I’m sure people have posted about such issues here (or somewhere) but I haven’t seen them yet.

So, I’m going to say something about renting that struck me as a little weird and should factor into any kinds of considerations about moving to MVD and the budgeting for accomodations one should expect.

If I’m repeating what others have said, consider this reinforcement of those earlier posts :)

When renting, a “commission” of one month’s worth of rent from the renter and one month’s worth of rent for the owner seems to be what alot of the RE agents angle for.

Whether this is only for the “gringos” I’ve never experienced this in the states….maybe because i never rented through an agent (?) Surely, everything is negotiable, but this seems to be their starting position (good biz if you can get it).

In the case of short term rentals, their position is that they should get 10 percent each from both renter and owner — Seems a “bit” excessive and probably something to be negotiated down, but for a newbie desperate to get out of a hotel room, you should prob try to negotiate that BEFORE looking for and finding a place you’d like to offer on.

For “non furnished” places — these places are really “unfurnished”. Removal of refridgerators, ovens/stoves, washing machines, dish washers seems to be really common.

In addition, removal of light fixtures, and i’ve heard of “kooky” rental contracts that stipulate that you have to have the entire place repainted (on your dime) — geesh, would you like me to find the next tenant too? :)

Deposits:

Realtors will claim that it’s “law” in the country to demand 5 months deposit from someone moving into a place under a 1 year lease. 5 months?!?! — uh, nothing like “dead money” :)

Anyways, I didn’t pay 5 months, but I’m not sure how easy (or not) it is to wriggle out of this particular “requirement” or it is just one more thing to be negotiated.

In all, these “little” things like 5 months sec deposit, and no appliances can significantly increase the expenses of someone coming down the “check it out” for 6 months to a year, imo.

Like I said, if I’m just repeating an earlier post, or something in your book…well then…uh…”well said” :)

ciao,
fB

>>  You really haven’t realted anything that is over the top.  The 5 month deposit and the 1 month realtor fee are pretty standard when renting a house–they are a bit more negotiatible when renting an apartment.  They main reason for the big deposit is that it can take a very long time for the landlord to evict someone if they do not pay the rent, hence the deposit.

The good news about the deposit is that it is usually (and should be) held in a kind of escrow account at a Government Bank, and I have been told by numerous people that they have never had a problem getting their deposit back, unlike in the US.

The alternative to a deposit is a Guarantee, issued by a landowner, or by some membership organizations.  This is something I want to look into for Sociedad Southron to consider.

As far as bare wires and no appliances, that too is standard in most of the non-US world: unfurnished really mean UNFURNISHED AND BARE.

–The Southron