MikeZ

not unless you're are mark zuckerberg..

scot47

Stanford ? Do it !

mrken30

Will you be getting income from your house in the UK. That may help offset the expense. Also keep a track of rental prices on Craigslist. Rents can be seasonal and can go up and down depending on the demand.

Trixie_b

So, anything's possible. If you can manage your budget/expenditure like back packers, you can still enjoy the experience.

https://www.rentjungle.com/average-r...o-rent-trends/

mrken30

I forgot to mention you will probably have to sign a year lease. You should check what the lease break fees are if you think you will move before the lease is up. Month to month around here is harder to find

samiam1066

Renters usually pay first month, last month, and a security deposit at start of lease.

Pulaski

That varies considerably by state and local market, and is governed by legislation in some states, and so I doubt is true even half the time across the US. Your "usually" would be a bargain in NYC, and I don't think is legal in MA. Round here I don't believe "last month" is usual.

mrken30

It used to be that way many many years ago. Legislation has move on since then and in most States I believe it has moved in favor of the renter and not the landlord.

DexterBerkeley

That is legal in MA, but it's the limit a landlord can request. He must keep the deposit and last month in a interest bearing account in MA and provide the tenant with the interest each year. There are also some strict guidelines about deposit return timeframes and penalties for non-compliance. Incidentally my prior landlord is learning about this later item the hard way.

Bob

It is. It's rare that you find a place that doesn't ask for first/last/month as a deposit. Anything up to 3 months worth of rent on top if you're in a hopping part of Boston.

If you're past the 495 ring, it might be as low as first/last/ on signing.

Bob

Reality is, they ask for whatever they want and get it.

I've only ever gotten the interest once.

It's usually really not worth your while to sue them to get it back if they're being dicks about it.

mrken30

Here there are attorneys sitting in most courtrooms to assist tenants. There are probably penalties associated with not keeping to the lease agreement.

Bob

Well how much are you going to get? 30 pennies worth of interest from the deposit?

Plus any old landlord will just go and point to some tiny stain on the carpet and that's a grand to clean all the carpets, tiny hole in a window screen and that's another grand to replace all the screens etc.

As for asking for a larger deposit, it's easy, because there's probably about 15+ applications on the apartment, even more on a house, so they'll get whatever they ask for and you stand no chance of fighting it from the bottom of the list.

DexterBerkeley

With respect to deposit return, the law in MA seems fairly clear. The landlord has 30 days to return it, or a list of itemized deductions. If they don't they are then liable for triple damages so owe 3 times the deposit amount. If they then want to claim damage, they have to do that as a separate suite against you, they can't say "oh there was damage so you're not getting it back".

There is some good on info mass.gov, Massachusetts Law about Tenants' Security Deposits.

On the interest matter, agreed, it's not a sum worth chasing.

md95065

This thread was originally about the SF bay area and a one year lease with first and last month's rent plus security deposit would be quite "usual" around here.