|
Our units don't have gas, just electric. We have a revert to owner agreement with the power co to just put it in our name whenever someone shuts off service, since we need power to turn the unit and also maintain the climate inside.
|
#
?
Dec 9, 2016 21:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 11:29 |
|
|
photomikey posted:If you live in the USA, home of the Obamaphone and never-ending unemployment, where anyone with a hangnail can get permanent disability Holy gently caress have you been poisoned by right wing news. Reagan started the "Obamaphone" program, by the way.
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2016 16:00
|
|
|
So I've been apartment hunting this week, and all of the apartment complexes here have so many bullshit fees attached to them it's unreal. Rent is $1300, in our price range! Sweet! ...Oh but you HAVE to pay our $150/month internet and tv package, and pay for valet trash service (literally $20/month for someone else to bring your trash to the dumpster, cannot decline this service, separate from your regular water/sewer/trash bill), oh you want to park more than one car? $50 for a second parking spot! Your rent is actually $1520! Surprise! I haven't been apartment shopping in ~5 years. Is this standard now? Last time I was looking the advertised rent was the rent you paid.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 04:27
|
|
|
I don't have too much experience as I'm currently living in absolutely the first place I'm renting on my own, but that reads like an upscale place. I've found that these places are usually nice but also the sort of place that tries to tack on $ for additional features that aren't needed.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 04:50
|
|
|
Problem! posted:So I've been apartment hunting this week, and all of the apartment complexes here have so many bullshit fees attached to them it's unreal. I've been living in apartments for 15 years (midwest USA) and I've never even heard of something that stupid before. Your region may be different.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 04:57
|
|
|
rngd in the womb posted:I don't have too much experience as I'm currently living in absolutely the first place I'm renting on my own, but that reads like an upscale place. I've found that these places are usually nice but also the sort of place that tries to tack on $ for additional features that aren't needed. If by "upscale" you mean "not a student hovel", sure. I went to five different places and they were all the same with varying degrees of bullshit but none had fewer than 2 or 3 mandatory extras tacked on to the advertised price. Three different management companies too, so it's not like it's just one company that controls all of them. This is also the first time I'm renting an apartment geared more to working adults/families as opposed to students, so maybe this is normal for that type of housing. It just caught me by surprise since we'd budgeted a certain amount for rent and had assumed we'd be able to pick and choose any extra costs like internet and tv. I think the one we're going to go with is the cheapest with fewest fees but it's also next to active train tracks.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 05:16
|
|
|
I don't know about that valet trash nonsense (it was mentioned in the rules on my original lease but never actually offered or charged for) but I have to pay that tech package thing too. But it's $100/mo for me, the equivalent price outside the community is about $120 but I don't use the TV part at all unless guests are over so it's kind of a wash 
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 05:51
|
|
|
Problem! posted:If by "upscale" you mean "not a student hovel", sure. It's all part of the "luxury" apartment trend, even if the place isn't advertised as such. Landlords saw how much bank larger places were making attracting wealthier tenants with heavily marked up but cheap to provide services and hopped on the bandwagon. The place I'm renting from does the exact same poo poo and its nowhere close to luxury. I'd have to pay a monthly dog wash area fee if I want to use the hose in the backyard.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 18:15
|
|
|
Ancillary income (basically all income that's not rent) became a hot area of multifamily finance during the recession when rents got stagnant (or even declining). The trendy way to increase revenue was by adding on new fees.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 18:19
|
|
|
Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:Ancillary income (basically all income that's not rent) became a hot area of multifamily finance during the recession when rents got stagnant (or even declining). The trendy way to increase revenue was by adding on new fees. That makes sense. It's a shame that the fees haven't gone down (or they don't seem to be) in response to rising rents. Boston surpassed New York City in terms of average rent and places I've lived years ago are now tacking on fees on top of that. Maybe I'm just bitter at all the luxury apartments going up. I just want an affordable place to live in a city that I love 
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 19:20
|
|
|
Is there any reason that you haven't considered smaller properties (<12 units), or duplexes /single family homes?
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 19:25
|
|
|
photomikey posted:Is there any reason that you haven't considered smaller properties (<12 units), or duplexes /single family homes? Tell me where I can find a single family home for rent in the Utah County suburbs for less than $1500/month that allows pets and I'll be all over it. They don't exist. I've been looking since October. I've asked locals too and this is what I can get in my price range and limitations (pets). This is only temporary for 6-12 months till we buy/build a house, assuming we like the area enough to stay for a while.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 22:28
|
|
|
Just curious. Small time landlords do less of that fee-structure crap. You will find local-owner small apartment complexes to be price-competitive (by which I mean cheaper) than huge-o corporate apartment complexes. Once you put a dog in the mix, get ready to bend over. You limit your choice of apartments by 75%.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2016 23:58
|
|
|
This flips the general direction of this thread, this is a landlord question looking for some tenant input. I've already made my move, but I'm curious what the goonmind thinks. 2br house, mid-budget (maybe on the higher end of mid) rent, dishwasher won't start, doesn't seem to be getting power. I go over same day (like within an hour or something) and fiddle with it, breaker is on, power getting to the unit, it'll run a drain cycle but not wash cycle, other than the drain button none of the buttons on the control panel seem to work. Obvious signs point to the control panel needing to get replaced. Can order panel online, $80, it'll take a few days (realistically a week) to receive. Could pick up from local parts depot for $130 or so. Question A: Order panel online, save $50, or pick up panel locally, lose $50? I can't believe I just wrote about this earlier on this same page, but this D/W is a $700 or $800 model and is a great D/W - consumer reports top rated and it'll clean the poo poo outta some dishes. It's 9 years old now. if the new panel doesn't fix it, there are a couple other parts that may, Question B: Keep swapping out parts, or throw away the old D/W and get a new one? Question C: What is the over/under on days without a dishwasher before you're annoyed? I'll ring in with what I did after some discussion!
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2016 11:54
|
|
|
photomikey posted:This flips the general direction of this thread, this is a landlord question looking for some tenant input. I've already made my move, but I'm curious what the goonmind thinks. Question A: order online, save yourself $50, remember my patience and your money saving next time I complain about something. Question B: if this is happening multiple times within a six-month period, as a tenant I would likely ask for you to just replace the dishwasher or call the manufacturer for them to send someone out. Question C: more than four days in a row, if those don't include days in which not having a dishwasher would ruin my plans. Aka: I'm having family over for Christmas, cleaning my house and generally doing everything I can to make guests comfortable, but spending an hour every night in the kitchen doing dishes would make me call you and complain after a few days. Making sure I'm not SUPER inconvenienced like this would make me more likely to not be a dick about the situation. My dishwasher went out for two weeks about a year ago. Mine is the renter's special, but I was pretty chill about it because I generally like my landlord, he let himself in to do repairs after just telling me what time he would show up and after two repairs did nothing he just replaced the dumb thing.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2016 13:26
|
|
|
It sounds like you're leaning toward waiting the week for the part online and then continuing to troubleshoot if that doesn't work and buying a new machine as a last resort, which would all be reasonable choices for your own dishwasher. It really depends on your tenant, though. You've got a week for the control panel, and a week for new machine if it's dead (plus any other time for new parts to test in between). If your tenant runs the machine once a week, two/three weeks probably won't be the worst. If they run it daily, then one week is too long. There's also the holidays to consider. If your tenant is going out of town, it's not as big a deal as if they're hosting people from out of town.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2016 13:39
|
|
|
Ordinarily I'd say order the part, but with Christmas coming up, if it won't be here by then I'd spend the extra money for the local part. Not having a dishwasher if they have folks coming over the holidays would really suck.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2016 13:43
|
|
|
I'd say order the part if its a really nice device, also ask the tenant how long they can spare it. Holidays are probably a good thing to ask about. Maybe offer your dishwasher to them in the meantime 
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2016 16:21
|
|
|
Yea, I would say the holidays make a big difference here. If they are hosting their family and being without the washer would be a headache, maybe spring a little extra to try and get it done before then. On the other hand, if they are going out of town themselves, then the wait doesn't really matter to them. What do I care if you take a week when it's the week I'm with my in-laws anyway? As a tenant I also understand that you might be having your own holiday plans and can't ditch Grandma to fiddle with my washer (although in that case maybe just spring for the new one to help everyone out). Personally I would be irritated but more than a few days without any progress. That doesn't mean it has to be fixed, just that I'd like to see something happening in that time - like if you get the part and it doesn't work, ok, you tried, I am fine waiting longer while you do the next thing. If I tell you and nothing happens for a week, then I will get irritated because it feels like you're just blowing me off to cope with it. I don't mind my landlord trying to fix things and save some money doing so, but then I also expect that to be considered in the other direction - its frustrating if you're nickel-and-dime-ing every repair and then jacking the rent up as well. I don't think of a dishwasher as a 'necessary' appliance; I haven't had one in years and it is more common than not here for apartments to not have them (a lot of housing housing was built pre-washers, so there just isn't space in the kitchens unless they have been gutted and redone, which usually involves consuming the pantry for space). So I am probably more chill about this than someone who has had one and relied on it for a long time. If a critical appliance goes out, like the stove or fridge, then its got to be fixed fast.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2016 16:32
|
|
|
Ashcans posted:Yea, I would say the holidays make a big difference here. If they are hosting their family and being without the washer would be a headache, maybe spring a little extra to try and get it done before then. On the other hand, if they are going out of town themselves, then the wait doesn't really matter to them. What do I care if you take a week when it's the week I'm with my in-laws anyway? As a tenant I also understand that you might be having your own holiday plans and can't ditch Grandma to fiddle with my washer (although in that case maybe just spring for the new one to help everyone out). I use my dishwasher once a week if that so it really depends on the tenant on how long they can go without one, but this is the big key for me personally. If it feels like my landlords are making an actual effort I'm fine waiting a week or more, but when they come over to tinker with something every few days because they don't want to bite the bullet and spend a few hundred dollars it gets pretty annoying pretty quickly, even if it's for something I don't really use. Attitude it everything. For you it's just a tiny part of your investment but for your tenant it's their actual life being interrupted. Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Dec 21, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2016 00:22
|
|
|
I ordered the thing and it'll be here Thursday, my worry is that it's the wrong part. As detailed further up on this page, they have the nice $700 d/w and if I replace it, it'll be with the $299 d/w, so I'm hoping they'll be patient with me.Eponine posted:Question A: order online, save yourself $50, remember my patience and your money saving next time I complain about something.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2016 03:03
|
|
|
Chip McFuck posted:That makes sense. It's a shame that the fees haven't gone down (or they don't seem to be) in response to rising rents. Boston surpassed New York City in terms of average rent and places I've lived years ago are now tacking on fees on top of that. Maybe I'm just bitter at all the luxury apartments going up. I just want an affordable place to live in a city that I love Marty Walsh and his friends in the BRA keep building luxury high rises that sit half empty because who gives a poo poo if people can afford to live in Boston, gotta get dat new money tech investment.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2016 19:11
|
|
|
A couple of days ago, all the tenants in my apartment building got sent this email:quote:TO ALL CAT OWNERS: I have two cats, and I bag and tie off my litter before I put it in the dumpster, so it's not me. All pet owners here must sign a pet agreement as part of their lease, so I took the last line of the email to mean that going forward, new tenants will not be allowed to have cats. Today, we got sent this email: quote:To All Residents: Uh...but our leases have a pet agreement that all pet owners signed, so Management couldn't ask us to get rid of our cats without violating the agreement on their part. Right? I checked my lease to see if it allows Management to terminate our ability to keep pets here at their discretion, and unfortunately, neither my printed copy of the lease I have nor the PDF I was emailed include the agreement. I do remember filling out a form with my cats' names on them, though, and my lease renewal form that I signed last year has this section on it:  I want to reply to the last email saying something like, "You can't make us get rid of our cats, because you'll be violating the terms of our leases," but I know I don't have the necessary document I can point to for proof. I still want to somehow (civilly) communicate that I'm protesting their threat. What do you think about sending this message, either as a reply or as a separate email: quote:Hi [Management],
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2016 02:03
|
|
|
You're good through the end of your lease. At the end of you're lease you'd need to make other arrangements for you and/or your kitty. If you're on a month-to-month agreement, you'd have 30 days starting from the time of the next rent payment (if they told you on the 15th no more cats, you'd have a full rent period, so 45 days). If the no-cats thing comes into play, stop by the office, note that you've been a tenant for (a long time), that you always bag or seal or whatever your cat poo poo, and ask if they'd make an exception come renewal time for people who have had on-time rent payments 48 out of the last 48 months and have never had a complaint against them. That stuff really counts for a lot. The other strategy would be to STFU, and when the lease renewal paperwork comes by, if it is a one-pager that basically says "the last term's agreement continues to apply for the following year", sign it and return it. You and kitty are good for another year. Now I have to chime in with my mystification as to who cares what happens in the trashcans. I do not have a trash policy per se, but I do sometimes get complaints about people putting unbagged stuff in the trash. Who cares? I mean yeah, it smells like trash, but don't you just lift the lid for 0.5 seconds to hurl in your trash and you're done with it?
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2016 03:14
|
|
|
Animal poop attracts rats, so in the city it's bad to not bag your dog/cat poop, otherwise rats will nest in your trash can and generally be disgusting. It's worse than just food waste since the poop covered rats then spread disease. In plastic cans they can chew through the plastic and escape out the bottom, but on the metal dumpsters they chew through the plastic lid and escape when you lift up the lid.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2016 03:49
|
|
|
Wow. Interesting. Makes sense. My places are no pets, so I've never dealt with that.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2016 09:21
|
|
|
Has anyone seen any evidence that it's actually happening? Could just be your management is sick to death of the cats and it's an easy way for them to get rid of them.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2016 09:29
|
|
|
From the description, 'trash containers' in 'trash rooms' it sounds like people are dumping them in into trash cans or something that the maintenance man has to then transfer to the trash collection site where the garbage-men pick it up. So the maintenance guy is probably just taking the tenants trash out of those containers in the transfer and not like up-ending them so it all shakes out or can't and is forced to clean them out by hand which I'm sure he loves and is rightfully complaining about to the management office. And theres the probability that when he's not feeling thorough that litter and cat poop is just hanging out at the bottom and stinking the place up.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2016 10:18
|
|
|
photomikey posted:
In my city, the garbage men won't take any trash in your can that isn't bagged. I've run into this a few times when someone was walking down the alley and just tossed random poo poo in on top of my bags.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 02:53
|
|
|
That would never work here in my town and I'm sure most of the Bay Area because the amount of recyclable gatherers and/or homeless going through our trash. Multiple times a day everyday.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2016 03:58
|
|
|
How long should we wait till we take matters into our own hands regarding the landlord not addressing a pest problem? We potentially have a squirrel or rat in our walls (way too loud to be a mouse/mice) so I called the landlord who doesn't seem terribly concerned and hasn't taken any action to address it. Our lights have been randomly flickering and our cable has been on the fritz so I think it's chewing on the wires in the walls, otherwise we'd take the "welp we warned them it is no longer our problem" route like we have been with other stuff (dead trees, etc).
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2016 01:45
|
|
|
Looking for a new place to rent. Found a place close to my work, rent is within my budget. I contact the landlord and they start giving me a bunch of lines about having to handle the documents signing, key trasfer via dhl/fedex, and rent via western union. This is 100% a scam right?
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2016 14:58
|
|
|
Thumposaurus posted:Looking for a new place to rent. Found a place close to my work, rent is within my budget. yes
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2016 14:59
|
|
|
Thumposaurus posted:Looking for a new place to rent. Found a place close to my work, rent is within my budget. (It's totally a scam though)
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2016 01:50
|
|
|
I figured it was to good to be true.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2016 13:44
|
|
|
Hypothetical scenario: you've moved out of house A, terminated lease, turned in keys, etc. You are en route to house B, you've put down a deposit but you have not yet signed the lease or gotten the keys. You stop for the night with a small UHaul full of your stuff, UHaul gets broken into overnight and your stuff is stolen. Does renters insurance cover that? Or does it fall under auto insurance? Or are you just screwed?
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2016 18:03
|
|
|
I believe renter's insurance would cover that.
|
|
#
?
Dec 28, 2016 18:35
|
|
|
Problem! posted:Hypothetical scenario: you've moved out of house A, terminated lease, turned in keys, etc. You are en route to house B, you've put down a deposit but you have not yet signed the lease or gotten the keys. You stop for the night with a small UHaul full of your stuff, UHaul gets broken into overnight and your stuff is stolen. I had that situation happen to me, except the thief stole my vehicle with all of my stuff in it rather than just the stuff. My auto insurance covered it, but to this day I freak out about leaving something in the car and I'm really uncomfortable in hotels.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2016 07:26
|
|
|
Eponine posted:Question A: order online, save yourself $50, remember my patience and your money saving next time I complain about something.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2017 00:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 11:29 |
|
|
2017 starting off great with my upstairs neighbors pipes getting backed up and having it all come leaking into my place. 2nd time this has happened.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2017 20:45
|
|
