Renter's Guide

You need a little creativity to make ends meet these days. With wages stagnating and housing prices skyrocketing, people are looking for ways to cut expenses and boost their income. And that’s especially true for anyone trying to save for a down payment on a house. This was all top of mind several years ago when Sam (my now-husband, then-boyfriend) and I decided to move in together.

Oh the ‘L’ word: For renters, a landlord can be (hopefully) an awesome resource or, in other situations, a thorn in your side. Either way, when you move into a new place, you’re going to have to deal with your landlord at some point. “When you move into a new rental, you’re also embarking on a new business relationship with the apartment’s owner,” says Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats in New York City.

If you’re budget-conscious, you might think purchasing renters insurance is a luxury you can’t afford—especially if your landlord doesn’t require you to hold it. But like most insurance, it can pay dividends when the unexpected occurs and your valuables are lost, stolen, damaged, or destroyed–and much more besides.

Feel like, as a renter, the world swings in favor of homeowners? Well, it just might. A new study by Apartment List found that renters are vastly underrepresented in American politics on both the local and national levels. Though some of it is systematic, some also comes from being disengaged. In the 2016 presidential election, while 67 percent of homeowners voted, only 49 percent of renters did.

Feeling like it’s time to size up your space? By all means, do it. But know that it’s going to likely require a bigger investment month-to-month, and probably drain your change right now as you scramble to pay for moving costs and the other expenses that inevitably creep up when you decide to pick up your roots and settle down in a new spot.

There are generally three categories of agents who list and show apartments: brokers to whom renters pay a fee, no-fee brokers, and apartment owners who take care of the job themselves. You probably know that the best deals are usually found in owner-listed situations. Since there’s no broker to middleman the process and demand tribute, both owner and renter can save money.

A couple years back, the New York Times published an article about the 13 questions you should always ask someone before getting married. Which got me thinking about another kind of relationship, one possibly even more fraught than marriage, and one that people enter into with perhaps even more unwarranted optimism: that between roommates. Here are a list of 11 questions you really ought to be asking your potential roommate, before you move in.

So—you’re searching for an apartment on Craigslist. You click on “housing” and enter your search criteria: min bedrooms, max price, X miles from your zip code of choice, only show ads with pictures—GO! Aaaaaand you’ve already made a huge mistake. Not only did I do an annual housing hunt every five years while living in Brooklyn (I’m now in L.A.), I also worked as a real estate agent in Brooklyn for two years. I know the deal.

I have had some bonkers roommate experiences in my short 25 years of life. From waking up to a roommate watching me sleep repeatedly for months in a small dorm space, to another roommate going on a three-day blackout drinking binge, I’ve grown accustomed to compiling my own personal list of “roommate horror stories.” Hence, when I was able to find an affordable micro-studio in Seattle for the last few months of my undergraduate studies, I jumped on the opportunity.

Before I moved into my current apartment, I thought I did a good amount of research: I’d cranked out the numbers for my budget, called around to multiple agents and buildings, and went on plenty of apartment tours. Despite all this, I was shocked at what the market held for me—though Omaha, Nebraska, has been named one of the most affordable cities in the country, most of the townhomes and apartments I’d loved so much were still out of my budget.

If you’ve been searching for a new house or apartment, you’ve likely already encountered some exaggerated listings. Whether it’s ad copy that stresses the home’s soaring city views or sneakily staged photos, some listings look better on the MLS than they are IRL. But you can cut through the clutter if you know what to ignore. Read on for seven listing red flags you should know about, according to real estate experts.

We’re back with the final installment of A Renter’s Diary! We’ve followed Rebekah Hall in her first month moving from a single family home into a 800-square-foot apartment in Little Rock, Arkansas. She’s had to figure out how to downsize and work around the quirks of the space. Last week, Hall shared how she shopped around her apartment (and her parents’ home) for no-cost kitchen storage solutions.

This piece is run with an anonymous byline as a courtesy to the writer, as the post could affect their ability to obtain housing. In my first apartment out of college, my roommate and I rented a well-maintained, spacious apartment with a built-in cabinet, hardwood floors, and an original clawfoot tub. We fell in love with its charm and the rent was pretty affordable. The building was a two-flat that the landlord had lived in for over 30 years.

Living in New York City often means expensive rent and little space, but sometimes apartments here are…an experience, to say the least. It seems like everyone lives in a building that has its quirks—things like strange-but-creative ways of fitting appliances in, weird structural features, odd smells, and more. Even the best apartments—the ones no one would dare give up their leases on—have their own interesting shortcomings.

It was time to be inventive and put to use one of the oldest tricks in the book. Here's what I've come up with so far:

If you live in a majorly cramped city, you know that space is definitely at a premium. Dreams of moving into a bigger, more airy space might pop into your head when all the crap you’ve shoved into your only closet falls out for the millionth time. But if more space is what you’re looking for, there is actually a stupidly simple way to solve this problem on the cheap: Rent a storage unit.

For doorman-building devotees, there’s nothing like seeing a familiar face on the way in and out of that place you call home. But for others, there’s nothing worse than having to chit chat with this person—or having him know your business. For those lucky enough to have the option, the decision is of personal preference.

It’s my third time moving in Los Angeles, and I haven’t even lived here for four years. That means I’ve spent more time on Craigslist, Zillow, Trulia, Rent.com, and Rental Girl than I want to know. I even have rental alerts that ping me once they’ve found a “match” that meets all of my dream home criteria (I haven’t disabled it because apartment hunting is one of my favorite hobbies #noshame).

Welcome to A Renter’s Diary! Over the next few weeks, we’ll follow Rebekah Hall as she and her boyfriend move from a home into a 800-square-foot apartment in Little Rock, Arkansas. From battling with the task of downsizing, to figuring out the quirks of the space, Hall will share all of the things you might forget or underestimate. This week she deals with the shock of how small 800 square feet really is: I have had incredible luck as a renter.

Here’s a riddle for renters: Say your lease expires on October 31. Do you need to move out on October 31 and keep your stuff in storage until November 1, or can you actually move out November 1, giving yourself a little wiggle room? The short answer: It varies depending on your management company or landlord, says agent Alex Lavrenov, of Warburg Realty in New York, New York.

They may not be cobbling together rent money on the 31st of every month, but there are many celebs out there who rent just like us. Of course, it’s usually for reasons other than not being able to afford to buy a home. Celebrities are attracted to renting because of the financial flexibility, as well as their transient lifestyles that takes them from movie sets across the globe.

When my ex, Sarah, moved into her new home on a beautiful tree-lined street in the middle of one of Toronto’s most charming and historical neighborhoods, I began a months-long search for a place nearby. Even though we didn’t have any children together, it was an absolute priority for the both of us that I move within walking distance.

My husband and I can’t buy a home in L.A. because we’re spending too much money on avocado toast. Just kidding—fancy brunch isn’t the problem. The problem is that houses, even “starter” homes in decent neighborhoods, are too expensive. If we wanted to purchase a home in Highland Park, it would likely cost around $737,700 (the median home value for that neighborhood, according to Zillow). That would mean forking up close to $150,000 as a downpayment.

If you’re wondering what it takes to be able to afford to live alone in one of the top 20 populated cities in the United States, check out this list.

If your friend just bought a house, it’s hard not to feel a pang of jealousy over the fact that she either won the lottery, received a sizable inheritance, or was gifted cash for a down payment. And then there’s that fabulous backsplash and gorgeous front yard she keeps talking about. But no matter how she amassed the pile of cash, your friend’s foray into homeownership can test a friendship, especially if you’re finding it hard to make rent.

Apartment viewings kind of make no sense when you think about it. If you live in New York, like I do, an apartment viewing is about a 10-15 minute period in which you’re supposed to ask a couple questions, look around for any big problems, and then leave to see another apartment. Most of the time, since apartments come and go so fast, you only have one meeting to make your decision—or you risk losing it to someone who moved faster.

​It’s easy to get caught up in square footage or closet space when looking for an apartment, but there are some other less obvious things that are just important to consider.

Finding an apartment you absolutely adore and want to stay in is a rare and special thing in the rental market today. But, unfortunately, a renter’s desire to stay put isn’t always enough to make it a reality. “With increasing rents, building conversions (to condominium), building sales, and other reasons, landlords look to get tenants out of properties early,” says Mark Hakim, an attorney with SSRGA in New York City.

You’ve seen those fancy gizmos in suburban sinks—those garbage disposals that suck down each and every coffee ground or lettuce leaf you don’t need, making it next to unnecessary to make countless runs to your building’s refuse bin. But despite all the modern luxuries of living in New York City, garbage disposals are actually pretty rare.

When living conditions are unacceptable, do you have enough of a legal leg to stand on to break your lease? Turns out it’s all about the fine print.

With all the Brooklynites flocking to Silver Lake, Echo Park, or Los Feliz, you might be feeling the itch to get out of Central Los Angeles once and for all. Whether you’re looking for lower rents (the average rent across all of Los Angeles’s 272 neighborhoods is $2,251 a month, according to Rentcafé), homeownership opportunities (18 percent of homes in L.A. sell for over a million, according to Curbed), or just more space, there are a glut of nearby options.

Applying for an apartment is hard. First you have to find one that’s moderately nice and within your price range, and then you have to get all of your documents together really, really fast. This would be easy if you were organized and had time set away to sort through your papers. But this is life and we’re not as organized as we’d like to be; it’s likely that you have a job and thus have limited time to collect your bank statements from the last six months.

I move a lot. Because of the nature of my job (freelance writer), I was in five countries over three continents this month. I have to pack, unpack, and move rooms every few days. When I’m on an assignment, I usually stay in a hotel. When I’m not, I often stay with my sweet, accommodating partner who has rearranged his entire bedroom to create a writing nook for me. But even he knows what I long for. It’s not a hotel or a nice apartment with designer furniture.

If you have roommates, you probably know the standard move-in conversations that need to happen to ensure harmonious living. How will rent be collected and paid, whose television is going in the living room, and are peanut butter jars considered communal? But it’s important to make sure those A-plus communal living communication skills don’t fizzle come move-out time.

Six years after applying with my partner, I won an apartment in the NYC Affordable Housing Lottery—a unicorn most folks actually know little about.

Maybe you hear seemingly constant fighting and crying through the walls. Or someone is hollering upstairs for a concerningly long time. Or the guy across the hall has suddenly gone radio silent and his mailbox is overflowing. Now, the big question: Are you overthinking or does your neighbor really need help?

It doesn’t matter how much you smash that piggy bank—your first home is going to be really expensive and it’s going to take a long time to save up for that down payment on your own. According to a new study from HotPads, most renters will spend nearly six and a half years saving to put a down payment on a home. Since the median home price in the United States is $216,000, the average 20-percent down payment comes out to $43,200.

Much like dating, searching for a place to live can be the opposite of fun. In love, you’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs. In realty, you’ve got to scroll through a lot of listings. Both, in their own way, pose the risk of catfishing. But at least if you get duped by an embellished Tinder profile, the worst that usually happens is a bad date (which you can get through with the help of a drink or two!

You’ve chosen your moving company and booked the movers, but there’s one thing that still needs to be done before the big day: packing up your belongings. Before you get too excited and begin stuffing your boxes with all your stuff, make sure that you’re setting yourself up for a smooth and efficient move.

In a perfect world, your neighbors would be as lovable as Joey and Chandler, as kooky as Kramer, or as beloved as Fred and Ethel. But, in reality, you don’t have to be BFFs to establish great relationships with the folks living next door or down the hall.

You just bought a new home or signed the lease for an apartment you’ve been coveting. Spending your discretionary dollars on a great piece of art or furniture sounds a lot more fun than blowing money on boring moving boxes and tape, right? If only it were that easy: Moving can be a pricey endeavor once you layer in all of the costs associated with professional movers, rented trucks, housing deposits, and miscellaneous fees.

If you live in a major city and don’t make six-figures, you probably live with one or more roommates. And, of course, you probably wish every day that you could move to the middle of nowhere—where rents are cheap—and live alone. Well, surprise! Those dreams will probably never come true, because apartments throughout the country just aren’t as affordable as you think they are.

According to the following four real estate professionals, there are several acceptable interpretations of this phrase.

One of the most sought-after features in real estate today is “open concept.” But, like many popular buzzwords, people seem to mean different things when they use it. So we decided to talk with some real estate professionals to break down what open concept really means, how it originated, and why it’s so appealing.

It doesn’t matter how much you love your rental: The day your renewal notice comes in with a rent hike you never imagined, all those fuzzy feelings might just fly out the window. That said, how do you know if it’s worth it to move? From an economic standpoint, know that your next landlord will need the first and last month’s rent plus a security deposit, and for some apartments, a real estate broker’s fee.

If your standard reaction to watching HGTV is, “I want to do that, too,” but renovating a fixer-upper is out of your budget (and your skill set), there’s a new virtual way you can satisfy that renovation itch—without having to take out a mortgage or hire a contractor.

In many ways, living with a roommate is a rite of passage that teaches us about compromise, companionship, and responsibility. But, for many, it can also be a nightmare: From unpaid bills to illicit behaviors, a number of bad things can pop up when you live with a complete stranger, or even a friend, without doing your due diligence. However, avoiding these circumstances can be as easy as having a brief, honest conversation.

If you’ve ever rented before, you know that all landlords are not created equal. While some do the absolute minimum to get your monthly rent check, others do an incredible job at maintaining clean buildings and keeping their tenants’ best interests in mind. Recently, Brick Underground released a list of these amazing landlords. It got me thinking: Who better than a great landlord to give maintenance tips?

In the immortal words of Jimmy McMillan, “The rent is too damn high!” I live in Austin, which means my wallet cries each time I pay rent. Of course, I don’t live in a city where rent is sky-high like New York or San Francisco… but still, I don’t live in Toledo or Memphis, cities where the rent is barely-there. The burden for this writer is heavy to bear alone.

Moving soon? You’re going to need packing tape—and a lot of it. But before you head to your local hardware supply store to pick up a few rolls, first think, “Is this going to cause more trouble than it’s worth?” From quickly losing adhesive to not being as durable as you’d like, bad tape can make moving a whole lot harder than it needs to be. And who knows how to avoid these sticky (pardon the pun) moving situations? The pros, of course.

You can only have your leftover lo mein eaten by your roommates so many times before you start to curse communal living. And for the legions of recent grads who are moving on from college dorms this spring, living alone may sound like a dream come true. But is it financially feasible? Locking down a job is the first step to determining your rent budget.

In the past seven years, my family and I have been through seven moves. That may seem like a lot, but as a former military spouse and sailor, I can tell you it’s normal for families like mine. You don’t just move—you move quickly: You only get 10 days after you transfer to a new duty station to find a house and move into it. Yeesh! Most of the time, families spend those first days in a hotel (which, thankfully, the military pays for), but I was rarely interested in this option.

Finding reasonably-priced real estate in New York City is no simple task. So if you happen to be breezing through the apartment listings looking for your next home, you may come across this one-bedroom unit in an adorable East Village co-op building. But before you start packing boxes and updating your magazine subscriptions, you may want to look a bit closer. Listed at $2,500, the apartment is extremely charming.

Want to have a one-bedroom apartment all to yourself? Living alone invariably costs more than splitting the rent and utilities. But the price of escaping a roommate’s obnoxious habits or stray toenail clippings is a lot lower in some places than others — like Bloomington, Ind., for example. Most single Americans prefer to live alone, if they can afford to.

A new baby on the way, a cockroach infestation, a creepy roommate: While there are many legitimate reasons to break a lease, it’s often easier said than done. But you’re not entirely out of luck if you’re looking to hightail it out of there in one piece. Here are our tips for escaping with your sanity and your security deposit: When you’re hoping to break a lease, time is of the essence. Be honest and open with your landlord, and explain your situation.

How many times have you heard that renters are “just throwing their money away”? Well that’s not true, for a few reasons. First, owning a home is expensive. There’s a mortgage — which, in the early years, is more taxes and interest than actual equity (i.e. the first few years of owning a home is also throwing a lot of money away; I broke down my actual mortgage payment in this post, if you’re interested in reading more about that).

Millennials get a bad rap. We killed chain restaurants, doorbells and, if you take this recent study at face value, we’re killing neighborly love. But not according to me. The team at Safe Home surveyed 1,000 Americans to discover how close we are to the people that live near us.

You may have heard about guarantors during your apartment hunt, but if you’re not familiar with what they actually do—or how you can still find one if you don’t know anyone personally who can be a guarantor (or even land an apartment you love without one!)—we’ve got you covered. Here’s everything you need to know about getting a guarantor. A guarantor is someone who signs your lease with you to guarantee payment in case you can’t pay for some reason.

You know the saying, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is”? Well, that definitely applies to apartment hunting. If you see a listing for a beautiful, spacious apartment that’s well below the median rent for the neighborhood it’s in, for example, there’s gotta be a catch. Like, you know, it might not even exist (!).

There are a lot of factors that go into making a big move, and for many people, the top priority is either their job or their family. But if you’re on your own and you have job flexibility to go basically wherever you want (i.e. you work remotely), then what? In that case, you have the luxury of finding a place that suits you—and not necessarily just your career. To help you figure out the best U.S. city for you and your priorities, HighSpeedInternet.

It’s not surprising to learn that there are a lot of people who want to leave their expensive cities for a lower cost of living. But what is a little surprising? The concentration of people who want to move out of the Big Apple—a whopping 83.2 percent of renters in New York City want to settle elsewhere, according to a Apartment List’s annual survey.

The whole point of having a job is to be able to afford housing, food and the necessities so you can keep on keeping on, right? So it would make sense for salaries to rise with housing costs, but that’s not always the case. In many areas, rent prices move on up without giving wages a chance to catch up, and it especially varies when you factor in the industries people work in.

We all have deal breakers in just about every facet of our lives—from dating to jobs, and of course, to our homes, there are some things we just can’t deal with. And those deal breakers are different for everyone—for one person, a roommate leaving dishes in the sink overnight could feel like the end of the world, while for another person, cleanliness (or lack thereof) is a non-issue compared to whether or not they get along with their roommate on a personal level.

There’s a lot about the roommate experience that can be tricky. Like chores, chores and, uh… chores. But even after you’ve mastered homekeeping, there are still some things about sharing a home that may come as a surprise. For example, your roommate’s renter’s insurance policy might not cover your stuff.

As a renter, you know what your price range is and what you’re looking for in an apartment, but do you know your rights? Last year when I was apartment hunting in Brooklyn, I was shocked to learn that it was possible that a potential new landlord might ask for 6 months’ rent up front for my security deposit (luckily that didn’t end up being the case, but still!).

Much like finding out your new boyfriend is actually the heir to the throne of a small European country, living a life without rent is something that most of us will only dream about. But there are actual, real, human people living that life—who eat, sleep and work in the five boroughs without spending their hard-earned cash on their apartment. How do they do it? They’ve managed to co-opt the conventional “hard-earned cash” equation and cut out the middle man.

Nationwide, home renters are on the rise. So much in fact that according to a recent study by ABODO based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 36.4% of the American population is renting their household—the largest percentage the nation has seen since the 1960s. And as the number of renters continues to grow (there were 1.4 million new renter households in 2015 alone) so do renter-dominated cities. As of 2015, renting has the become the majority in 21 cities across the United States.

If you’ve ever searched for an apartment in New York City, you’ve probably heard the term “pre-war” before, but are you familiar with what it means? Pre-war apartments refer to buildings that were constructed before 1939 (AKA those that were built before World War II began). Pre-war style came about during a population boom in the city in the 1880s, according to Street Easy.

If you’re new to the apartment hunt, the idea of using a broker might be a very confusing concept—especially so if you’re moving from a lower-demand rental market to a bustling (and crowded) one like those in NYC or San Francisco.