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How to talk to your kid about renting
Seven things to teach them before they lease their first apartment
Debby Belt has more than 10 years of professional experience representing buyers and sellers of real estate in Greater Boston. But she also has experience as a mom who has guided her three daughters through the process of renting their first apartments.
Before her oldest daughter moved out six years ago after graduating from college, Belt, an agent with Hammond Residential Real Estate in Chestnut Hill, told her to avoid renting a basement unit. “I said that under no circumstances should she get a basement unit because the windows are on the ground floor, and I worried about someone breaking in,” she said. “She didn’t listen to me.”
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Fortunately, her apartment wasn’t burglarized.
Here are some other things parents want their kids to know about renting their first apartment:
Be prepared to make a quick decision. The rental market in Boston is competitive, and inventory is limited. So, if you see an apartment you like, you need to act quickly. That means having all the documentation you’ll need for the application on hand: pay stubs, bank statements, references, etc. It also means ensuring your credit history is clean and having up to four months of rent upfront to cover the first month, last month, security deposit, and, if an agent is involved, a broker’s fee.
You may need a co-signer. Many first-time renters need a co-signer on the lease. “A lot of kids fresh out of college don’t have much of a credit history and, in some cases, a renting history,” said Van French, rentals manager for Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty in Boston. “This will be concerning to some landlords, who may feel it’s too risky to rent to applicants like this.”
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You should get renter’s insurance. Even if the landlord doesn’t require it, get a renter’s policy. According to Spencer M. Houldin, president of Ericson Insurance Advisors in Boston, expect to pay about $250 a year for $20,000 worth of personal property protection and $1 million of liability insurance to cover any damage you cause to your own apartment or anyone else’s.
There is joint and several liability. If you rent with a roommate, you can be held liable for all the rent if your roommate stops paying for any reason. Belt said some landlords will agree to hold your child liable only for their own portion of the rent, but most won’t.
Your move requires advance planning. According to Michelle Tomassetti, senior director of marketing for WinnCompanies in Boston, renters should ask about move-in times and building procedures before they book a mover or rent a truck. “Many buildings require a secure elevator timeslot,” she said. “It’s best to take care of all paperwork and key pickup in advance of the move, if possible, to ensure things go smoothly.”
Probably the best piece of advice Belt has given her kids, however, is to budget their money. “I told my children to spend as little as possible so they can save money for a nest egg for a down payment to buy a place,” she said. “If they can live with a roommate to pay less, that would be great.”
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