Keeping Rent Costs Down

By James Sorensen

Something great happened to me recently, that I didn’t know was possible, so I thought I should share. This August, I was looking for a new apartment. If any of you have done this recently, you will have noticed that renting has become a great deal more expensive. I looked it up, and it looks like prices have risen by a full 50% nationally since 2000.

It was a bit of a shock to me. After searching online and making a few calls I realized that I couldn’t actually upgrade. Switching places would cost me more money, but I wouldn’t be able to get a nicer apartment for the expensive lease.

So I, hoping to find a deal from a private individual, rather than a greedy apartment management company, spent a few weeks reading craigslist, until I found a guy who wanted someone to take over his lease for well under $100 less per month than the advertised price that the company listed for the same size room in the same building. So I called the guy and found out that there is a way to cheat.

He was taking over an older lease, at an older, lower rate, from a friend of his, where he would be upgrading for the same amount of rent he was paying now for the small place that I wanted to take over from him. It turns out, what smart people are doing is keeping old lease contracts alive by cycling new tenants in, preventing the management company from listing the place themselves.

There are dangers to this method. You will likely have to invest in some professional carpet cleaning, as I did, to get the pet and cigarette smells out, but with that kind of mark down it’s worth it.

Things to watch out for:

·         Make sure you see the payment ledger before singing onto the lease so you don’t get stuck with their debts.

·         Read the lease before singing and do a walkthrough to check for new damage

·         Talk to management and confirm the cost of the lease.

There’s nothing to prevent people from lying to you so make sure you check up on everything before singing anything.