Oh My Apartment

Dawn Casey invited a friend over to her apartment for a visit. When her friend went outside to get in his car and go home, his vehicle was gone. The apartment complex had towed the car. Dawn says, “Tenants here have stickers for cars…the car was towed since he wasn’t a resident — while he was here!” The complex does have a sign posted to warn anyone using the parking lot, but Dawn says that it isn’t enough: “A tiny…

While paying rent on time is important, sometime it’s just impossible to avoid making a late payment. Landlords don’t like receiving late payments, of course, but if you’re willing to talk to your landlord, you can often resolve the issue. As long as you’re generally a good tenant — and you’ve been on time with your rent until now — many landlords will be willing to discuss options and even waive late fees.

Barb McMahon rents apartments. Recently, one of her…

The current economic situation has had some pretty clear influences on rental rates. For the most part, the cost of renting an apartment has been dropping and, in many areas, landlords are offering incentives to new tenants. Landlords are seeing the first major declines in five years.

A report from Reis Inc. points to last year’s fourth quarter as a turning point. That’s when the national vacancy rate hit a four-year high of 6.6 percent, and showed no sign of stopping.

That, in…

If you’ve been living in your current apartment for a while now, odds are that your lease has you locked in on a rent that really doesn’t reflect the market in your area. You and your landlord may have signed off on an amount much higher than the monthly price he’s offering to bring in new tenants.

If your lease is coming up for renewal, you may be able to use that fact to negotiate a lower rent for yourself —…