Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with leasing

Renting out a Chicago condo

parakeetdog — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:55:21 -0800

My grandpa lives in Chicago and has decided to move into a retirement community (also in Chicago). We are not sure what to do with his condo. The mortgage is paid off, but the assessments come to about $550 a month with taxes being around $1000/yr. We would like to sell the condo at some point, but right now market is so bad that it might not be worth selling. We are considering renting it out, but have never had experience with renting. We believe we can rent it out for about $1,000 a month. Has anyone had experiencing renting out their house/condo? We're not trying to make a lot of money in renting it out. We just want to wait out the bad market without my grandpa having to struggle to pay the assessments/taxes in addition to the rent for his new apartment.

What has your experience with renters been like? Did you use a property management company? How did you handle repairs? I've read horror stories about tenants not paying rent, refusing to leave and trashing the place. Does anyone have any suggestions in finding honest tenants? I'm interested in both good and bad stories. We want to go into this with our eyes open.

Trade in my leased (body damage) car for a new one?

alma — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:32:35 -0800

Single girl. Two large dogs. 19 months left on a leased sedan now complete with body damage, and the real need for a larger car. Are there any good options? About 2-1/2 years ago, I leased a Subaru sedan. It was, at the time, great for me. Fast forward to now, and I've moved to an area where ground clearance is important. I also need more room for my two large dogs: the interior of my sedan is ok-ish for now, but I'm worried what they'd do to the car over the next 19 months.

I went to the dealership yesterday and they were ready to purchase my leased sedan for its purchase quote (getting me out of the lease entirely) and sell me a new used '09 Forester at their sticker price with a few extras. This sounded pretty good to me.

Then they looked at my leased sedan, and instead of buying my car for the purchase quote price, they said they would buy it for around $10k - leaving me $5k to put on top of the price of the Forester, making my monthly payments pretty ghastly.

I told them there was bumper damage and one ding, but there was other damage I was oblivious to. One of the wheels is damaged from being scratched against a curb (boyfriend admitted he did this), and there are actually about 6-8 dings all over the car doors. There are small scratches, and the windshield has a noticeable mini chunk out of it (I did take it to Novus and had it fixed, but you can still see it.) The dealership told me I'd have to get all of this fixed before I turn the car in to the leasing company, and that it's either pay now or pay then.

I'm not sure what to do now. I don't have cash on hand to get all of these repairs done. I did get a quote from a body shop weeks ago for the bumper damage and one of the dings - bumper $1,000 and the one ding I was aware of was $500. Multiply that by 6-8.

Keeping the sedan through the end of its lease freaks me out because I wonder how much more damage I'm going to do to it and how much damage my dogs are doing to do to it.

The idea of owning my own car as opposed to leasing it just feels so much better right now. But the adding that $5k makes the monthly payments, while do-able, difficult.

I now understand why people say leasing is a bad idea! At least for people like me.

Should we buy to rent?

purpletangerine — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:43:08 -0800

My SO and I are considering taking advantage of the current housing market and purchasing a second house to lease. What specifics should we contemplate at this early stage? There are several houses for sale in our neighborhood and surrounding areas; what are the pros and cons of being so close to one's tenants? Obviously we will thoroughly research the rules; I'm looking for experiential information that might help us be better landlords (or convince us that we don't want to be landlords). We live in NC.
Oh, I have read this threadand I've found this one interesting and useful; but am looking for more details about whether it's worth doing.

End lease early or finish it out?

JannaK — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:42:37 -0800

My car salesman is encouraging me to end my current lease early (by two months) and start my next one immediately. Pros and cons? I'm currently 25 months into a 27 month lease on a 2007 Mazda 6. I've been to the dealership and decided that once this lease runs up (mid-June 2009), I will be leasing the 2010 Mazda 3. I put down a deposit on the new car a couple weeks ago.

My salesman called yesterday and said that my new car is in at the dealership and I could pick it up anytime. To me, it seems like I should finish up my current lease and just get my new car in mid-June. But, he was rattling on about the possibility of residuals decreasing and told me it would be better if I got the new car now and just started my new lease early while finishing up payments on my current lease.

I'm confused! I understand the idea of residuals, but don't have a ton of experience with car payments. What are the pros and cons of starting my new lease before my current one is up? Why would my salesman care?

Buying your own appliances is the hot new thing for renters?

ignignokt — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:00:38 -0800

As a tenant, how feasible is buying your own major appliances for a place you're renting? I've been hunting for apartments in Boston, and when I ask whether or not a building has a washer and dryer, I sometimes get the answer, "No, but it does have a hookup for a washer and dryer so you can get your own." They say the same thing about dishwashers sometimes.

This isn't a response I've heard from property managers in Chicago.

So, I guess some tenants actually do this? The thing is, washers and dryers appear to cost at least $300 a piece, then on top of that, there's delivery and installation. And when your lease is up, are you really going to deinstall it and take it with you?

What am I missing? Please shed some light on this mystery. I'll probably ask the next property manager I talk to about it, but they also tell me things like "oil heating than gas heating is better because it's much cleaner burning" so I figure it's good to hear it from people with a less vested interest.

Renting vs. Leasing-to-Own

El_Marto — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:38:54 -0800

Posting for a friend: My wife and I are moving from BFE Oregon to Lexington, KY. We sold our little house in Oregon without losing any money, but we aren't looking to buy a house in Lexington just yet since we don't know much about the market or where we'd like to live. We have noticed that a lot of property agents rent single family homes, but also offer lease-to-own agreements on new(er) homes. Some of these homes are pretty nice, new, and seem to be in decent areas (we're flying out to see prospective rentals, so we'll be able to see anything before an agreement). Has anyone ever been in a lease-to-own agreement for a house? Is there any advantage to leasing a house like this, instead of just buying it? Does it typically cost much more than renting a place for a few years and then eventually buying? Is the eventual cost the same as simply getting a mortgage and buying the house?

Financial Lease Calculation wiz needed

thinktwice — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:30:05 -0800

Finance wiz needed: Although interest rates do not exist in leases, customers constantly ask what is the interest rate for the lease. I have a question regrading how to calculate the implied interest rate in order to get the most favorable comparison. For purposes of illustration I will use a $10,000 60 month $1 purchase option lease with 2 advance payments, a lease rate of .02345 which will yield a monthly payment of $234.50.
The traditional present value method will give an implied interest rate of 15.687% using Tvalue calculator available here http://tinyurl.com/6gewp4

Recently a friend showed me another method which according to him yields an interest rate of 8.24%.
He does the calculations as follows:
$234.50*60=$14,124.00 Total payment
$14,124.00-$10,000=$4,124.00 Total Interest Paid
$4,124.00/5=$824.80 Interest Paid per Year
$824.80/$10,000.00= 8.248% Interest Rate per Year

Something seems weird in this calculation and I was hoping for a finance wiz to clarify the error.

Anyone got a room for rent in Fullerton, CA? How 'bout advice on said subject?

malapropist — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:36:18 -0800

I live with my parents, and I'm searching for a place to live for the first time. Somewhere near Cal State Fullerton. A question about credit checks, and how to improve my search. Last week, I posted an ad on Craigslist in an attempt to assemble three other people to find a 2 bedroom with. Unfortunately, it seems like some kind of catch-22; the roomies want you to have an apartment already, and the landlord wants you to have the roomies already. I've found a couple of people who were down to move in, one for as long as 72 consecutive hours. Unfortunately, they keep finding their own rooms to rent. Does this approach (the "find people to find an apartment" technique) often work?

I found a place that meets most of my criteria, though as the search wears on I'm finding my criteria less and less important. The landlord will be telling me today whether we passed the credit check, but big whoop because the other two roommates who submitted applications/credit check money have moved on. The landlord was firm on getting all of us to submit our applications together, no incremental submissions as I gathered roomies. So now I'm wondering just what it is that the landlord receives. Does he get a credit report, or just a number? Is it for all of us with no distinction between us, or is it three reports, one for each of us? If mine is okay (which it should be) but the other two were not as good, what's the likelihood of him allowing me to try it again with different roommies? If that were the case, would it be reasonable to have to pay for another credit check for myself? Would he even tell me if I asked whether it was my credit personally that was the problem? If it helps, this is a little four-plex with a single owner, not a large development or prop mgmt company.

Also, if anyone has general advice about finding a place to live, at the beginning of the school year, near Cal State Fullerton or Fullerton JC (which is where I'm attending this fall) in general, please. I'm getting desperate here. What's a good alternative to Craigslist? Roommates.com seems a bit stale.

BTW, I found myfirstapartment.com here on AskMe, and it was a big help. Thanks guys!

Now that I'm out, she's keeping the cash!

dead_ — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:47:28 -0800

My landlord won't give me my deposit back. Is there anything I can do? I'll try and keep this as short as possible.

I had to leave my apartment due to the owner deciding to redevelop the property. The lease was terminated legally, and though I wasn't happy about moving out, things never escalated beyond a few impassioned phone calls to the landlord and owner.

Prior to moving I asked my landlord about inspecting the unit and getting the deposit ($585) back. She told me that the building maintenance man would come by and do a walk-through and that I didn't have to worry about it. I told her that was fine. A week later we chatted on the phone and I asked how it went (as I was not home when the man came by). She told me that everything looked fine, that any problems were just, "normal wear and tear on the apartment." I explained to her that the floors were still a bit dirty, and she responded by saying, "Oh, honey, that's no problem, it's normal wear and tear and we're going to steam clean them anyway."

She asked for my new address and told me she would be sending over the check after I had moved out on the 31st.

Well, an envelope came yesterday, sans check. Instead, there was a letter inside that stated aside from taking my belongings with me, I had not completed all of the tasks on the "moveout checklist," and as such would not be getting my deposit back. This checklist was attached to the initial form that had terminated my lease. She included the list with her letter and wrote that all unchecked items had not been taken care of. She also said she had digital pictures of the entire unit if I had any questions.

Now then. My deposit was for $585, and I know that I did not do that much damage to the apartment. The dirtiest part was the carpet--and I admit that it was indeed dirty. Her maintenance man, however, had come through and gave me the all clear on it. She also had said that it was fine and, in her words, "normal wear and tear." I also know for a fact that other tenants received free steam cleanings of their carpets from her, and I had brought up the quality of the carpet numerous times with her. Not all of the damage to it took place during my lease anyway.

The rest of the apartment was just fine. There was no damage to walls, appliances or windows. Aside from one broken light fixture (maybe $10), there was literally nothing wrong. I did not leave the apartment sparkling clean, but it was completely empty, vacuumed and wiped down.

As for the moveout checklist she had attached, it contained menial cleaning duties like "wipe down the counters" and "clean out the refrigerator." All of the items were unchecked, even though I had completed nearly 90 percent of them. For example, "mop the kitchen floor" was unchecked, even though I had mopped it. The few items that I actually hadn't completed were along the same lines: "dust the blinds," "clean out the bathtub," and "remove the shower curtain." (Which I might add was there when I rented the apartment to begin with! That's why I left it!)

I am livid about this situation, because I took good care of the apartment, and I feel as though my landlord is simply trying to screw me out of money. She hasn't answered or returned my phone calls yet, and even if she were to get a hold of me, I am unsure what to do! I'm in Nebraska, if that makes any difference.

Is there anything I can do to get my money back? What is the best way to proceed with this? Help!

Lessor of two evils

trinity8-director — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:42:33 -0800

Lessor of two evils: Are there good car leasing companies? Second Daughter will be acquiring a new vehicle this week. She is looking for the best lease rates/terms. The manufacturer has a pretty good lease but can you recommend a good lease company to work with?

Looking to buy an SUV as my first new car ever.

PetiePal — Sat, 26 May 2007 22:11:36 -0800

The time has come to buy a new car, and I've got a LOT of questions with regards to cost, options, leasing vs. buying, and haggling. Also recommendations on Toyota Highlanders and Mazda CX-9's... I currently own a 1996 Chevy Blazer. It's come to the point where it's starting to cost me way too much money a year to maintain (not to mention the gas consumption is horrendous). I've started looking at cars and I had two in mind before I even ventured out:

-Toyota Highlander or Highlander Hybrid (leaning away from hybrid since the savings doesn't really justify the extra cost)

-Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring

Basically here is what I'm looking for in my new car:

-Decent mileage city/highway
-Preferably an SUV (I'm 6'4" and smaller sedans don't fit me too well)
-Excellent track record, options, reliability etc
-Decent sound system
-Navigation system

The Highlander is a nice looking car, and has a positive recommendation from friends/family. My parents own a Lexus and an Acura SUV and are very happy with both. I've heard the Mazda CX-9 compared a lot to those cars.

So today I went to look at the CX-9 up close, just to get an idea of how I'd fit etc. I learned if I got one of those the sun/moon-roof would be a no go as it chops off about an inch of height above my head. Now when I went home I started pricing things out on Edmunds and autos.msn.com. I wanted to find out the MSRP, invoice and TMV prices for the options I wanted. This is where I started to get really confused.

On the Mazda I could get the following package: ncludes DVD navigation system, rearview camera, Smart Card with MAZDA Advanced Keyless Entry and Start system and power open and close rear hatch.

However this package REQUIRES that you get either a moonroof/Bose package or the rear-entertainment package. Now I don't want DVD screens in my headrests, nor do I want a moonroof. Is this a manufacturer ploy to jack the price up? Honestly I want the nav system, Bose audio and maybe an alarm system. The alarm system isn't available with the navigation package.

What's with all the restrictions? How customizable are cars? If I wanted a car with the above configuration and a certain color shouldn't I be able to get that somehow? Do they only make the cars in these preset configurations to bolster price?

The second half of my question is in regards to prices. I'm looking to buy over lease, simply because I don't believe in paying to only use something when you can be paying to own it. How much should expect to be able to haggle down from TMV etc? Should I go the fax-route with dealerships and see who offers me the best deal?

The final part of my question is simply in regards to the quality of Highlanders and CX-9. Advice greatly appreciated if you've owned either and can give me a personal review.

Thanks!

Like a Giant Snail

reventlov — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 08:02:21 -0800

How difficult would it be to find places to lease on which to put a house made of ISO containers? Basically, I'd like a space I can heavily customize (and not have to re-customize every couple years), but I still have a long list of cities I want to try living in before I settle down anywhere. I'm thinking about building a modular house out of a few ISO shipping containers and moving it from city to city. How difficult would it be to find plots on which to put it within, say, 30 minutes of city center, without buying and without running afoul of any laws or zoning restrictions?

(My list is mostly US cities. Bonus points for information about how I'd work such a thing for cities in Britain, Australia, or New Zealand.)

I need an office, but need a clue as to how to pick one

reenum — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 13:44:48 -0800

I need to lease some commercial space. There's I've finally decided to take the plunge and open my own business. I'm an attorney, so I don't really think I need more than 250-300 square feet starting out.

My problem is that I don't have the first clue as to what to ask agents about each piece of property. I've already read this thread before concerning commercial leasing, and read the article suggested.

The problem is that Joel knew the basics and had an idea of exactly what he needed. I don't. I need help in figuring out what questions to ask and what information I need to know in order to make an intelligent and informed choice in leasing office space.

Also, it would be helpful for any business owners or others to let me know what sort of space they had when the initially set up shop.

Thanks!

What utilities do I need to call before a move-in?

TheDude — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:13:15 -0800

Moving into a new place, for the first time...what do I need to do before I move in? Water, power, sewage??? So I get my keys this Friday. I know the house has electricity, water, and the gas is shut off.

So I assume I need to call my local electricity, gas, water companies to transfer stuff over into my name...but I'm lost, and don't want to forget anything here. For example, who do I pay to come pick up my trash once a week? Is there a sewage fee? Who do i call for that?

The home is in Woodland Hills, Ca...Brownie points if you can get me the phone numbers I need to call directly.

thanks!!

How can I convert a commercial lease into a lease purchase?

c:\awesome — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 10:38:04 -0800

I'm currently leasing my business space from an unmotivated landlord who seems to care less about what goes on within his buildings. I would've bought the building back when we moved in, but neither my budget nor my D&B credit score were what they are today. How can I structure a lease purchase option that will give my landlord enough incentive to part with his building, but at the same time won't overly burden us with new lease obligations? Here's a quick history of our building situation:

- When we originally moved in, it was owned by a different landlord - one who was very interested in our business, made frequent visits to make sure everything was okay, and expressed intent to eventually sell the building to us when our finances recovered from our "start-up process."

- One month before we open, we find out that our original landlord had sold all of his buildings (7 total) in one fell swoop. He expressed his apologies and told me that the offer was just too good to refuse. I didn't blame him (I would've done the same thing), and we're still on very good terms.

- The new landlord, however, has been completely absent from his properties. All of the tenants, and our old landlord, get the sense that he only bought the buildings so he could say he's a property owner in this trendy part of town. Even still, he doesn't advertise any of the vacancies in his newly acquired buildings, which completely blows my mind. Why buy the buildings if you aren't going to try to rent them out?! He definitely doesn't need the money (he comes from a very wealthy family), and I kind of get the feeling that he's grown tired of this whole "property owner" phase.

- Finally, we never signed a new lease when the properties were transferred from owner to owner. The only lease I signed was with the original landlord, and after titles were exchanged, the new landlord called me to ask if I would fax him a copy of our lease, as he had never received one (WTF!).

So, what steps should I take to wrest our building from him? I know that when landlord #1 purchased the building in 2001, he paid $120K for it. The area is in a bit of a real estate boom right now, so I wouldn't be surprised if it appraised for at least twice as much today. I was thinking we'd approach our new landlord with a purchase option of 3 years, 5% down, and keep our current monthly payments of $2,200 per month. I'll try to sweeten the pot by agreeing to maintain the property, which is something I already do.

Any suggestions, tips, advice would be greatly appreciated.

Know a good company for (very) short-term apt. rentals in SF?

so_necessary — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 03:40:06 -0800

Does anyone know a good company that does short term rentals for apartments/houses in San Francisco? I'm going on holiday there in August for a week with a few friends (there'll be 3-5 of us), and we'd prefer staying in an apartment rather than just getting a hotel room each. Ideally somewhere central would be good, and we're willing to pay up to $1000. I've checked Craiglist but most don't seem to be that central, or have enough rooms.

Need help convincing my landlord to accept a shortened notice to vacate my apartment.

sjvilla79 — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 22:40:18 -0800

Need help convincing my landlord to accept a shortened notice to vacate my apartment. I forgot to give 28 days notice for plans to vacate my rented apartment and now I need to convince my landlord to accept a shortened notice of two weeks instead. I'm putting this to him in an email that will be sent and interpreted to him via the property's agent and would like to know what tact I should employ with my approach.

History: I've been renting this apartment for almost two years now. Never had any major problems and have been a good tenant. I still feel, though, that this email is really make or break for me. I mean it may end up costing me over $500 if it doesn't work out. Worried!

Anyway, with my email, how do I come across firm, fair and ultimately conscious of the fact that this puts my landlord in an unsatisfactory business position? Yes, I think it's fair to say that I should forget about counting on human emotion to favour my cause (e.g. sympathy and so on). Um, what options do I have left?

Personal Car Leasing

mattr — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 02:56:37 -0800

Does anyone have any experience with Personal Contract lease of cars? I'm just working out how to spend my new car allowance in my job - and I like the idea of leasing a car (replaced every three years, maintained, get some cash back for my old car etc etc) The sites on the web look a little hard-sell (obviously) and I'm stuck for good clear guidance of whether this is a good option or not. This is in the UK btw

Best way to end a car lease early?

aaronh — Fri, 06 May 2005 12:30:11 -0800

I have leased cars several times with no problem. However, due to some changes in my life recently, I'll be moving to a new city where having a car is not necessary and is really a hindrance (congestion, cost). The problem is, I've still got about 18 months on my lease. The options as I see it are: 1. Store the car somewhere cheaply away from where I live and make payments til the end. 2. Sell the car to a 3rd party and make up the difference between what the car will sell for and the lease pay off. 3. Sell the car to the dealer and pay the difference to them. It would be a bigger difference but an easier sell. Does anyone here have any advice on other options or things to consider?

Commercial Leasing

SpecialK — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 15:13:59 -0800

Any commerical leasing people in the crowd? I'm about to lease office space for the first time, and I'm not sure how to go about it or what the lingo means. I understand the service level, like triple net and full service, and I understand that just about everything is negotiable. However, I don't know what the arrangements are between leasing agents of various types and how to do things without stepping on someone's toes, and I don't understand what the difference between Class A, B, and C is.

I do know that I need approximately 800 to 1000 square feet, that I need it to either be wired for ethernet already or to have a TI allowance for them to get it all wired with power and ethernet, and that telecom already has to be run up to the building. I need one enclosed office and one conference-room type space, and the rest of it needs to be open. I've also identified a general area and particular buildings I'd like to be in.

I also have one leasing agent that I've been talking to whose last office was leased out while we were talking, but he's offered to do listings lookups and act as a representative for me -- reassuring me the whole while that I wouldn't owe him anything, the landlord pays him. I don't know if I really need his services or what a potential futre landlord's opinion of someone else getting involved is, especially if they already have a leasing agent. (One of the leasing agents of one of the buildings I'm looking at is also a client, so I -really- don't want to piss him off.)

Also, what will I need to provide proof of ... such as financial backing, revenue streams, finaical statements, etc.? My company's very young, so there's no real credit history and revenue stream wasn't great until the past two months because it was just me and I charged accordingly..., but I've finally got the momentum to grow, ... as soon as I get a few more pepople on staff... which requires the space to keep them...