus, you can freeze your summer berries to have them all year round!

Summer itropical flowerss also an awesome time to add flowers to your garden, but instead of your typical floral choices…spice it up. Tropical flowers are bright and beautiful, automatically livening up even the dullest gardens. Pick some colors that you like and go well together, maybe oranges and yellow, and make yourself a nice arrangement.

If you hadn’t already done this in spring….add some bird feeders and birdhouses! Once you have some flying friends visit, you’ll soon start to see a nice little habitat forming. With birds in your yard, you’ll also have more squirrels and insects, meaning more bees. Keep in mind that bees are a good addition to any garden because they help pollinate your flowers. Having a bit of variety allows an ecosystem to develop within all the inhabitants and visitors of your garden, making your garden even better.

Are your utility bills too high?

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We’ve all had that moment when we look at our utility bill and cannot believe that it’s that high proceeding to ask ourselves how it’s that high. The smallest of things could be making your bill ridiculously high, and we’re going to tell you how to change that.

  1. energyLights! Always turn lights off when you leave a room and when you leave your home. It may seem silly, but you’ll definitely see a drop in your bill if you start turning lights off instead of leaving them on all of the time. This same thing applies to ceiling fans! If no one is in the room, turn the fan off. For outdoor lights, you can get motion and light detecting lights that’ll only turn on at night time and when someone is there.
  2. Use timers! Timers are awesome because they take the hassle of turning things on and off away from you. At this day in age, just about anything can be set up with a timer. You can program your air conditioner to only be at lower temperatures when people are home, and rise up when no one is home. This prevents wasted electricity. You can also get timers for appliances that you use regularly, like coffee machines. Instead of making your coffee and forgetting to turn the machine off, program it to turn off when you’re leaving for work and have already had coffee.
  3. Don’t wash everyday! This applies to washing dishes, and laundry. Avoid washing loads of clothes and dishes everyday, or every other day. Not only do these appliances use water, but they also run for a pretty long time and use a lot of electricity in the process.

Roommate Relations

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So, a little while ago we talked about finding your perfect roommate, and we can pretty much all agree, roommates are great! But since even the best roommates can have their problems (Monica and Rachel had their issues sometimes), you need to be able to handle them effectively so your living situation doesn’t become awkward.

A huge part of having a successful living situation with a roommate is not being passive. If you and your roommate(s) are passive with each other about any issue, there’s no real communication going on and it typically doesn’t end well. If your roommate did something that may have bothered you, like maybe they didn’t take out the trash, don’t just leave them a note asking them to do it next time; talk to them and tell them about the issue! You’re all adults, so you should all be able to communicate like adults.

Sometimes roommates have issues because the housework isn’t being done by everyone and the responsibility falls on one person. Maybe you can make a list of the different duties that need to be done on a weekly basis, and each person can pick a task that’ll become their weekly responsibility. This is better than one person doing all the work themselves, or having someone delegate chores to the household; since you all have your own tasks, it’s not difficult to keep track of what’s been done.

From personal experience, another issue that may come up when you live with other people is refrigerator/kitchen space. Since this will most likely be the only communal area where everyone wants space, you need to be efficient. If you and your roommates all buy basic things like bread, milk, eggs, etc., you can either take turns buying them or simply split the cost. This way, you won’t have five gallons of milk, or three loaves of bread taking up tons of space. Same goes for cleaning supplies! You and your roommates can take turns buying things like trash bags and sponges, it’ll save space and money.

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Hilarious! But not the right way to go.

Who should you lease from?

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When you’re considering what kind of property to rent out and make your home, you should also consider who you’re leasing from.

Usually, your options will be a property manager or property management firm, or an individual landlord. Just like everything else, both have their ups and their downs.

Property managers or property management firms 

Property management firms may be more professional and efficient than individual landlords, because of the fact their duty is to take care of the property and make sure it is being run smoothly. But, you also need to consider that property managers may be more strict than regular landlords, since they have a lot of tenants and can’t be allowing people to break rules. Property management firms will most likely have websites set up for you to pay rent, put in maintenance requests, and contact supervisors, so they save you some time as far as going back and forth with your landlord.

Individual landlords

With individual landlords, you need to realize that their job is typically not devoted to running your property, so they may not be as efficient with things the way property management firms are. Buuuut, on the plus side, individual landlords definitely give you more personalized service than companies who are managing a ton of different properties at once. Also, individual landlords are usually more lenient as far as different aspects of the lease agreement, or if you have issues with paying rent. lease

How can YOU be a good tenant?

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First of all…PAY YOUR RENT ON TIME!!!

Aside from that, being a good tenant goes wayyyyyy beyond paying rent on time. As someone who’s living in another person’s property, you want to be considerate of that and treat is as though it is your own. Be careful, and be kind. Think about it, someone fixed up their home to rent it out to you, so you want to make sure you’re keeping it how you first got it.  Single Family House Rentals helps you find you a rental in your area and set up communication with your new landlord.

Tenant Legal Help

Tenant Legal Help

Go to your landlord for real issues, not silly things you can do yourself. If something happens, like your air conditioner breaks, definitely contact your landlord immediately.

What else can you do to be a good tenant? 

But if something happens, like a floorboard gets scuffed, take care of it yourself. They’re not going to appreciate having to fix very minor things that you could easily do on your own. If you need a roommate, Tenant Moving Assistance help with that as well. 

Back to the subject of rent, if for whatever reason you can’t pay on time, just tell your landlord prior to when your rent is due and see if you can work something out with them. Don’t wait until the day the rent is due, or after that, to tell your landlord that you can’t pay them; as much as you need the money, they do too. As you enter into a lease agreement, start making repair requests, and possibly have a dispute with your landlord, Tenant Legal Rights can help you.

good tenant

VIEW HERE to know more in detail about tips on decorating your rental

Furnished vs. Unfurnished

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Many times when you’re looking for a rental property you’re given the option of getting your new place furnished, or unfurnished. Usually a furnished rental includes the basic furniture most people have in their homes: bed, nightstand, dresser, and desk in the bedroom, couch, love seat, coffee table, and sometimes a TV, in the living room, and some sort of a dining table.

What are the benefits of renting a furnished home?

With a furnished home you’re saved all the time and cost of finding, buying, and transporting furniture. You’re pretty much just responsible for moving your personal belongings into your new home. You also don’t have to worry about moving furniture out afterwards, either. Renting a furnished home is a great idea if you don’t know how long you plan on staying in the same town, because you won’t have the burden of transporting a ton of furniture from place to place.

Now, we all know that with a list of benefits there’s always going to be a list of cons, too.

Usually, if you rent a furnished home, your overall monthly rent will be a bit higher than if you were to rent an unfurnished home. This fee typically isn’t too high, maybe like $20 more a month, but it’s still something you should factor in. Another reason people sometimes opt out of renting a furnished home is because of the furniture itself. It would be impossible to have brand new furniture for every single tenant, so the furniture is used over and over again by tenants who choose to rent furnished homes. It’s also pretty standard, so you don’t really get to pick what kind of furniture it comes with.

furniture