Renter’s Advice and Resources

Moving can involve personal responsibilities that relate directly to your new life and not to the moving process. These tasks can be even more important than the components of the moving process itself, since they affect your ability to live, work, and function in your old and new worlds. Take the steps below to prepare yourself to live comfortably in your new home just as you did in the old one.

When you’re moving from one place to another, officially changing your address may be the last thing you consider. In between packing boxes, making phone calls, and overseeing the movers so they don’t break anything, actually notifying the right people about your new address can completely slip your mind. No worries, however, since various online resources make changing your address a relatively easy process.

Ah, the security deposit… a financial burden when moving in, a blessing when moving out. There’s a reason it’s called a deposit—because you put money down only to cover excess damages that you might cause but, you’re almost guaranteed to get it back. Unless you cause extreme damage that your landlord can prove was your fault and existed after you moved out but before new tenants moved in, you deserve to have your deposit refunded in full. Normal wear and tear on the apartment is to be expected. However, some landlords won’t make the effort to get your money back to you unless you ask for it. Beyond making sure that your crazy friends don’t trash your apartment or that the kitten you’re secretly hiding in your room doesn’t claw up the carpet too badly, here are some steps to take to ensure you get your security deposit back.

You’ve found the perfect apartment, and you couldn’t be happier. After a week of inner debate, you’ve finally gotten over the fact that the rent is a little bit more than you had originally intended, but the apartment is the epitome of elegance and comfort, and you just have to have it. I mean, you can deal with spending a little less on groceries each month, can’t you? But read closer… a $500 pet deposit? Can you deal with giving Fluffy away? Hidden fees are a huge part of finding the right apartment. Fees differ between complexes, and it’s up to you to ask the management about what these fees are for, and by how much they’re going to deplete your shopping funds.

Packing up all of your precious old school CDs? Need to pack your apartment on a budget? The worst place to try to get CHEAP moving boxes is from a moving company, like U-Haul. Moving companies graduate the prices much higher than market price. Here are the top 5 places to get cheap moving boxes.

So you decided to hire movers. Congratulations! You’ve saved your back, eliminated about 80% of the stress of moving, and have avoided annoying your friends with the old, “hey man can you help me move next Saturday” bit.

When you move into an apartment, your landlord will ask for a deposit of some sort. All states allow landlords to legitimately ask for a security deposit to accompany the first month’s rent. A security deposit is money given to a landlord to provide protection against damage to the rented premises or for some other failure of a tenant.