Ten Ways to Lose Your Security Deposit

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piggy bank 300x292 - Ten Ways to Lose Your Security DepositHey, it’s only money. You probably only work to alleviate the boredom anyway. Learn these handy money-saving tips before moving into your new Delavan apartment. Rather than throw your money away on frivolous recreation, here are 10 Ways to Lose Your Security Deposit:

1. Don’t give the landlord your forwarding address.

This should be obvious, but if you don’t tell the landlord where you went, then the landlord has no choice but to send your refund to the last known address, which is the apartment you just moved out of. Continue reading →

Ten Ways to Insure Misery In Your Rental Experience Part 2

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Welcome back to our study of bad haircuts, traffic jams and fingernails scratching down chalk boards. Add to these delightful experiences the misery you will suffer when you commit the next five blunders in Ten Ways to Insure Misery in Your Rental Experience:

6. Have an unauthorized pet

At Decker Properties, we believe our pet policies are reasonable. But reasonable or not, they’re certainly not a secret. You don’t want you and your pet to get stuck out in the cold. So check with your landlord first before you bring home that adorable furry critter. Continue reading →

Ten Ways to Insure Misery In Your Rental Experience Part 1

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Life, shall we say, can be interesting. Your car gets a flat tire. Your significant other trades you in for another. You get a pink slip with your paycheck.

There’s nothing here that can help you with any of that, but if a bed of nails is what you’re into, we can give you 10 pointers on how to insure your rental experience with your apartment is an utter nightmare. The first five are below. Check here for pitfalls 6-10.

1. Never Talk to Your Landlord

Is your faucet leaking? Toilet running? A little grout missing in your tub surround? If you don’t call these problems into your landlord promptly, these repairs are only going to get worse. Additionally, that leaky faucet is probably leaking hot water, creating further waste. Your landlord might charge you for expensive repairs that might have been less had they been addressed sooner. Continue reading →

I Hate You and I Never Want to See You Again!

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i hate this guy 300x243 - I Hate You and I Never Want to See You Again!It was love at first sight. After you met The Special One, it was if the world transformed from dull black and white to the full spectrum of color. There was music in the air and the flowers were in bloom.

But that was then. This is now. And today, love at first sight has turned into “I can’t stand the sight of you.” Now what to do?

Sometimes the commitments we make in relationships outlast the relationship. Some of those commitments are called children, another one of those commitments is called a lease. If your Racine apartment lease has outlasted your relationship, here are some thoughts to keep in mind. Continue reading →

Tenant Screening for Everyone

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Apparently, landlords are reading this blog too. So this posting is dedicated to them, but it’s for rental prospects too. Want to know what you’re landlord is thinking, or at least should be thinking, when they are reviewing your application? It’s probably something like this.

The New Landlord’s Guide to Tenant Screening

Tenant Screening: Love it or hate it, you need to do it if you don’t want to loose your shirt. This guide will show you everything you need to know, and keep you safe from FHA violations too. Remember, we’re not your lawyer and this is not legal advice.

Also see “The Top Six Tenant Complaints”

I Need Out of My Lease! – Part 2

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broken piggy bank 300x225 - I Need Out of My Lease! - Part 2The deal is unbelievable! Too good to pass up! Despite all the pitfalls of home ownership that you’ve read on this blog, your going to buy your own house. Or maybe you’re getting married – congratulations! Or maybe, sadly, you’re getting divorced. Whatever is going on, that pesky apartment lease just doesn’t fit into your future plans any more and you need to get out of your lease.

But I Want to Get Out of My Lease!

Last time, we were talking about the consequences and potential problems with breaking your lease, namely that you could get stuck owing rent on a vacant apartment. Sometimes this problem is a no brainer – the landlord has plenty of other prospects waiting to take your apartment and all you need to do is make sure that a new tenant is signed or that you are otherwise released from your old lease. Continue reading →

I Need Out of My Lease! – Part 1

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broken clock 300x207 - I Need Out of My Lease! - Part 1Your apartment lease is a binding contract between you and your landlord, which means that breaking your lease is a breach of a contract. The need to get out of a lease may be entirely understandable. For example, you may need to move as a result of a job transfer, you may be getting married or divorced, or you may have decided to buy a house. In short, your apartment lease seemed like a good idea at the time, but now times have changed and now that lease is in the way!

Will There Be a Penalty?

Like any other contract, there may be a penalty for breaking it. Just because you pay rent by the month doesn’t mean that your obligation ends should you decide to move earlier than the lease expiration. There may be any number of penalties that might be applicable, like the cost of finding a new tenant. But the greatest source of pain is having to pay rent on your old, now empty apartment. Therefore, develop a strategy for reducing the pain. Continue reading →

Discrimination Part 2

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nw milwaukee rivercourt apartments exterior 2 300x210 - Discrimination Part 2It’s a beautiful apartment and it’s perfect for you. It’s close to all the places you go and it fits just fine within your budget. So you fill out the application and start to tell your friends about your great new home.

Then the landlord calls to tell you that your Northwest Milwaukee apartment application has been declined.

Let’s face it, hearing that news would never be a happy experience, but what if you believe that something is off? What if you believe that you have been discriminated against? Continue reading →

Discrimination Part 1

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equal housing opportunity 300x232 - Discrimination Part 1That’s Discrimination!

Let’s face it, rejection hurts. I’m not just talking about when you asked the pretty girl for a date and she laughed at you. What about the circumstance where you felt qualified for an opportunity but you were denied anyway? Let’s be honest, this kind of thing happens. And it would be understandable to be boiling mad. Let’s look at some of the details to see if there are reasonable remedies.

First we are going to confine our discussion about discrimination in housing, specifically rental housing. Discrimination can occur in other areas too, like in employment, academics, lending and other areas, but for brevity, we will stick to rental housing. Continue reading →

Why Do I Need a Co-signer?

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portrait of young woman 200x300 - Why Do I Need a Co-signer?It was love at first sight. When you saw that custom-tile walk in shower, you swooned. That was even before you found out that the tile floor is heated. You just had to have it. But as often happens in life, reality intruded.

You’re young. There is nothing like the bloom of youth, but you don’t have much credit, any rental history, and while you just landed your first job out of school – and it’s a great opportunity – you don’t start until next week. In other words, you’re an unknown.

Or maybe it’s not quite like that. Sometimes in the bloom of youth we make mistakes, mistakes that we later regret. You’ve learned some important lessons and now things are different, but in this instance, you’re not an unknown, but what is known, we’d rather not talk about.

So what to do? Maybe the solution is to get a co-signer. Continue reading →