How to make money with the vacant space in your home

Most people in the US buy larger houses even though they don’t need it! Unlike other cultures, an American family is small and self-sufficient. With no relatives to lodge and children moving out as soon as they reach college, there is always an extra room or an entire portion of the house which can be used to rake money.

At times, finding a tenant is as simple as hammering a “Vacant” or “For Rent” board in your driveway or posting a few fliers in the city center. That is the way America has been doing it all these years. However, of late, this has not been so effective and there seem to be fewer visits by potential tenants. This is because the bulk of the renters are looking for places to rent using technology and more often than not they land up with the right place in a matter of days, if not hours!

Finding Potential Tenants

This is an absolute no-brainer in the era of the Internet. List your room/accommodation on any popular rental site like Zillow or Sulekha and you will be bombarded by responses within a few minutes. Make sure you post photos of the living space. Most potential tenants love to have an idea of the place before visiting it in person.

Also, list the proximity of your offering to places of interest and public transport spots. If your accommodation is targeted to students, chances are this will invoke more interest. You can also try posting an Ad in the local newspaper.

Screening Applicants

Landlords have the right to screen those who wish to apply for the accommodation. Screening can involve checking for the following information.

• Credit history
• Employment history
• Income status
• References from landlords and roommates
• Past evictions

Most states also have the provision which allows the landlord to charge applicants a screening fee for checking all these.

Rental Agreement

Make sure you have a rental agreement drawn out by an experienced real estate attorney. You can find such legal personnel online or there are also formats of such agreements available online.

Need more insight into rental agreements and the issues related to it? Check this out!

Apartment for rent in Miami 

Home Improvement Tips for Students

It doesn’t matter how small your rental abode is, you can always make it feel like your home. Most Indian students prefer to share rental accommodation with someone and fail to personalize the living space leading to emotions like not belonging in the place and homesickness. Here are a few simple things that can be done to make your rented house, a home away from home!

Curtains up!

Curtains add character to any room and if the room depends a lot on natural light, it could very well provide a complete makeover to the space! You can’t change the color of the walls but you sure can put up a shade or two to give the room a glow in the shade you love.

Let there be light…

Light fixtures talk a lot about your taste. Any house owner would not object you adding décor to the space as long as it does not need additional hammering of nails or running external wiring over the walls! LED lights do not shoot up the power bill numbers while giving a soothing feel when the sun goes down.

Stow smart

Smart, multi-purpose storage solutions not only help reduce the clutter but will also make it that much easier when you move to the next place.

Corner tables, shelves that extend, smart boards are some of the many things that you can use to be canny in space management.

Throw in some greens!

Plants not only add to the sense of freshness to your room but also gives you a sense of responsibility and can be a good alternative to pets. Make sure you water them and do not let the dirt spill over the expensive carpet!

lot of Room for rent in Richmond are fully furnished with all facilities.

Apartment inspection checklist - Go through this list before signing the agreement

Every apartment will have its pros and cons but it is important to weigh the positives over the negatives and shortlist your next accommodation as a student. However, it is important to check the room thoroughly before signing the agreement. Once the agreement is signed you are legally liable and bounded to the accommodation and at the mercy of the landlord so ensure that you go through this checklist step by step.

Floors & walls damage

The condition of an apartment can be ascertained by the floors and walls. Check for the condition of the paint, holes, or stains and if there is existing damage make sure that it is mentioned in the agreement to avoid repair charges being extracted from you at the end. If the carpet is stained or any missing tiles make note of that too. Also, ensure that the house if handed over to you in a clean condition and you return the favor when you move out.

Pest/Insect inspection

This can be a major problem if left unchecked. Signs of trouble include cracks in walls, bedroom corners and kitchen cabinet crawling with roaches. If there are brown pellets or eggs in the dark corners it shows signs of vermin in the house. Make sure your landlord does pest control before you move in. Moving in with all your stuff and then doing pest control makes it double the work.

Plumbing & Utilities

Make sure you check if water, electricity, gas and other utilities work before you move in. If even one of this is not available and you move all your things then it becomes a big challenge to settle in and start with your daily routine right away.

Plumbing leaks are yet another hurdle that must be addressed. Not only does it cause wastage of precious water but also reduces the durability of the structure causing grave danger to the occupants.

Heat

Living in the US, heat is very important during cold winters. Even if you are moving in during summer make sure that you check if the heating thermostat works properly. It is a life-saver and you do not want till the cold sets in to test if it works.

Make sure you keep your landlord in the loop and sort out any of these issues. The ones that are not fixed should be mentioned in the agreement to avoid conflicts in the future.

Lot of Apartments for rent in miami in cheap budget

Why sublet your Apartment? Scenarios that can/cannot be avoided

The trend of subletting an apartment is on the rise among Indian students. There are a number of reasons to why this trend is on the rise. Subletting saves money but is also a tedious process. Landlords do not like the idea of someone else staying in their house/apartment after a different person has signed a rental agreement.

Here are a few scenarios and the solutions to those explained in both the extremes,

Early Graduation

Most students draw up a rental agreement based on the duration of the course. However, it might not hold good since many smart students finish their courses early and move onto a job or high education. In this case, subletting is the most practical choice in this scenario.

The more sensible option is to include a roommate right from the beginning if you plan to try and complete a course easier than its duration. This will avoid surprising the landlord with the decision to move out early. Also, keep the landlord informed about your academic progress to ensure he knows that you might leave earlier than your agreement suggests.

Cost of living goes up

If you took the apartment for rent along with a roommate and if the roommate is moving out then the cost of living goes up! This not just upset your finance but also could mean that you will have to find a cheaper abode. In this case, try and convince your landlord to bring in a different roommate or ask for a rebate since utilities are used less.

You get an opportunity elsewhere

Internships or a job opportunity far away from your rented residence might force you to vacant earlier than anticipated. To sublet your apartment instead of leaving it locked is the ideal choice. However, the landlord might not be too enthusiastic about it. If it is an internship for a month or so, it is best you do pay the rent and bills while keeping it locked and be back for your routine studies or job. However, if you are planning to move altogether, you have no choice rather than sublet or cancel the agreement with the owner.

The same applies if you plan to move in together with someone else. The smart move is to not cancel your agreement or sublet the apartment in haste but to hold out for a couple of months, at the very least for obvious reasons! You will require a place to fall back to in an uneventful situation.

Most of these scenarios are unavoidable and unpredictable! Make sure you are in the good book of your landlord for him to be considerate when such a situation arises. If the landlord waives you off the hook then you need not sublet your apartment. However, if you have no other choice, use Sulekha and find the right people.

Bathroom Sharing Etiquette: Roommates’ Grace

I’ve a bunch of roommates & bathroom experiences to share. Where could I start from? I laugh at the bathroom etiquettes shared by the roommates with cultural barriers. “Hurry up!”, “Pal, can you give me a helping hand in cleaning the bathroom!”, “Oh please! I’ve a job interview today. Hope that you don’t take a long time!” these are the deep conversations, which connect roommates and shared bathroom rules.

Errr…nothing was as creepy as Dead Man On Campus apart from a few sessions, whenever I had the “nature’s call came on”!

☻Scheduled shower helps roommates to live in peace

We already had a taste of roommates’ mood swings episode, so we vowed to schedule our bath/ showers.

Even, if the entire world is in topsy turvy, I take my shower by 7.00 am (by the time I’m done with an energetic cardio work-out).

☻Sharing bathroom etiquette calls in for a hanging shower caddy

We were sick and tired of running around to pick our hair masks, shampoo, conditioner and bathing gel, every morning. Even a minute of delay caused massive jerks.

So, we put a shower caddy in our shopping list. We bought a hanging shower caddy with 3 shelves – trust me “shower caddy is the priority in shared bathroom etiquettes”.

Tip: Thankfully we were thoughtful about cleaning the drain after bath. It don’t even take 2 minutes! Cleaning the drain counts as much as toilet chores…

☻Roommates take turns cleaning the toilet

Honestly, we don’t like cleaning other person’s toilet. So, as the core of “bathroom sharing rules”, we took turns cleaning the toilet.