When choosing topics to cover in my new fair housing book, a common practice known as “steering” easily made it to the top of my list. Why? Most landlords and tenants know that turning away an apartment applicant based on a protected characteristic such as race, religion, or disability is illegal. But not everyone realizes that [...]
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Why YOU, Apartment Renter, Should Vote Today
Unless you’re living in a cave—which, we hear, is a great way to save on rent—you know that election season is in full swing. Are you going to vote, and perhaps more importantly, are you registered to vote? If you feel ambivalent on either of these points, consider these housing-related reasons to get out there [...]
Apartment Envy: The World's Most Expensive Apartments
Oh, sorry, are you not in the top 1% of Americans when it comes to income? You can still partake in the eye candy. Here’s your daily dose of apartments so expensive, they blow even college tuition out of the water: Live in midtown Manhattan for a mere $100 million This apartment, on the market [...]
Homeownership the Lowest Its Been in 15 Years
The Wall Street Journal reported recently, American homeownership rates just hit the lowest they’ve been in the last 15 years. Why? People continue to lose their homes to foreclosure. People seem to find renting a safer bet as the economy recovers. It could slip further in the coming months. It’s true that homes are more [...]
Why It's So Hard to Rent Right Now
America’s economic problems haven’t only hit homeowners, they’ve hit renters, too. As the Huffington Post reported recently, renters of modest income are finding it “incredibly difficult” to find affordable housing; foreclosures have forced former homeowners to rent, and people who might have bought homes are reluctant to do so until the buyer’s market improves, and [...]
Property Managers: Is Your Model Apartment as Effective as You Think?
Multifamily Insiders is offering an interesting new survey: How Effective Are Model Apartments? Property managers tweak their models in various ways—but do these strategies actually affect the ability to lease a place? If you manage apartments and take the survey, Multifamily Insiders will give you give you free results (in exchange, we can only assume, [...]
Should I Rent From Family Members?
Slightly different from last Friday’s post on whether to rent TO family members, this one’s for those of you looking for an ideal place, and wondering if it belongs to Uncle Frank. If you’re considering moving into an apartment run or owned by a relative, consider the following points first. Make sure they can say [...]
Getting Landlords to Reverse Their No Pet Policy: Is It Possible?
The first rule in the game of How to Live Happily with Fluffy is, of course, to seek only apartments that allow pets. If these explicitly-fine-with-Fido properties are lacking in your area, however, don’t despair. There are a number of ways to increase your chances of convincing Landlord-to-Be that your pet won’t be a problem. [...]
How Do You Stack Up? Apartment Sizes Around the World
Think your place is small? Maybe you should think again. According to the BBC, average floor space of newly built homes (in this case, 2003-2006) in America far outdo any country with the exception of Australia, clocking in at about three times the square footage of places built in the U.K. Or, converted for square [...]
Should I Rent to Family Members?
You can benefit in numerous ways from renting to your relatives. You already know them, so you should have a good sense whether they’re the kind of people who would blow up a kitchen and try to pass it off as a maintenance issue, or the kind that will pay the rent on time and [...]
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Stuff You’ll Never Do After You Graduate
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Five (Low Calorie!) Meals with Summer Flavors
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Seven Tips for a Great “Gatsby” Party
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Welcome to Our New Blog Home!
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Summer BBQ … In Your Tiny Apartment
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