Of course the first thing I tried was to create a page about rentals and add a link to my site. But the page did not last long because the volunteers that monitor site thought it was spammy. It didn’t hurt to try – right?

Why would I want a link from Wikipedia? Because Google loves Wikipedia pages so in turn if Wikipedia is linking to you then Google might love your site just a little more.

I looked to see if my top competitors were in Wikipedia, I saw that they were not, so that made me feel better.

I guess if I made a truly awesome page on Wikipedia and did not try to link to my site, they would have kept it, but then where is the fun in that? i
[tags]wikipedia, rentals[/tags]

Post from: Dave Dugdale RentVine.com

Trying to Create a Rental Wikipedia Page

The tool is working; we have just a few more small things left to do.

We went with Google Maps for now, however we are really thinking of providing the tool with MS Virtual Earth as well. So you can choose which one you like.

Once it is done, we will being beta testing the tool. If anyone is interested please shoot us an email.

Post from: Dave Dugdale RentVine.com

Property mapping tool is almost done

What you need to look for is “Age of Majority”. Age of Majority is the age inwhich the law recognizes you as an adult. At that point you can be bound by contracts such as a lease.

Here is a chart for each state.

If you are an emancipated minor, the courts will consider you as an adult, at which time you are also allowed to lease. 

Some communities though do require responsible parties to be at least 21 to help eliminate the “party group”.  This is totally legal as they are not barring children. 

Some areas around the University of Denver have communities that are designed for those going for their doctorate – totally different residents from those that are freshman.

Post from: Dave Dugdale RentVine.com

How old do you have to be to rent?

With digital cameras today it is easy to document the condition of the rental before you move in so when check out time comes when you move out you have proof of the damage that was already existing before you got there.

Things to take pictures of would be the kitchen and bathrooms, get close-ups of the range and even inside the oven.

Also pictures of any existing damage or excessive wear on a carpet, water stain on the ceiling etc.

The nice thing about digital cameras is they automatically date the pictures. Just store them on your computer (back them up too) and see if you need them when you move out.

Post from: Dave Dugdale RentVine.com

Move-in tip: take photos to protect your deposit.

$10 to $15 a month will cover about $25,000 to $30,000 worth of property that you have.

Getting a quote is free at most places and pretty fast too.

I went to the Allstate.com web site and within 2 minutes I got a quote of $150 a year ($12.50 a month) with a $250 property deductable.

I also went to Geico.com web site. I filled out a bunch questions (more than Allstate) and at the end they referred me to another site called assurant.com. That was a bit frustrating because I just answered those questions for nothing!

So I filled out the new information on the Assurant site and I got an annual payment of $475 ($39.58 a month) with a $250 deductable. I thought I might have done something wrong because it came in higher than I expected so I then tried $20K coverage (from $30K) and the cost went down to $26.91 a month.

Next I tried Homesite.com for another renter’s quote. Unfortunately they require I fill out too many questions so I quit after the sixth screen of questions.

Sometimes you need to watch out for sites that give you multiple free quotes because they might just want to harvest your email address and sell it. I used Allstate when I was younger and they were easy to deal with.

Post from: Dave Dugdale RentVine.com

How much does renter’s insurance cost?

First it depends where you live. If you live in the state of Virginia you can get interest if you rented over 13 months and the landlord owns more than 5 units.

If you live in the Santa Cruz County in California you actually make interest off your last month’s rent too.

If you live in the city of Boulder Colorado the interest must be paid within one month of termination of the lease.

From my research it appears that most city, county and state require simple interest to be paid on the deposit.

Some locations calculate the rate of interest based on six month CD’s. It all depends where you live.

Post from: Dave Dugdale RentVine.com

Will I make interest on my security deposit?

Waiting lists can last years. Denver Colorado started a lottery system for the highly popular federal voucher. Nearly 8,000 have registered for the voucher in Denver, only about 300 are picked. Not very good odds.

The Denver lottory has some people upset because imagine that you have been on the list for 2 years and then someone registers the day before the lottery and gets picked.

But I guess at least Denver gives you some hope, because in some communities the list is so long that they close the registration process.

Each county has their own program as well so you can’t take a voucher from Denver and look for a home in Arapahoe county or Douglas county. Also, just because the property has a Denver address doesn’t mean that it is within Denver county so you must do the due diligence as there are some homes with a Denver address located in Arapahoe County.

Also,  coloradohousingsearch.com lists homes that will accept housing assistance a site designed for low to moderate income families. It also lists what housing assistance maximums (fair market value) are for specific areas for landlord information. i.e for Douglas, Elbert, and Arapahoe counties a 5 bedroom home FMR is $1,692 per month.

From this web site, they indicate that the national average wait time for a housing voucher is 28 months (this was in 2000 so it could be even longer now).

Post from: Dave Dugdale RentVine.com

How long can a Section 8 waiting list be?

I will be the first to admit that when I rented, I didn’t have renter’s insurance most of the time. Sure renter’s insurance is pretty cheap, but to a person just getting started and who owns pretty much nothing, saving that money went a long way to buying beer and other more important items when you are young. Heck it was tough enough just to pay the rent some months, let alone pay for something that I didn’t understand.

But as I got older and started to buy nicer electronics, the renter’s insurance started to make more sense. I finally bought it after my friend told me her story.

My friend in Kansas City came home to her apartment one day to see that see couldn’t get to it because it was surrounded by firetrucks.

My friends apartment was totally destroyed by another tenant smoking in bed. All her stuff was gone or useless. She did not have any renter’s insurance.

Luckly the person responible for the fire had renters insurance which helped replace most of her stuff. If the person who started the fire didn’t have insurance then that person could have been liable for all the personal property damage. There will be insurance that covers the building but not your personal property inside.

So if you are thinking of not getting the insurance, think what would happen if you were the one that started the fire and didn’t have insurance. Let say you burned down 5 units before the firetrucks got there, each person has $25K worth of personal stuff, that would be $125K that you might be liable for.

The insurance would cover a lawsuit if you burned down a building by smoking because the insurance carrier for the building owner would sue the cause of the fire as well.

Insurance also covers in the event you have a pet (dog especially) and if the dog bites someone, those medical expenses are easier to cover.

Also, depending on the parents coverage, a student may be covered by their parents coverage (check with insurance company) up to a point.

Post from: Dave Dugdale RentVine.com

Is renter’s insurance required?

“A payment required by a landlord to ensure that a tenant pays rent on time and keeps the rental unit in good condition. If the tenant damages the property or leaves owing rent, the landlord can use the security deposit to cover what the tenant owes.”

So basically, if you the tenant skips out of town and still owe rent or you damage the property, the deposit (all or partial) can be used by the landlord/owner/property manager. The security deposit can not be used to cover normal wear and tear.

So what is normal wear and tear? Colorado describes it as “Normal wear and tear is painting the walls or shampooing the carpets to prepare the unit for the next renter.”

As for carpet cleaning – actually carpet cleaning can be charged back for removal of stains that aren’t normal wear & tear – koolaid stains aren’t normal, pet stains & smells aren’t normal – also the lease should be checked as many leases state it’s done before you move in and you must do so when you move out (single family homes mostly).

Landlords usually have a set time to return the security deposit. The time varies by the state that you live in. In the state of Colorado the landlord is required to provide a written statement within 30 days why the deposit was not refunded in full. Unless the lease states differently – can be up to 60 days (postmarked)

So what happens if the landlord is dishonest and withholds the deposit for the wrong reasons? In Colorado the tenant can sue the landlord for a judgement up to 3 times the amount wrongfully withheld plus the legal fees.

Post from: Dave Dugdale RentVine.com

What is a security deposit?

In most leases that I have viewed have just a $10 charge for a lost key.

Paying the 10 bucks verses going to the hardware store to have one duplicated is the right way to go because many keys will have a “do not duplicate” engraving, therefore the guy at the hardware store can not duplicate it for you.

Also when you move out and hand in your keys, if the key doesn’t match the original you might have to pay the $10 anyway.

Depending on your lease if just one key is missing then the cost of replacing that key goes up a lot because landlord may need to re-key (recore) the unit for security reasons. 

Some dwelling insurance policies will cover the replacement of keys and locks only if theft has occurred, but will not cover it if you just lost your keys.

Most lease agreements will strictly forbid the tenant from changing the locks which totally makes sense since the owner may need to get in for maintenance reasons when the tenant is away.

Some leases allow for rekeying as long as the owner/manager receives a key.

Post from: Dave Dugdale RentVine.com

I lost my keys, what can I do?