Understanding Your LeaseWritten by dan the roommate man
Maybe you'll sign lease, move in to your new apartment, and everything will go as you desired. There's a chance that you will never have any lease problems. However, there's also a chance that by signing lease without scrutinizing it, you missed paragraph five, section "b" which informed you that if a rental payment is one week late, you will be evicted, your tires will be slashed and your first born child will be stolen and sold to gypsies. Don't let this happen to you!Suzie, perky, blonde representative of Miscellaneous Apartment Village hands you lease and a pen. You're excited about moving in to your new apartment, and begin skimming over billions of tiny letters. Smiling, representative beams, "Just sign and date bottom and we'll get you moved right in." Sounds easy enough, right? Why should you sit there and waste 30 minutes trying to understand this sea of words? Suzie's a nice lady, and you're sure there isn't anything in lease that you haven't already spoken with her about. Maybe you'll sign lease, move in, and everything will go as you desired. There's a chance that you will never have problems with lease. However, there's also a chance that by signing lease without scrutinizing it, you missed paragraph five, section "b", and you're really going to miss your first born. Realize that landlords are allowed to include any provisions they want. And once you sign lease, terms (in most cases) are legally binding. Take extra time to completely understand this document, and don't feel awkward if representative stands impatiently over you. You are in control. They aren't paying you, you're paying them... so if they're too impatient to wait for you to sign lease... then take your business elsewhere. When you get lease, analyze every word. Some of it may be confusing. Take your time. If you don't understand a clause, ask for clarifications. If you don't agree with a provision, see if you and your landlord can compromise. If you do feel it's necessary to make changes to lease, these changes should be initialed by both you and landlord. Do not settle for oral agreements. An oral agreement will not hold up in court. Every agreement should be written, dated, initialed and saved.
| | My Friends All Laughed When I Told Them What I Got My Wife for Valentines Day … A Life Insurance Policy?Written by Daniel Gutschenritter
“Okay. I’ll admit it was not nearly as romantic as flying her parents and my parents all way to Italy so that I could walk her to a beautiful plaza and scream at top of my lungs how much I love this woman while draping a huge string of diamonds around her neck,” says 45 year old Lance Forbisher, “But I did score some points for ensuring that if I die unexpectedly, she and our four children could be taken care of without her having to sell one diamond she already has!”Mr. Forbisher had been thinking about getting a new life insurance policy. When his company went through a downsizing and he unexpectedly lost his employer-provided coverage, he felt had to take action quickly. “I was worried something like this could happen. A friend of mine lost his job and, because of a health problem that was discovered last year, he could not get coverage. That is pretty scary.” Mr. Forbisher goes on, “I checked with agent who sold me our homeowner’s and auto policy, but I was concerned that he could only offer policies from one company. I wanted to get some other options to consider.”
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