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Stew Man Chew posted:I'm in South Carolina so at least snow isn't that much of an issue. However, my standard of "lawn maintenance" is planting a meadow-in-a-bag and letting nature take back over so there might have to be some aesthetic negotiations involved. And I'm not spending hundreds of dollars on a machine to mow someone else's grass, that's for drat sure. I live in SC as well I can guarantee you 100% it will be your responsibility to maintain their lawn at a level that it was at when you moved in. This could mean grass mowing and the occasional hedge trimming. It's not really a negotiated thing because you are living in their house they get to make some of the rules you have to live by. I wouldn't worry about it to much as there are so many lawn companies here that if you don't want to do it yourself I'm sure you'll be able to find someone that will do it for a price you think is reasonable. The Lazer fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Feb 28, 2012 |
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Feb 28, 2012 16:31
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My experience in Alabama was completely opposite. Every place I looked had lawn maintenance taken care of. My guess is the landlords probably didn't want to bother getting all HOAed and poo poo if a tenant didn't take care of the lawn.
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Feb 28, 2012 16:46
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I've had landlords offer to include lawn maintenance if we wanted to pay $50 extra a month. We just bought a lawnmower for $75 on craigslist and sold it at the end of the year for $60. I think we put gas in it twice, and this was living in Florida where the grass had to be mowed ~10 months out of the year. When we did not have time to deal with it for the last 2-3 months we hired the neighbors kid across the street to cut it for $20 every two weeks. You would be stupid to rule out a place because of lawn maintenance IMO. Just hire someone to do it if the landlord doesn't want to and you don't want to deal with maintaining it yourself.
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Feb 28, 2012 17:07
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If you really don't want to mow the lawn and your landlord won't include it, you could possibly offer to split the cost of a lawn maintenance service 50/50 with the landlord so neither of you are responsible for the full cost. Really depends on the landlord though. If you fight too hard on the lawn thing the landlord might drop you and go find another tenant who doesn't have a problem mowing the yard. Alternatively, just hire a neighborhood kid for cheap like the poster above me did. My place doesn't have a yard, but if it did I'd probably hire a lawn service just because I don't trust my tenants (college students) to do a decent job with it and I wouldn't want my place to start looking like a poo poo hole or start getting fines from the town for having an overgrown yard.
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Feb 28, 2012 17:47
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Does anyone have any advice on what to do about terrible utility companies? My husband and I signed a lease on a flat two weeks ago, and we're responsible for the gas bill for hot water and cooking gas. I contacted the local company, North Shore Gas, to set up an account and schedule one of their employees to come turn it on a day or two after we signed the lease. It took a couple days to get an e-mail saying we needed to confirm our identity at a payment center, but we went and showed the documents. That was the 21st. I called them yesterday asking why I haven't heard anything from them yet, annoyed because we can't move in still 2 weeks later. The woman I talked to in the morning said she'd bring it up to her manager and call me back later. 8 hours later, I called again, and this time another customer service rep told me that the company has until March 5th to get back to me. I'm concerned that the grocery store employee that confirmed my identity didn't know what they were doing (they seemed very confused and said that they'd never done it before) , and that I'll have to wait until March 5th to get a phone call from North Shore saying I'll have to redo it. I've also used their "contact us" message submittal tool on North Shore's website to try and get some answers. Days later, no response. Sorry about the wall of text, but I'm getting really frustrated. Is there anything I can do to try and get a real response from the gas company? I find it kind of alarming that, for all they know, I'm living without heat in the middle of winter in the midwest, and there's been no concern or hurry on their end. Will I get in trouble for calling their "gas leak" emergency line trying to get someone to come turn the gas on? Edit: haha, just noticed that this is a great post/avatar combo. Schmeichy fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Feb 28, 2012 |
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Feb 28, 2012 18:29
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Are they the only gas provider in town? If so, you're kinda out of luck. They can get away with dicking people around like this because they know they don't have any competition. Your best bet would be to call them every day and be as annoying as possible so they want to get you out of their hair faster. I went through the same poo poo with Comcast since they're the only internet provider in town.
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Feb 29, 2012 01:48
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Hounding them relentlessly is probably not a bad tactic, yea. You might want to look around and see if there is some sort of group that does advocacy and stuff for clients - depending on your state/locale, they might be pretty heavily regulated even if they are the only game in town. For instance in many states the gas company has to keep you connected during the winter even if you are ridiculously behind on bills, because cutting people off is potentially a death sentence. See if you can find a group that specializes in handling the utility company or, failing that, try your office of consumer affairs.
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Feb 29, 2012 03:23
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Thanks for the advice. I'll try calling them for a couple more days, and if they still can't help me, taking it up with consumer affairs.
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Feb 29, 2012 03:33
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Anyone have any information on moving across the country (USA) on a limited budget? I could potentially move myself if I rented a truck, but I don't know how cost effective this would be vs. hiring a mover.
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Feb 29, 2012 17:49
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DoctorJones posted:Anyone have any information on moving across the country (USA) on a limited budget? I could potentially move myself if I rented a truck, but I don't know how cost effective this would be vs. hiring a mover. There are a couple of posts on long distance moves on the first page of this thread.
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Feb 29, 2012 17:55
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How about any tips for moving to Chicago from Flint/Detroit? I imagine I'll pay double the rent for half the room, but what else do I need to know? Parking is at a premium and I have to take the bus/train? Edit: I guess I'm looking more for information about apartment hunting & Furnishing in Chicago. What should I know before I go? All my stuff is cheap and replaceable. Sucks to lose the couch though. GodspeedSphere fucked around with this message at 08:10 on Mar 1, 2012 |
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Mar 1, 2012 03:54
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DoctorJones posted:Anyone have any information on moving across the country (USA) on a limited budget? I could potentially move myself if I rented a truck, but I don't know how cost effective this would be vs. hiring a mover. Seriously evaluate if your stuff is even worth moving. If you're young and only have cheap furniture, selling it, and rebuying where you are moving to might be more cost effective than moving yourself. A cross country move is going to cost you about 3,000 dollars minimum no matter how you cut it. U-Haul's will run 900 to 1400 bucks, and they get about 10 MPG if your lucky. Pods, and other portable moving containers aren't much cheaper. 6 years ago I had a full service mover take me from Phoenix to San Antonio and it cost about 3600 bucks.
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Mar 1, 2012 06:59
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Does anyone have any ideas on how to hide/disguise a modem and router? Due to my old-rear end apartment the only place with a decent hookup is my bedroom and having all the wires and crap everywhere is ruining my bedside table.
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Mar 1, 2012 17:21
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vonnegutt posted:Does anyone have any ideas on how to hide/disguise a modem and router? Due to my old-rear end apartment the only place with a decent hookup is my bedroom and having all the wires and crap everywhere is ruining my bedside table. Zip-tie all the wires together to make one cable?
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Mar 1, 2012 17:29
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Iron Crowned posted:Zip-tie all the wires together to make one cable? A good solution to cable mess but still doesn't solve the "where does my alarm clock go this is ruining my color scheme" problem
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Mar 1, 2012 17:50
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It's kind of hard to answer without any sort of information about your setup. Take a picture or something? I mean, I was going to tell you to just slide your bed over a foot and stuff all that crap underneath, but who knows if that would work for you.
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Mar 1, 2012 18:14
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DoctorJones posted:Anyone have any information on moving across the country (USA) on a limited budget? I could potentially move myself if I rented a truck, but I don't know how cost effective this would be vs. hiring a mover. If you're willing to drive the truck yourself, you can do it pretty cheap. Here's some tips, based on my move from Virginia to Oklahoma 3 years ago: Be sure to compare Budget vs UHaul vs Penske, etc. Estimate the size of the truck you need, then get the next size up. Search the web for coupons. I saved about $200 this way. Play around with the zip codes. Sometimes, picking a truck up/dropping it off in a nearby zip can save you some cash. I knocked off about $50 by dropping it off at a location 10 miles further (in the opposite direction). Related to the above, the trucks usually cost more if you're driving one-way to a low-demand area. If you prefer one over another, but it's more expensive, call the local place and say "Hey, your competitor will give me a 17' truck for $$, can you match that?" Sometimes they can. Sometimes they can't. This didn't work for me, but I've heard of it working for others. GET SOME GODDAMNED INSURANCE ON THE TRUCK. Sometimes (rarely) your personal car insurance will cover the truck. If you misjudge the height at the McD's drivethru or scrape a Jersey barrier because it's a fat beast or forget that it takes 3x as long to stop in that truck as it does in your car, you're going to pay a bazillion dollars to get it fixed. Add at least one day to how long you think it will take you to load, move, and unload. Two if you're moving hundreds of miles. Budget for 8 miles per gallon. You may get more, depending on the state of the truck's maintenance, the terrain you're driving, and the weight of your load...but plan for the worst. I got about 10MPG in the second-to-largest Budget truck. Check if the truck has radio, cruise control, and A/C. My Budget truck didn't have a radio and the A/C was...unreliable. Thank god for iPods and unseasonably cool weather. Don't forget to budget for food, drinks, and possibly a hotel stay. My move, about 1000 miles, cost about $2500. Truck was 1500, gas was ~300-350. Random expenses, food, and a night's sleep for 4 people made up the rest. PODs cost about the same. The company drops off a portable storage unit. You fill it up at your leisure, call them, and tell them to pick it up. They'll drop it off at your new location at a time you specified, though there's usually at least a few days minimum wait. Then you unload it at your leisure. Usually, you get your POD for 30 days for no additional charge. So you can get it, spend a week loading it if necessary, a week to ship it, and a week to unload if you're lazy. If I ever move cross-country again, I'm probably going to do a POD or three, because gently caress driving those stupid trucks a few thousand miles. Do check that your new home allows the POD to be dropped off. Some apartments do not.
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Mar 2, 2012 11:20
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I'm renting a two bedroom apartment in Melbourne, with the intention of getting a housemate for the other bedroom. In the past I've had housemates I've had problems with or just haven't got along with, so I've ended up moving a few times. I was thinking that now that I've found a place I like, I could sub-let the other room rather than have the housemate on the lease. That way if the poo poo does hit the fan they'd be the one who has to move, rather than me have to go find another place to live. I also like the idea of this being "my" place. How common/reasonable is this? What percentage of the rent should I reasonably pay, for the priviledge? I'm reserving the nicer bedroom for the housemate, and it's much nicer than the other one, so that'd be a factor too.
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Mar 3, 2012 04:21
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The only problem with that plan is that you are poo poo out of luck if they decide not to pay rent, or knock a big hole in the wall. If you're going to sublet, (1) check it out with your landlord first and (2) make sure you have some sort of signed agreement/sublet lease with the subletter for rent, damages, behavior, etc.
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Mar 4, 2012 00:18
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Well, I will take a bond and lodge it with the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority, so that would hopefully deter or cover hole-knocking-in-wall activity. As for the rent, if they decide not to pay rent then I can just kick them out and get someone else, can't I? They'd be paying me rent, effectively. I can afford this place by myself, it's just a much bigger chunk out of my income than I'd like. The landlord/agent is indeed likely to give me a bit of trouble. When I was looking at the apartment I mentioned to the agent that I was thinking of sub-letting (probably silly of me to show my hand. Oh well). She actually replied "oh, that's illegal". It's not illegal at all and I told her she was mistaken. She said "read the Residential Tenancies Act, it's illegal to sub-let without informing us". I laughed and said of course I'd inform them first, and she kind of awkwardly back-pedalled and said something about them not allowing sub-letting because it's "inconvenient for them to collect the rent" (bullshit, I'd be responsible for all the rent anyway, from their perspective). Anyway, I did read the Act and it looks like the landlord/agent does have to be informed and give their permission, but if they refuse they basically have to have a good reason. I can take the matter to VCAT, who can force them to grant me permission to sublet, if they decide that the reason for forbidding it isn't good enough. Hydrolith fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Mar 4, 2012 |
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Mar 4, 2012 02:06
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Why not just get a one bedroom (or cheaper two bedroom) place and not worry about a roommate?
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Mar 4, 2012 19:14
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Thoguh posted:Why not just get a one bedroom (or cheaper two bedroom) place and not worry about a roommate? Well, the choice of one bedroom apartments isn't so crash hot for the areas I'm interested in. They're all too small and too expensive. However, looking at two bedroom places and dividing the rent by two opens up a lot more options. Really, though, I'd like to get a housemate for the company. I'm not too worried about fighting the agents, to be honest. I'm mostly just wondering about what would be a fair proportion of the rent to charge someone if they're sub-letting. Obviously it's not fair to expect them to pay 50% without getting the same rights I have, while they are getting a much nicer bedroom.
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Mar 5, 2012 01:20
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Hydrolith posted:Anyway, I did read the Act and it looks like the landlord/agent does have to be informed and give their permission, but if they refuse they basically have to have a good reason. I can take the matter to VCAT, who can force them to grant me permission to sublet, if they decide that the reason for forbidding it isn't good enough. If this is a place that you like and would generally like to continue living in for some time, you should think about this pretty carefully. Yea, sure, you can probably force the issue and win, but the end result will be that you have a landlord who resents you. That is never a good thing. On the low end it means that they are more likely to fuss over every detail and try to stiff you whenever possible, and on the high end means that they will do everything in their power to get rid of you. Even if you have pretty robust tenant laws, its unlikely they can prevent a landlord from not renewing your lease or raising your rent each time until it becomes untenable for you.
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Mar 5, 2012 03:03
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That's a good point. I'll have to think about this. I might contact VCAT and the Tenants Union too and ask them for advice.
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Mar 5, 2012 06:21
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I'm not sure where else to go with this, but I'm currently looking at renting a place in or around Chicago and came across a few listings by Chicagoland Leasing and Management. There's nothing huge that sticks out that would make me think they aren't legit. An agent met us at one of the properties, although he came across as somewhat unprofessional. None of the usual things that make you scream "scam" were present, but I just can't find a drat thing out about this company. The website is just over a year old, and I can't help but feel slightly put off by it for some reason. Can anyone else give any feedback on this company? Am I being overly paranoid for no reason?
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Mar 5, 2012 21:39
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Lunchboxx posted:I'm not sure where else to go with this, but I'm currently looking at renting a place in or around Chicago and came across a few listings by Chicagoland Leasing and Management. Is it just the website that's ringing alarm bells? A lot of property management company websites are complete rear end (at least all the ones I've seen for companies locally). For example this is a New Mexico management company's site: http://www.tandcmanagement.com/ They manage dozens if not hundreds of properties here, but the site is ... um ... yeah. They just aren't spending the money on web design. Your company's site just looks unfinished, like it hasn't been changed much from whatever basic template. I'd just look for some online reviews and try and find out if they actually exist and that they have clients and properties they're managing. This may just be a new company, too.
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Mar 6, 2012 01:49
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Here's a bit of an odd question - has anyone installed a sauna in their apartment? I've been looking, and you can get a dry sauna for under $1,000. It hooks up to a 110 volt outlet, and doesn't need to vent outside or anything.
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Mar 6, 2012 01:56
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AuntBuck posted:Is it just the website that's ringing alarm bells? A lot of property management company websites are complete rear end (at least all the ones I've seen for companies locally). For example this is a New Mexico management company's site: http://www.tandcmanagement.com/ Mostly the website, but it's also that I can't find many reviews. There's about five on yelp, and the only saving grace of those five is that there is one negative review with a lengthy response amidst the other perfect five star reviews (that all mention Andrew/Andy, suspiciously enough). Other than that, there's no comments or anything else talking about these guys anywhere online. Like I said, I'm likely just being paranoid and just want some reaffirmation that there's probably nothing to worry about.
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Mar 6, 2012 06:30
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Go to their complexes and try to get residents to talk to you, then? I don't know what else you could do. On the whole if I got a bad feeling from a place I probably wouldn't go for it, but I'm not you & I don't know what your other options are.
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Mar 6, 2012 16:07
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Their name and contact info only appears on listings for single-family homes for rent, if they were in charge of an entire complex I wouldn't have any issue with doing that.
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Mar 6, 2012 17:22
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I did some random googling of the company, and they are registered with the state and the BBB. Interestingly, the BBB has a different website for them. The address that they provide on the site is a virtual office space. The guy who appears to run the whole thing (Andy Starck) also seems to work for Prudential as a real estate agent. My impression is that it's just one dude who works in real estate, and has set himself up as a leasing/management agent on the side. He throws up a separate website and runs the leasing stuff out of a virtual office to keep it distinct from his main work and make it seem more corporate than just him. I don't think that it's a straight up scam, though. At least no more than any rental agency!
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Mar 6, 2012 17:43
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Ashcans posted:I did some random googling of the company, and they are registered with the state and the BBB. Interestingly, the BBB has a different website for them. The address that they provide on the site is a virtual office space. The guy who appears to run the whole thing (Andy Starck) also seems to work for Prudential as a real estate agent. Wow, I saw that BBB listing the other day but didn't look at it close enough to see that it actually is the same company, good catch. Looking at the big picture, I'm probably just thrown off by how not everything matches up 100% right away since I've never dealt with a management firm like this before. I'm going to go forward with trying to rent this place, with some caution, but I'll keep you guys updated. Thanks!
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Mar 6, 2012 18:08
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This is sort of a furnishing question... maybe someone can give me some ideas here. I have a computer room in my apartment where I usually have 3-4 thick blankets laying on the floor. I enjoy laying on the floor and taking naps there, and we also use it for when our friend spends the night. The trouble is that the blankets are large, heavy and cumbersome, making it difficult to move them around or wash them. I was thinking of finding a thin pillowtop mattress and putting a duvet cover over it. Then it will only be one mat that needs to be folded and put in the closet, and a duvet cover can easily be taken off and washed. I then realized that I was describing a futon. Trouble is, the only futons around here are the foldy couch foam bricks. The only way to get the kind of futon I want, with a cool cover would be to import one for over $300. My options seem to be: Get a pillowtop mattress and cover for $300. Buy one on the internet for $330.(not including shipping costs) These were what I was looking at: http://www.jlifeinternational.com/houseitems/futon/shikifuton/shikifuton_e.html Get a foam brick futon for a little less than $300. Get a sofabed for $300. I can't seem to think of any cheaper options. At this point, I might as well import a futon to get what I actually want, rather than spend nearly as much getting something that's not quite right. Does anyone else have a semi-regular floor bed, or am I the only one? I used to not like sleeping on the floor, but my ex boyfriend did. He'd have a similar set-up with a super thick blanket on the floor of his office and I'd sleep there while he worked and listened to podcasts and audiobooks. I got acclimated to it and now it's incredibly comforting to sleep on the floor. I'll also set up the blankets downstairs in the living room if I'm ill or tired and just want to spend time in the same room as my boyfriend.
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Mar 7, 2012 12:18
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Nessa posted:This is sort of a furnishing question... maybe someone can give me some ideas here. Have you considered one of those folding sleeper chair things? Like this: http://www.amazon.com/Sleeper-Folding-Studio-Foldable-Couch/dp/B0045OGBW8
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Mar 7, 2012 13:15
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Nessa posted:My options seem to be: Air mattress? You'd have to inflate it every day which can be kind of a pain, but you can get ones that inflate quite quickly these days, and it would store easily. Otherwise, just get a thick foam/memory foam topper from Overstock or something and use that. You have to roll them up to store them which is a bit troublesome, but it'd be easier than what you're doing now.
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Mar 7, 2012 14:47
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Nessa posted:My options seem to be: Where are you looking in your town for futons? I ask because shipping anything like that is going to be astronomical, so looking locally is going to be the most economical option. Do you have any friends who have anything like you're describing? They might know a better place to look for them - furniture hides in the strangest places sometimes. Check out consignment shops and antique stores if you haven't already - even if they don't have one the owners/workers are usually better informed than your general Beds 'N' Such employees and could lead you in the right direction. Also, have you looked into daybeds at all? They're off the ground, but are usually attractive pieces, and have thin mattress-type pads that could easily be yoinked onto the ground (and have a place to keep the mattress when not in use. Floor sleeping can be super relaxing but keeping your bed on the floor permanently is just asking for all kinds of crud to get up in your bedding).
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Mar 7, 2012 15:05
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Overstock ships furniture for $1-3, for reference.
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Mar 7, 2012 16:54
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ConfusedUs posted:Have you considered one of those folding sleeper chair things? Yes. I used to have one of those and they're terrible. I don't want anything that's several inches of cheap foam. They don't last. Butt Wizard posted:Air mattress? You'd have to inflate it every day which can be kind of a pain, but you can get ones that inflate quite quickly these days, and it would store easily. I don't really like air mattresses, and besides, we have a cat who would certainly knead at it and pop it. Overstock looks promising now that they ship to Canada. I didn't consider it before. vonnegutt posted:Where are you looking in your town for futons? I ask because shipping anything like that is going to be astronomical, so looking locally is going to be the most economical option. Do you have any friends who have anything like you're describing? They might know a better place to look for them - furniture hides in the strangest places sometimes. Edmonton isn't the biggest of cities. I know that the Ikea has mattress pillowtops, but they're not very foldable. I wouldn't think that the mattress store would have anything much different, or for much cheaper, but I'll check there the next time I'm able to go out. I don't have any friends who have what I'm looking for. They just have western-style futons. I never thought to check consignment stores or antique stores. A daybed is a no-go. With the way my room is set up, I have less than 5 feet of space against the only remaining wall, and a daybed would also block the door of the closet. I've seen a few cute, tiny sofa beds, but it looks like unfolding them would have them nearly run into the opposite wall. As a short person, I can only just barely lie down in that direction, and my friend is a good deal taller than me. It's a fairly small and narrow room. The center of the floor has the most available space, and a thin mattress would be easily folded up and put into the corner or into the closet when not in use, so that it doesn't get crud all over it. I'm going to check out the mattress stores, consignemnt shops and antique stores in town the next time I'm out to see if they have what I'm looking for. If not, I'll get something from Overstock. Thanks everyone.
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Mar 7, 2012 22:10
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I just wanted to ask before I started a thread, I'm considering moving out of my parents house post-graduation and it made me curious to hear other goons "the first time I moved out" experiences plus. I don't want to derail the thread by asking in here, is it alright if I post one?
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Mar 9, 2012 23:29
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Toriori posted:I just wanted to ask before I started a thread, I'm considering moving out of my parents house post-graduation and it made me curious to hear other goons "the first time I moved out" experiences plus. I don't want to derail the thread by asking in here, is it alright if I post one? Make it clear you're looking for experiences & stories, not advice, and that's fine. If you want advice please just ask here. Also note in the op that I say it's okay along those lines so one of the other mods doesn't just close it. I might end up moving it to pyf if it works out as a story thread.
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Mar 10, 2012 16:30
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