The Empress of Rent

In some areas of the country, you can buy a house for about what you will pay per month to rent an apartment. Even so, it is likely that your rent will go even higher when your current lease expires. What’s up with that!? Well, it’s good old capitalism at work - supply and demand with a little profit motive mixed in,

Rents - like real estate prices - are cyclical

Here’s how it works. When there are more people looking for rental housing than there are places to live, owners (looking to maximize their profit like all good capitalists) begin raising their rents. As rents go up, some renters drop out of the market (they decide to go back home and live with their parents or they double up and move in with friends or in some cases they become homeless) so demand declines. If nothing else changed, rents would stabilize at a particular level and the market would be in “equilibrium” - where supply is balanced by demand.

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• Take someone with you when visiting and ask him/her to read with you the full and legal agreement between you and the landlord or accommodation agency.
• How much is the rent is important but more crucial is when is it to be paid!
• Are they any additional charges for late payments?
• Who will pay for the utilities (water, heat, electricity, phone, gas, garbages, etc.)?
• When the deposit (to cover any breakages or unpaid rent) will be refunded? If you are dealing with an accomodation agency, you should rather pay to the agency than the landlord.
• Always about deposit: Be sure to request a receipt as proof of money exchanged. Before moving in a furnished home, also verify that you are being given an itemized list of included furnitures so that you can compare if charged for damages.
• It is highly recommended to inspect property, even to take pictures, with the landlord when moving out.
• Discuss the shortest time you/landlord should consider to end your rental prior to the rental period. Common practice is from one to three months. The notice should be written and with mail receipt if available in the local country.

The common wisdom is that making a monthly rent payment, as opposed to making a monthly mortgage payment, is a bad idea, and is the equivalent of “throwing money away”.

However, that is not necessarily always the case, nor is it completely true in all circumstances.

While there are some advantages to buying and becoming a homeowner as soon as possible, there are also numerous advantages to renting, which ultimately make it smarter to rent than to buy.

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