I'm in my last semester in college, but all my courses are online. I share my apartment with my brother who is taking online courses and self-teaching himself, studying at home all day. Our parents died before we went to college and we sold our house afterwards, moving furniture and family possessions we didn’t want to part with into our college apartment. It’s not really a college apartment since it’s our home. Between all the stuff we want to hold onto and the fact that we’re both home every day studying (i.e. we’ll go nuts if we’re living on top of each other), having plenty of space is important to us.
Our current place is a 1,200 square foot 2-bedroom townhome. Our renewed lease contract will have us pay $1,050 a month for both the apartment and utilities.
Our landlord though only offers 12 month leases. We got in on our original lease during an awkward time slot since we needed to find a new place fast. As a result, our current lease expires October 31st, but we need to let the landlord know our plans by September 30th. There aren’t many other options elsewhere in town since it’s a college town where they only do leases from August to August. Of the few that did offer other leases, they had similar terms as our current place.
I’m actively looking for entry positions across the country –mostly in Seattle, New York City, and San Francisco since that’s where most of the jobs are. I have no idea when I’ll be able to lock down a potential position and I have no idea when the position will start after I accept the position. It could start immediately, in January, or even next summer.
I’m friends with kids who are in similar positions, but they’ve all gone back home to live with mom and dad while they sort out where they’re going next. That’s not an option for us unfortunately. My brother and I don’t plan to separate. We’ve always been super close and it’s important for us to continue to live together.
Reasons not to renew
Our lease doesn't allow us to sublet.
According to the landlord’s leasing office, if we want to exit our lease before it expires, we would have to pay the landlord the remaining lease term balance in full. So, for instance, if I end up getting a job in November that wants me to start immediately, I’ll end up owing 11+ months up front as well as still be responsible for the utility bills, >$11,000 The leasing office says that they will then look for a new tenant and if they find one, they will pay me back whatever months of the lease are left after the new tenant moves in. This is a large rental development by the way with 400+ units. There’s no negotiating on lease contracts – I’ve tried.
That's pretty scary in all cases. I also don't see any incentive for them to re-rent the unit when they've already been paid. All I have is their word that they will try to fill the apartment.
The lease does have an employment addendum that allows people to cancel the lease early for a job transfer. However, it only applies to people who have a location transfer with their current employer, not people taking a new job.
I’ve talked to some people in the field and have learned that it’s not unheard of for employers to help pay for you to break your lease. But the most I’ve heard is them paying 2-3 months. So in a worst case scenario in which I land a job that starts right after I renew my lease, I’d still owe 9-10 month’s rent (if I’m even able to get them to pay that at all).
Reasons to renew
The rent is still much cheaper than other places. My brother will go wherever I go since he takes classes online/ self teaches himself. Him not working right away though causes budget constraints. We can currently handle our apartment cost, but the rent in other places can be 2-5x what we're currently paying. And it’s a complete gamble that I even pick the same city that I’ll find my job in. I could end up being in the same position where I’d have to cancel that lease in order to move to another city. So it’s very expensive and very risky. There’s also the cost of moving expenses which will cost thousands for each move.
I don't really know what to do here.
Submitted September 16, 2019 at 08:47PM by CarefulDoor7 https://ift.tt/304eWoO
