Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt's
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing what every renter needs to know. Joel,
Speaker 1: to be a renter, you remember those days when you
Speaker 1: didn't have to worry about fixing anything, or we're getting
Speaker 1: emails at random hours, or having a spray for bugs,
Speaker 1: whatever it is that you do. You mentioned last week,
Speaker 1: kick back your arms behind your head. It was so nice.
Speaker 1: Was it the good old days? You know, we've dedicated
Speaker 1: entire episodes to being a landlord and investing in real estate,
Speaker 1: and we decided it was time to talk about renting
Speaker 1: from the renter standpoint. Yeah, and we've discussed in previous
Speaker 1: episodes how renting is often thought of as throwing money
Speaker 1: away and we completely disagree with that sentiment. Matt. We've
Speaker 1: talked about that in prior episodes, So if you're interested
Speaker 1: in knowing a little more about that, check out an
Speaker 1: older episode called Renting Versus Buying. But Matt, before we
Speaker 1: get into what every rentor needs to know, I wanted
Speaker 1: to quickly mention an awesome discount that I asked for
Speaker 1: the other day that really panned out for me. Lay
Speaker 1: it on me, So I went to our local Kroger
Speaker 1: the other day. Usually I'm at all the yea, what
Speaker 1: do you doing at Kroger Man? Usually I'm at Aldi.
Speaker 1: But I had like a couple of last minute things
Speaker 1: to pick up, and there there are some things that
Speaker 1: Aldi just doesn't carry, That's for sure. I love all
Speaker 1: the I love the simplicity, the fact that they carry
Speaker 1: of the things I need, but that one per cent
Speaker 1: sometimes I gotta make that Kroger run. Our girls are
Speaker 1: always wanting band aids, and I don't think that's something
Speaker 1: that Aldi carries. Right now, stepping up all the Let's
Speaker 1: get some band aidids. That'd be nice. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, Kroger also has a much better flower selection,
Speaker 1: and I like to get my white flowers every once
Speaker 1: in a while. Right It's like a humble bragg or
Speaker 1: wa come on, I'm a sweetheart. Okay, That's that's what
Speaker 1: I'm trying to say. So I went in on a
Speaker 1: particular morning and it was looking at the tulips that
Speaker 1: are her favorites mine too. I like some nice tulips,
Speaker 1: and nice they're beautiful, sleek flowers exactly as flowers go.
Speaker 1: They're pretty modern, you know, like real clean lines you know,
Speaker 1: they're not real folky. I love the way too that
Speaker 1: when they're sitting in the sun they kind of bend
Speaker 1: in all interesting directions. They almost kind of look like
Speaker 1: Medusa's hair or something. They're really cool, fantastic flowers. So
Speaker 1: I got these really pretty purple ones. But the thing
Speaker 1: was on the tag of the flowers, it said that
Speaker 1: they were on their last sell by date, so after
Speaker 1: that day they were either going to throw them away
Speaker 1: or put them in some sort of crummy flower arrangement
Speaker 1: something like that. And so I asked the person working
Speaker 1: in the floral department if they'd be willing to give
Speaker 1: me a discount on the flowers since it was the
Speaker 1: last day that they could sell them, and she was
Speaker 1: more than happy to do it. So it was a
Speaker 1: thirteen dollar bouquet of beautiful purple tulips that I got
Speaker 1: for a dollar fifty, no joke, I know, right, discount.
Speaker 1: So you remember we did it an episode specifically about
Speaker 1: asking for a discount, and this is just one of
Speaker 1: those cases where they go for it. I saw the
Speaker 1: date on it. Why not ask the man? I'm proud
Speaker 1: of you. That's a huge discount, thirteen bucks down to
Speaker 1: a dollar fifty. It's that's that's hard to be right there,
Speaker 1: I know, right, So yeah, I just want to encourage
Speaker 1: people to that asking for a discount is widely applicable
Speaker 1: in a lot of situations, and so I just exercise
Speaker 1: my god given American rights to ask for a discount
Speaker 1: and it worked out. Okay, you want to introduce this
Speaker 1: beer that we're having today, Sure, yeah, Listener, Tiffany actually
Speaker 1: sent us a beer tonight, so super kind of her.
Speaker 1: This is Russell Kelly pale Ale and it's from Tell
Speaker 1: Your Ride Brewing Company. Matt, have you ever been to
Speaker 1: Tell Your Ride Colorado? I have not you I have actually,
Speaker 1: and uh it is a lovely town. It is this
Speaker 1: beautiful little ski town in kind of the middle of
Speaker 1: nowhere Colorado. Um. And there are a couple other small,
Speaker 1: amazing cool small towns surrounding it about an hour away.
Speaker 1: There's Durrango in particular, there's a cool little town called
Speaker 1: Pegosa Springs that has this amazing hot springs area. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: on this can there's a picture of a dude up kayaking.
Speaker 1: Have you heard a kayaked before? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: Maybe a little white water rafting, but never kayaked this
Speaker 1: This guy is like kayaking for real. Um. I tried
Speaker 1: it once when I was living up an Ashville on
Speaker 1: the French broad and I almost drowned. So I'm never
Speaker 1: gonna do that again because it totally sucked. At a
Speaker 1: tough time with it. I'm just gonna say that. All right, man,
Speaker 1: I guess there's no more kayaking in either of our futures. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so things again to Tiffany for sending us some Russell
Speaker 1: Kelly pale Ale, and we'll talk more about this beer
Speaker 1: at the end of the show. All right, Matt, So
Speaker 1: onto the topic at hand, What every renter needs to know.
Speaker 1: Our goal here in this episode is to kind of
Speaker 1: provide an overview for someone who is currently a renter,
Speaker 1: for someone who is looking to rent a new place,
Speaker 1: but try to provide some insights for the potential issues
Speaker 1: that renters face, how you can look out for yourself,
Speaker 1: how you can find a good place to live, and
Speaker 1: how you can deal with your landlord effectively, amongst other things.
Speaker 1: So this is gonna be kind of a wide ranging episode,
Speaker 1: trying to cover just a lot of things that are
Speaker 1: perspective or current renter needs to know. Yeah, Jolson, when
Speaker 1: renters are looking for a place, we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: some things to watch out for. There can be issues
Speaker 1: with landlords, both big and small, like small as in
Speaker 1: like mom and pop landlords like you and I. Right,
Speaker 1: that's what we do. Yeah, we each have just a
Speaker 1: few rentals of our own, and so we're small time. Yes,
Speaker 1: so we're speaking to this from personal experience as well.
Speaker 1: But then the issues when it comes to bigger landlords,
Speaker 1: they're just more well documented. Be sure to check reviews
Speaker 1: for bigger apartment complexes. You can go to a site
Speaker 1: like apartment ratings dot com and it's actually very robust.
Speaker 1: I spent some time on there earlier today, and I
Speaker 1: was checking out some of the apartments near us to
Speaker 1: kind of see how they did. Some not so great,
Speaker 1: but either way, whether they did well or not so well,
Speaker 1: I was really impressed with the apartments responding to comments
Speaker 1: and engaging with the different tenants that live there or
Speaker 1: had lived there or whatever that just had a beef
Speaker 1: or we're really happy. I think it's really cool to
Speaker 1: see a dialogue like that between two parties while at
Speaker 1: the same time the apartment is trying to improve. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I guess that's one major benefit of the Internet
Speaker 1: where you can kind of post a review. If you're
Speaker 1: having an issue with an apartment complex, you have some
Speaker 1: recourse if they're treating you unfairly and so yeah, documenting
Speaker 1: that at a website like a heartment ratings dot Com
Speaker 1: is a helpful way to go. And like you said, Matt,
Speaker 1: there can be issues with landlords big and small. A
Speaker 1: mom and pop landlord can be completely unattentive to your needs.
Speaker 1: You can find them not replying in a timely manner,
Speaker 1: not getting back to you, and not providing service and
Speaker 1: repairs when things go wrong. The same thing can be
Speaker 1: true of bigger landlords. And I did want to mention
Speaker 1: that people should particularly watch out for Wall Street companies
Speaker 1: that are renting out single family homes these days. If
Speaker 1: you see the name Blackstone or Invitation Homes on properties
Speaker 1: that you're looking at single family homes where you're looking
Speaker 1: to rent, there are major issues with some of those
Speaker 1: Wall Street companies jacking up fees, not fixing problems that
Speaker 1: exist with the home, and finding ways to force fees
Speaker 1: on tenants in ways that aren't forthcoming. In above Board,
Speaker 1: and there was a really long form piece in the
Speaker 1: Atlantic that we will link to in the show notes
Speaker 1: as well, that just documents their inability to landlord well.
Speaker 1: And so I just wanted to put that out there
Speaker 1: real quick as a disclaimer that if you're looking for
Speaker 1: single family homes from some of those bigger companies that
Speaker 1: own a bunch thousands and thousands of single family homes
Speaker 1: across this country, you do need to watch out. Yeah, Joe,
Speaker 1: that article crazy compelling. Right. There's a stat in that
Speaker 1: article that said how of homes were purchased by invitation
Speaker 1: homes by Black Rock UH in a specific zip code
Speaker 1: here in Atlanta. That is a huge amount of homes
Speaker 1: in our area. Nine out of ten. That's incredible. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's it's it's massive. And like you mentioned earlier, some
Speaker 1: of the things that they had going on, like they
Speaker 1: started setting up call centers for repairs on the houses
Speaker 1: they're sitting about, electronic locks for contractors to kind of
Speaker 1: come and go whenever they needed to so that they
Speaker 1: didn't have to contact the tenants, and oftentimes they didn't
Speaker 1: have enough contractors on staff in order to even come
Speaker 1: out in cases of even major repairs that were necessary.
Speaker 1: Busted pipes where there's a four inches of water in homes.
Speaker 1: It was Yeah, it was crazy to read through those
Speaker 1: things and to think that, man, there's people that are
Speaker 1: living in homes where that's the kind of service that
Speaker 1: they're getting. Definitely not the best conditions that you're looking
Speaker 1: for when you're a wrinter, no doubt. But there are
Speaker 1: so many things you need to be aware of to
Speaker 1: be an informed tenant, and in particular, that lease is
Speaker 1: such a crucial part. We're going to get into what
Speaker 1: you need to know before you sign on the dotted
Speaker 1: line on that lease right after the break, all right, Joel,
Speaker 1: Before the break, you mentioned leases, and you know, it
Speaker 1: is very important that you familiarize yourself with your tenant
Speaker 1: landlord handbook, if there is one in your states. This
Speaker 1: is important because the laws are different in every state,
Speaker 1: and so you know, some are much more landlord friendly,
Speaker 1: while others they tend to look out for the renters
Speaker 1: a bit more. Yeah, each state takes a different stance
Speaker 1: in Some states are known for being more landlord friendly
Speaker 1: and other states are known for having laws that are
Speaker 1: more favorable to tenants. Yeah. Rent Cafe has a pretty
Speaker 1: cool rite up and we'll link to that in our
Speaker 1: show notes, where they have some visuals comparing friendly states
Speaker 1: to non friendly states when it comes to how they
Speaker 1: treat tenants. But also check out Landlord Oology will also
Speaker 1: link to that side as well. They have a little
Speaker 1: map of the entire United States and you can click
Speaker 1: on your state and will link you out to the
Speaker 1: governing laws when it comes to that landlord tenant relationship. Yes,
Speaker 1: some states in particular have a specific landlord tenant handbook
Speaker 1: and not not everyone does, so will link to those
Speaker 1: other resources that kind of break things down for you
Speaker 1: in an easy and simple to understand way. It's just
Speaker 1: so helpful to know what your rights are in that
Speaker 1: state before you actually sign a lease. Another thing you
Speaker 1: need to do before you sign a lease is to
Speaker 1: read it thoroughly, take your time. It's helpful in particular
Speaker 1: if you have come to terms with a landlord to
Speaker 1: ask them to send you the lease before signing day
Speaker 1: so you have a little bit of extra time to
Speaker 1: review it when you're not sitting in front of them.
Speaker 1: And if there's something you don't understand, look it up
Speaker 1: and make sure in your lease that your landlord has
Speaker 1: outlined who is responsible for what we're talking about, things
Speaker 1: like utilities obviously that's kind of a major one, but
Speaker 1: other things as well, like pest control or small repairs,
Speaker 1: lawn maintenance, even snow removal if you're in some northern states.
Speaker 1: These are things that you don't really think of in
Speaker 1: the moment, but you know what, when the time comes
Speaker 1: and you've got a clock toilet, that's the kind of
Speaker 1: thing you want to know. Okay, is it in my
Speaker 1: lease that I'm supposed to take care of this? Or
Speaker 1: can I call my landlord? You know, as a tenant,
Speaker 1: if you were to like have somebody come out and
Speaker 1: perform some of these these tasks and fix some of
Speaker 1: these things that go wrong. These are hundreds and hundreds
Speaker 1: of dollars over the full term of your lease. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're also going to want to make sure that whatever
Speaker 1: you have seen on the listing site, whether it's apartment
Speaker 1: ratings dot Com or whether it is zillo or Craigslist,
Speaker 1: wherever you're looking for properties, those terms that are explicitly
Speaker 1: listed out there have no bearing on what you sign
Speaker 1: in the lease. It would obviously be incredibly shady of
Speaker 1: a landlord to list a property for a different price
Speaker 1: or security deposit than they actually write in the lease,
Speaker 1: But just make sure that whatever you agree to verbally
Speaker 1: or whatever you see online matches what you see in
Speaker 1: writing in the lease. Yeah. And again going back to
Speaker 1: having your landlord or your potential landlord to send you
Speaker 1: the lease ahead of time. That gives you time to
Speaker 1: look over it, to take your time. Uh, so you
Speaker 1: don't feel pressure to quickly sign an initial and you know,
Speaker 1: if you're meeting in public or at a notary's office,
Speaker 1: if you have to get a notarized, there's just that
Speaker 1: pressure when someone is kind of standing there waiting on you.
Speaker 1: You tend to kind of burn through those pages pretty
Speaker 1: quickly and you might be signing things that you may
Speaker 1: not necessarily want to sign. So make sure those terms
Speaker 1: are in there and make sure that you've seen that
Speaker 1: they're in there. Yeah. So, while we're on the subject
Speaker 1: of leases, it's also really important for anybody who's a
Speaker 1: renter to know that leases are negotiable. Do you want
Speaker 1: to stay longer at your property, well, you might get
Speaker 1: a rent discount. It's worth asking if you're planning on
Speaker 1: staying in a place for longer than a year, which
Speaker 1: is pretty much the standard lease that most people agree to.
Speaker 1: That asking for a discount on rent isn't unheard of,
Speaker 1: and a lot of landlords are willing to oblige and
Speaker 1: mend the lease accordingly. Also, do you have multiple pets.
Speaker 1: Almost always there's a pet deposit, whether it's refundable or
Speaker 1: not included in a lease. It's worth asking for a
Speaker 1: discount on that pet deposit if you have have multiple pets. Yeah, Jill,
Speaker 1: just like with you and your flowers, it never hurts
Speaker 1: to ask. And there's a really good change, you might
Speaker 1: be able to strike a really good deal. And I
Speaker 1: would also encourage you as a renter to be creative
Speaker 1: when it comes to negotiating the terms on your lease.
Speaker 1: For instance, if you know there's a good chance that
Speaker 1: you might want to stay there longer, see if you
Speaker 1: can work in something along the lines of, Hey, if
Speaker 1: I always pay my rent on time or early, I
Speaker 1: would love to be able to renew a second year
Speaker 1: without the rent increasing, because right now that might seem
Speaker 1: like maybe a small win, right but you know a
Speaker 1: year from now, when rents in the area have gone up,
Speaker 1: say ten percent, Well, you want to be in a
Speaker 1: position where you can sort of exercise that right to
Speaker 1: resign at your current rate for a whole another year.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you've been a great tenant up until that point,
Speaker 1: and your landlord might be happy to see you resign
Speaker 1: and to have another solid year ahead of them where
Speaker 1: they know that rents gonna be paid on time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: One caveat we need to mention when it comes to
Speaker 1: least negotiation is that it's going to be more difficult
Speaker 1: to negotiate with a bigger landlord. Let's say you are
Speaker 1: in a house that is owned by one of those
Speaker 1: Wall Street companies that we talked about earlier, or a
Speaker 1: major apartment complex. Chances are the terms are just way
Speaker 1: more rigid. With a company like that, they have a
Speaker 1: lot of bureaucracy in place, and they're just not willing
Speaker 1: to amend the terms of a lease in kind of
Speaker 1: a one to one negotiation. So this is an all
Speaker 1: likelihood a tactic that you're going to be able to
Speaker 1: apply to dealings with a mom and pop landlord in
Speaker 1: a lot more instances than you are with one of
Speaker 1: those bigger, major landlords. Oh it makes me think, Joel,
Speaker 1: have you ever lived in any of the post properties posted?
Speaker 1: It's a it's a big company in Atlanta. They owned
Speaker 1: tons of different apartments all across the city. Nope, never did. Man,
Speaker 1: I was always like slumming it and cheaper of our complexes.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, your last coiment made me think about
Speaker 1: when Kate and I were looking at a post property
Speaker 1: that we really liked and we're really interested in getting,
Speaker 1: but they actually had laid out that rents were going
Speaker 1: to be increasing, and they told us how much that
Speaker 1: they're going to be increasing. It was not negotiable, And
Speaker 1: that was honestly one of the biggest reasons that we
Speaker 1: backed out of running that apartment, because we knew that
Speaker 1: we wanted to stay there for at least two years,
Speaker 1: and we didn't want to see our rants increase my
Speaker 1: hundred fifth bucks, so so we had to pass. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And at the same time, if rent prices do increase
Speaker 1: more than you're willing to handle, you get the factor
Speaker 1: of those moving costs, which can be a pain in
Speaker 1: the butt for a renter. You want to factor that
Speaker 1: in in the back of your mind when you're signing
Speaker 1: a lease. Do I want to stay here for a
Speaker 1: longer period of time than one year? And if I do,
Speaker 1: can I get that in writing now so that I
Speaker 1: don't feel like when rents do go up that I
Speaker 1: have to leave and go through the hassle of moving again.
Speaker 1: Keep in mind as a renter that the landlord will
Speaker 1: and should at least run a background and credit check
Speaker 1: on you, and so they will check your employment and
Speaker 1: they'll check those references. Make sure that you're being upfront
Speaker 1: and honest with your landlord. Realizing that communicating with your
Speaker 1: potential landlord and being honest like that that it builds
Speaker 1: trust and know that that's the kind of relationship that
Speaker 1: you do want to have with your landlord. As a renter.
Speaker 1: Anytime you apply to living and property, you are going
Speaker 1: to pay an application fee and that goes towards this
Speaker 1: background and credit check. And so if you're not upfront
Speaker 1: with your landlord, you might find yourself paying more fees
Speaker 1: across town to landlords then you want to and getting
Speaker 1: rejected for properties. So being upfront can help you avoid
Speaker 1: the extra costs of applying for properties that you aren't
Speaker 1: going to get. And I do agree, man, I think
Speaker 1: being up front. You know, I've worked with different tenants
Speaker 1: at different times and been more than happy if they're
Speaker 1: completely honest to figure out terms that work for both
Speaker 1: of us. In the case of credit that is less
Speaker 1: in stellar or or whatever it may be. And I
Speaker 1: think as long as you are above board and open
Speaker 1: and honest with your potential landlord, I think that bodes
Speaker 1: well and it helps the landlord know what they're getting
Speaker 1: into before they perform the background and credit check. It
Speaker 1: makes them realize that you're a person then can be trusted. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and say now that you've gotten past
Speaker 1: that background check, you've gotten past that credit check, you
Speaker 1: are now at the point we're gonna go through that
Speaker 1: walk through, and that is crucial because that is your
Speaker 1: chance to document the states the current state of the property.
Speaker 1: You want to make sure that you take your own
Speaker 1: pictures before you move in and if you see anything
Speaker 1: that seems that needs to be repaired, and at that
Speaker 1: point you can go ahead and email the landlord with
Speaker 1: any issues that you notice that need fick s. Yeah,
Speaker 1: taking those pictures on your moving date is actually a
Speaker 1: way of protecting yourself from the landlord coming back and
Speaker 1: saying that the property wasn't left in good condition upon
Speaker 1: your moving out. You want documentation of what the property
Speaker 1: looked like when you took possession of it. That's the
Speaker 1: best way you can protect yourself in a situation like that,
Speaker 1: you're also going to want to take thorough pictures upon
Speaker 1: moving out to document that you left the property in
Speaker 1: good condition. So if those pictures a year apart time
Speaker 1: stamped on your phone look similar, then the landlord has
Speaker 1: a lot less grounds to hold some of your security
Speaker 1: deposit for repairs. And there's pictures they protect yourself now.
Speaker 1: But then after the break, we're gonna talk about when
Speaker 1: things go wrong with the place that you're living in
Speaker 1: and then what you can do about it. All right, Matt,
Speaker 1: stuff happens when you're running a place. It could be
Speaker 1: busted pipes, it could be bedbugs. There are a whole
Speaker 1: host of situations that can negatively affect your experts as
Speaker 1: a renter, And so we have to talk about how
Speaker 1: renters can protect themselves when they're in the middle of
Speaker 1: a lease and things go wrong. And so the first
Speaker 1: and easiest and cheapest thing that you can do to
Speaker 1: protect yourself is to get renters insurance. Oftentimes your lease
Speaker 1: actually requires that anyway. But you know what, only thirty
Speaker 1: seven percent of people have renters insurance, and the typical
Speaker 1: cost of renters insurance is about ten dollars a month.
Speaker 1: That's like less than the cost of Netflix. Matt yeah,
Speaker 1: and the like twelve dollars. Now I think I don't
Speaker 1: even it's not up. Yeah. So most renters think that
Speaker 1: their landlords insurance covers their possessions in case of an accident,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't, So you have to get renters insurance.
Speaker 1: There are easy ways to buy renters insurance online. Policy
Speaker 1: Genius is a great website to check out that will
Speaker 1: offer you quotes from multiple different providers. Just don't forget
Speaker 1: to get renters insurance please. As a tenant, that's step
Speaker 1: number one for sure. And you know, one of the
Speaker 1: great things about renters insurance as well is that a
Speaker 1: lot of times it will cover off premises theft as well.
Speaker 1: So I'm thinking about bikes, like that's something that I
Speaker 1: have that I leave in other places where it might
Speaker 1: be in danger of getting stolen. Well, if you have
Speaker 1: a bicycle, if you have wrinters insurance, that's something that
Speaker 1: for the most part, will be covered if it gets stolen,
Speaker 1: say if you're at the restaurant down the street, or
Speaker 1: if you're at the library or something like that. So
Speaker 1: it really is affordable and there's just a lot of
Speaker 1: peace of mind that comes with taking the proper precautions
Speaker 1: when you're a renter, all right, So what happens if
Speaker 1: there is an issue with the property, whether it's just
Speaker 1: the lawn that's become unkempt, there's an issue with a
Speaker 1: major appliance, the facts not working and it's getting pretty
Speaker 1: hot outside, well, no matter what the issue is, it's
Speaker 1: best to document everything in writing. An email in particular,
Speaker 1: is probably in all likelihood the best way of getting
Speaker 1: problems addressed. As a tenant. If you're calling your landlord
Speaker 1: on the phone in order to make problems known, you're
Speaker 1: putting yourself in a much more difficult situation by not
Speaker 1: having it in writing that you're requesting certain things off
Speaker 1: your landlord. So if your landlord prefers to be contacted
Speaker 1: be phone, make sure to talk to them ahead of
Speaker 1: time and let them know how important it is to
Speaker 1: you that these things be addressed via email. Or you
Speaker 1: might think that text messaging is just as fine as well,
Speaker 1: because obviously it's got the date and time on there,
Speaker 1: but that's not the case if you've got to set
Speaker 1: up to where your text delete after thirty days because
Speaker 1: you're trying to save on storage space on your phone,
Speaker 1: so again email it's always best and if you have
Speaker 1: a landlord who's slow to respond when it comes to
Speaker 1: maintenance issues, but especially in emergency situations, you might be
Speaker 1: able to pay to have the repairs made yourself and
Speaker 1: then deduct that from the rent that you owe. Again,
Speaker 1: you want to make sure to check your local state
Speaker 1: laws or if you are lucky enough to have a
Speaker 1: landlord tenant handbook, all those things will be defined in
Speaker 1: there and will outline the different emergencies and help you
Speaker 1: to see when you can move forward with that pay
Speaker 1: and deduct route. Again, just make sure that you're documenting
Speaker 1: this well and again call around to a few different
Speaker 1: providers as well, because if you if you can show
Speaker 1: that you've gotten several different quotes and you decided to
Speaker 1: go with one that was comp bolt to the rest,
Speaker 1: that's another check mark in your box when it comes
Speaker 1: down to the case of getting your landlord to pay
Speaker 1: for some of those repairs or if you're going to
Speaker 1: deduct that from the rent. Yeah, repair and deduct is
Speaker 1: a strategy that you use in a worst case scenario.
Speaker 1: You want to exhaust every option available to you before
Speaker 1: you get to that point. So hopefully your landlord is
Speaker 1: being communicative. It's also important to remember that in the
Speaker 1: case of repair and deduct that only applies to emergencies,
Speaker 1: and you can even see oftentimes in your landlord tenant
Speaker 1: handbook what is considered an emergency and what isn't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: mat for example, Interestingly enough, a lot of states don't
Speaker 1: consider an air conditioner being out in the middle of
Speaker 1: summer to be an emergency. And you might consider that
Speaker 1: an emergency, but your state just doesn't. And so that
Speaker 1: means that if you try this repair and deduct method
Speaker 1: just a couple of days, let's say after that air
Speaker 1: conditioner breaks, I mean, hopefully you're working with a landlord
Speaker 1: that is helpful, responsive and trying to work on that
Speaker 1: issue quickly. But if they take too long, that doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily mean that you have the right to do repair
Speaker 1: and deduct, and you might come out on the losing
Speaker 1: side of that when you try to fix the problem
Speaker 1: yourself and take that money out of the rent. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that would really suck to basically get stuck with a
Speaker 1: bill where you're improving the property of your landlord who
Speaker 1: you feel like wasn't responsive, and then you have to
Speaker 1: move out a few months later. I would be pretty pissed. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: that sucks. So you want to make sure that you
Speaker 1: know your rights and that you know whether you can
Speaker 1: do repair and deduct or not. Also, exhaust every means
Speaker 1: possible before you get to that point. Also, we got
Speaker 1: an email recently from a listener Stephen, and he mentioned
Speaker 1: that he found a bed bug in his apartment. Oh,
Speaker 1: and there's never just one bedbug, right, there's more to follow,
Speaker 1: and they replicate, They procreate very quickly, so there's gonna
Speaker 1: be more coming. Have you ever seen a bedbug? But
Speaker 1: they're super realized, right, they're hard to find. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it kind of like just looks like like dirt,
Speaker 1: like in the corners of your mattresses or couches and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. In big cities like New York and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, when you see couches on the side
Speaker 1: of this the street or on the sidewalk, you stay
Speaker 1: away from those things. Yeah, because they're infested with bed bugs.
Speaker 1: You don't want to take those in the house. So
Speaker 1: Stephen wrote in he was asking about, you know, how
Speaker 1: he attacks the situation with his landlord, and in his case,
Speaker 1: his landlord seemed to lack the proper motivation to take
Speaker 1: care of it. And particularly because bed bugs, like we said,
Speaker 1: replicated such a rapid pace. Figuring out the issue, nipping
Speaker 1: it in the bud before it becomes a worse issue
Speaker 1: is crucial when we're talking about bed bugs. And so
Speaker 1: because of his landlord's failure to act and insistence on waiting,
Speaker 1: Stephen decided to go the repair and deduct route. I
Speaker 1: think in his case it was the right move and
Speaker 1: I hope it works out for him. He also has
Speaker 1: a litany of solid emails and evidence to back him
Speaker 1: up in the case his landlord was wanted to fight
Speaker 1: that in a in a court of law, and so
Speaker 1: that's a great example. Again, though, make sure you check
Speaker 1: with your state laws because some states can be very
Speaker 1: landlord friendly to again where the tenant would be stuck
Speaker 1: with that bell regardless of the situation. And if you
Speaker 1: feel like your landlord is in some sort of violation
Speaker 1: of the law and is negligent in addressing issues that
Speaker 1: come up, your best route to go is to complain
Speaker 1: to the correct local authorities. And if you think that
Speaker 1: there are discrimination issues involved based on your race, gender, ethnicity,
Speaker 1: or family status, it's really important to reach out to
Speaker 1: the Department of housing and urban development. That's a place
Speaker 1: where they feel those complaints and they take them very seriously.
Speaker 1: In addition to these issues with maybe the landlord or
Speaker 1: with the home. Right aside from those, if you personally
Speaker 1: are having a tough time or you're having financial issues,
Speaker 1: make sure that you are communicating that with your landlord.
Speaker 1: They might be willing to work out a plan with you,
Speaker 1: but chances of that happening are going to be much
Speaker 1: higher if you address that ahead of time. Yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: Just like we talked about being upfront about your credit
Speaker 1: score or your criminal history while you're applying for a property,
Speaker 1: that landlord is much more likely to accept your application
Speaker 1: and offer you a chance to live in the property.
Speaker 1: In the same way, if you've been a tenant there
Speaker 1: for a while and you're starting to have some money issues,
Speaker 1: well it's best to be a front about that with
Speaker 1: your landlord then kind of ghosting them and being m
Speaker 1: I A when the first of the month rolls around. Okay,
Speaker 1: now we're at the end of your lease and when
Speaker 1: it comes to moving out, you want to make sure
Speaker 1: that you have documented everything. We previously mentioned how you
Speaker 1: want to make sure that you take thorough picks when
Speaker 1: you move in the same thing. When you move out,
Speaker 1: you want to make sure that you have plenty of
Speaker 1: pictures documenting the state of your place. Once you leave,
Speaker 1: a more shady landlord will try to get you to
Speaker 1: pay for your things that aren't actually broken, or if
Speaker 1: there is actual damage, you can show that you have
Speaker 1: pictures from your walkthrough from before you moved in that
Speaker 1: show it was already broken when you moved in. Pictures
Speaker 1: or even a video walk through of the apartment or
Speaker 1: the house are so clutched in these situations. And final
Speaker 1: tip if you have a roommate, will try to move
Speaker 1: out on the same day, because if you are the
Speaker 1: last person to move out of the house, you might
Speaker 1: be stuck with all the cleaning and potential junk removal.
Speaker 1: Your roommate could leave you in the lurch, high and dry.
Speaker 1: It could be a nasty little situation where you have
Speaker 1: hours and hours of work ahead of you to make
Speaker 1: sure that you're leaving that place like you found it
Speaker 1: in order to you avoid money being taken out of
Speaker 1: that security deposit. Nice Joe, I'm gonna take us back
Speaker 1: to the beer we were drinking this episode. A Russell
Speaker 1: Kelly pale ale by Tell You Ride ruined company, and man,
Speaker 1: it was solid. I'm mostly jealous that you've been to
Speaker 1: tell you Ride and I haven't. Is that how you
Speaker 1: say it, tell You Ride? I think so, Yeah, tell
Speaker 1: you Ride. I don't really remember how people said it
Speaker 1: when I was there, but I say it differently out last.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just you know what I specifically
Speaker 1: remember from being and tell your Ride. Well, first, it
Speaker 1: was beautiful of the mountains, the snow, but I remember
Speaker 1: the thrift store there because it was this nice, cute
Speaker 1: little town. They had an awesome thrift store. So I
Speaker 1: don't know why that sticks out in my mind. But
Speaker 1: if you go to tell your Ride and make sure
Speaker 1: to check out their thrift store downtown, it's a good one.
Speaker 1: They've got a great film fest there, too, don't they
Speaker 1: like they tell You Ride film fests? I think so.
Speaker 1: I think we do. Yeah, I haven't been there for that,
Speaker 1: but probably accurate. It's a it's a it's a high
Speaker 1: flute place. But yeah, that area of Colorado is just
Speaker 1: so freaking beautiful. And this beer was almost as lovely
Speaker 1: as the town itself. So mad props thanks to Tiffany
Speaker 1: for sending this one out to us. We appreciate it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thanks Tiffany. All right, Matt, let's get to our final
Speaker 1: thoughts on the subject of what every renter needs to know.
Speaker 1: The first thing is that every single renter needs to
Speaker 1: know their rights, and they're different from state to state.
Speaker 1: Some states have more landlord friendly laws, others have more
Speaker 1: tenant friendly laws. It's important to know that from the outset.
Speaker 1: It's also crucial to know what's actually in release before
Speaker 1: you sign it and then Joel. In addition to that,
Speaker 1: you want to make sure that you are documenting everything
Speaker 1: and that you are communicating as much as you can.
Speaker 1: Take pictures before you move into that place. You want
Speaker 1: to document the current condition before you have moved a
Speaker 1: single box into that place. And if any issues do
Speaker 1: arise when you're renting, use email. Email is such a
Speaker 1: clean and easy, a very black and white way to
Speaker 1: document any concerns and guess what your landlord automatically has
Speaker 1: a copy of that there are no questions documentation. Again,
Speaker 1: on the back end, make sure you take pictures when
Speaker 1: you're moving out to prove that you left the place
Speaker 1: in good order and acceptable condition to your landlord. Yeah,
Speaker 1: good documentation could save you in a pinch. Also, make
Speaker 1: sure to advocate well for yourself. Sometimes it's true the
Speaker 1: squeaky wheel gets the grease and you don't want to
Speaker 1: be that annoying, complaining tenant. But if there's a legitimate issue,
Speaker 1: it's important to make that known to your landlord and
Speaker 1: not to relent until that problem is fixed. And if
Speaker 1: your landlord refuses to act, well, you might need to
Speaker 1: go with a method like repair and deduct or even
Speaker 1: complain the local authorities. But just make sure to stick
Speaker 1: up for yourself. Yeah, advocating for yourself, jo I love that.
Speaker 1: You know, if you take renting a little bit more seriously,
Speaker 1: that kind of puts you in the driver's seat when
Speaker 1: it comes to the relationship that you have with your landlord.
Speaker 1: Maybe just a little bit, but it at least keeps
Speaker 1: you from getting pushed around, no doubt, buddy. All Right,
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it for this episode. We'll have some
Speaker 1: really important links that we referenced in this episode on
Speaker 1: our website how to money dot com. And we know
Speaker 1: that we've only scratched the surface, uh in this episode,
Speaker 1: And so as a tenant or a future tenant, if
Speaker 1: you have some questions head over to our Facebook group.
Speaker 1: Just search for how some Money, look for that route
Speaker 1: and throw your question out there. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of folks who are in similar positions as you, and
Speaker 1: we all love helping each other out, so join that community.
Speaker 1: Oh and Joel, we wanted to announce our winners from
Speaker 1: our book Gavoy. Last week we had four copies of
Speaker 1: Tanya Hester's book Work Optional and thanks to m r
Speaker 1: W two to five, Julio Rojo Underscore See one seven
Speaker 1: and a Perkins eighty nine, y'all are the winners and
Speaker 1: Joel or I will be reaching out to you very soon,
Speaker 1: no doubt, buddy. All Right, until next time, Best friends out,
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out,