How to Sublet Your Place

Life doesn’t play by the rules of your lease.  A new job can spring up in the middle of a month or a family issue can arrive without warning, causing you to need to move.  In such a case, you might find yourself needing to leave your current place with months still on your lease.

You never want to break your lease.  While your landlord will have a duty to find a new tenant, you will be on the hook for rent owed until he does.  So, what do you do if you need to move?

First, you should see if you landlord is willing to void your lease.  if not, your next best option is to sublet your place.  To sublet, follow the following steps:

1. Check your lease – to see if it allows subletting.

2. Advertise – a sign outside your place and an ad on Craigslist should be sufficient.  Also, have your friends spread the word.

3. Consider dropping the price – if your place is $800 a month, consider dropping it by $50 or so to make it more attractive to a potential subleasee than the vacant spot right next to it.

4. Contract – always make a contract with the person you’re subletting to so you both know the essential terms of the agreement.  Type up the basics, sign the document and both keep a copy.

If your contract does not allow subletting, you might still be able to add the person to your lease.  You would need to talk to you landlord about this.

Moving with Pets

Like ants on chocolate, pets can and will complicate any move.  Even the most trained of pets can get flustered in the hectic of it all and end up quivering under your car or crying at the feet of your movers.  There are some basic steps you can take to avoid a difficult situation, though.

1. Talk to your vet or a pet store owner (for vet-less pets, like fish and hamsters).  They can give you good, basic information to keep in mind.

2. Separate your pet from the move.  Keep them in a neutral room with food and water during the heavy-lifting and open-doors times of the move.

3. Avoid tranquilizing – unless your vet okays it. Tranquilizing certain pets, notably dogs and cats, can create more problems than it quells.

 4. Keep your pet’s needs at the top of your mind.  Move your pet and its needs out of the home last and into your new home first.

City Data from City-Data.com

Are you thinking about moving to a new city?  Do you want to know what its industries are, its average home prices, its crime?  How about its common modes of transportation?  How many two bedroom rentals it has?

If so, head to city-data.com.  It will key you into all the stats and figures you could possibly want about your potential new home.  Heck, you might even learn something new about your current home.

Using Rental Data to Your Advantage

Looking for an apartment in a new city or state?  Prior to choosing an apartment, you should know what price you should expect to pay.  At MyApartmentMap.com, you can find the average rental rates for states, cities and zip codes.  Arming yourself with rental rate data can help you weed through over-priced rentals.

Of course, you need to consider more than price.  A more-expensive spot can be worth the price if it has free parking, a patio, or a good location.  Here are some other factors to consider when comparing your prospective apartment to the average price:

• Amenities (patio, space, fireplace,  bathrooms, garage, yard, etc.)
• Location (shopping, crime, schools, etc.)
• Parking (free parking, covered parking, street parking)
• Public transportation (if you don’t have a car)
• Lease (yearly, 6 months, monthly)
• Sharing (roommate, shared yard, shared kitchen, etc.)

Recycle Your Electronics!!

If you have a virus-laden computer from 1995, a TV with a screwed-up screen or a music player from a bygone era, chances are it is sitting in your garage, attic or basement collecting dust and cobwebs.  When it’s time to move, you’re going to come across it, and your first instinct will probably be to toss it in the dumpster.

Don’t.

Electronics should always be recycled for two reasons.  First, they contain elements and materials that can be hazardous to the environment.  Second, those materials might be of use to manufacturers.  For example, copper can be reused, as can a number of other materials.

Recycling electronics can seem like a pain for a person who doesn’t know the first way to go about it.  Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency has an online guide of electronics recycling centers, which you can use to quickly find the recycling center nearest to you.

Saving up Before Moving out on Your Own

Moving out from your parents’ home is a big decision.  Not only will you be living alone, you will be bearing all the costs of living alone, including rent, groceries and utilities, on your own.

Before you decide to move out, you should make sure that you can sustain yourself financially on your own.  This requires making two budgets, one based on your savings and one based on your monthly income.

The moving out budget (savings) – moving out raises significant costs.  First, you will need to pay a deposit in addition to your first month’s rent.  Deposits are usually equal to a month of rent.  Second, moving itself is costly, especially if you have to rent a truck or if you are moving a great distance.  Third, you will need to stock your new home with the basics, everything from toilet paper to spices.  This will be significantly more expensive than your average shopping excursion.  You will need to have saved up enough money to cover these costs if you decide to move out.

The monthly budget (income) – your monthly budget should include rent, groceries, personal expenses (nightlife, coffee, dining out), gas, parking, insurance and any other costs that you can think of.  These should add up to be less than whatever your income is.

If you have enough money saved up to cover your move, and if you make enough money to cover your monthly expenses, then you are ready to move out on your own.

Click here to learn more about moving out on your own.

Avoiding the Phantom Sublease

Subleases are great ways to avoid anchoring yourself to a long-term lease.  They are usually only a couple months in duration and are often cheaper than the normal rental rate for the apartment or room, making them ideal for people moving without jobs or a definite idea of where they want to settle.

However, you need to be careful when subleasing.  Not all landlords or rental agencies allow sublets.  Many explicitly provide in their contracts that sublets are NOT allowed.  If that’s the case and you try to sublet, you could find yourself getting kicked out of the apartment abruptly along with the person who sublet to you.

So, before agreeing to a sublet, make sure to review the original lease.  Once you do, come up with a written contract of your own with the person your subletting from establishing the dates and price.  This will help protect you and ensure that you don’t end up getting kicked out unexpectedly.

Localizing Your Conversations

Settling into a new city or town is hard.  It’s even more difficult if you don’t know anybody.  It takes time to feel comfortable jumping into conversation with locals.  However, there are tricks to making your transition from stranger to knowledgeable local quicker and easier.

Follow the Local Team(s)

Even if you aren’t a sports fan, being aware of the trials and tribulations of the local teams can help greatly in sparking conversations with others.  If a team is doing well, it’s even more important.  Plus, sports are often a good reason to get out into your community.  Go see a game or watch it on the big screen at a local bar.  Use it as an excuse to ignite a conversation, then transition it to other topics, if you’d prefer.

Explore nature

Your new town will almost certainly have some pride in its local nature.  All towns do.  Whether it be a forest preserve, a national park, a nice beach, an epic tree, a leg-busting hike or a awe-inspiring drive, get out and observe the nature around you.  Once you do, you’ll have more to share and relate to those around you.

Read the News

It sounds simple, but most people don’t take the time to read the local sections of their newspapers.  If you do, though, you will be kept up to date with the biggest issues in your community, which will translate to conversations.  At the least, you will not be left with a blank stare when somebody brings up an recent issue.  Seriously, though, checking the local section or a local weekly can take as little as 20 minutes a week.

Check out our website for more tips on settling into a new town.

Finding Your Inner Decorator

If you’ve just moved, don’t make your new place look just like your old place.  Use moving as an opportunity to experiment and make your new home your unique.  Get bold, release your inner desires, embrace the beautiful, brave and weird.  Here are some simple ways to do this:

Paint – paint your walls and woodwork in colors that you like.  Seek a feeling that you will enjoy seeing every day.  If most colors suit you, try a couple combinations and see which ones you think bring the best out of the room and its furniture and elements.

Arrange – move your furniture into unique arrangements that inspire conversation, focus, inflection or whatever other feelings you want.  This website discusses the do’s and don’t of furniture arrangements.

Decorate – plants, paintings, sculptures and even pillows and blinds can all add extra spice to your place.

For more ideas, check out our article about decorating a new home.

Making your patio night-worthy

A patio is a valuable asset to have.  They can serve as fantastic places to host company or provide visitors with a change of pace or breath of fresh.  They can be used as spots to watch fireworks, share drinks on a warm summer night, or serve hot dogs and hamburgers.

Despite what patios have to offer, many people let them go to waste, looking like this, this or this.  They are treated as mere extensions of the back or front yard, not as extensions of the house.

If you are moving into a place with a patio, make sure to take advantage of it.  Here are some quick and inexpensive things that will make your patio night-worthy:

A plastic table and some chairs

Some potted plants or flowers

A grill

An umbrella

Something to play music with

A game: such as bocce, cornhole, horseshoes, or even a putting green

For more tips on how to liven up your home, check out our article about decorating your new place.