What are the basics of apartment rental finances?
Well for starters you want to rent it for more than the apartment costs you.  Aside from mortgage you have insurance, and maintenance costs.  If you are going to have a long term rental property you need to make a profit, or at a bare minimum break even.  Personally I would not like the break even option because there are unexpected costs that turn break even into a severe loss. Basically the way I would calculate the minimum rent for an apartment I owned would be: (Payment + (taxes/12) + (other costs you provide) + (Expected annual maintenance costs)) * 100% + % of profit I want to make. This is a business arrangement.  Unless you are recouping some of your losses in another manner then it is bad business to maintain a business relationship that is costing you money.  The only thing that may be worth considering is what comparable rentals go for in your area.  You may be forced to take a loss if the rental market in your area is depressed.  But I suspect that right now your condo is renting at a steal of a rate.  I would also suspect that the number you get from the above formula falls pretty close to what the going rate in your area is.
In Massachusetts, we have a similar law. Each tenant fills out a W9 and the account is in their name. You need to find a bank willing to do this at  no cost, else fees can be problematic. With today's rates, any fee at all will exceed interest earned. "In Britain it's standard practice to use an electronic bank transfer, otherwise known as a ""standing order"" for the monthly rent payment. Many letting agents insist on it here in Britain. It's rare to hear of fraud. It is possible to setup a Direct Debit with the account numbers, as happened in a famous case where Jeremy Clarkson claimed losing account numbers wasn't a problem. If a direct debit is taken from your account, then you are protected by the the Direct Debit guarantee which means that you get a full and immediate refund if there is any fraud or unexpected payments spotted. Some landlords, particularly of bedsits accept plain old cash, however that's not recommended as there is no trace of it being paid, which could lead to legal disputes." In order to arrive at a decision you need the numbers: I suggest a spreadsheet.  List the monthly and annual costs (see other responses).  Then determine what the market rate for rental.  Once you have the numbers it will be clear from a numbers standpoint.  One has consider the hassle of owning property from a distance, which is not factored into the spreadsheet In such cases, it has a EIN, like any business would. Even absent the rent you suggest, the condo should have reserve funds, similar to an individual's emergency account, only more codified as to level and flows. These funds should be earning interest. "Apologize - replied without actually looking at the financials. After reviewing -- Starbuck's financial statements use the line item ""Cost of sales including occupancy costs."" This is very different than ""hiding"" rent in COGS, as they plainly describe what it represents. Anyone who wants to derive true cost of goods sold without occupancy costs can look in the footnotes of the financials to find the lease expense for the year and subtract it. This line item is used by multiple public companies (Whole Foods is one that comes to mind), and regardless of their true motives, they have convinced the SEC that they think it gives the consumer the most accurate view of their business operations. As with all financial statements, the footnotes play a crucial role in understanding how a business works. If you want to find opportunities for future value or an Achilles heel, look in the notes." "You are doing Great! But you might want to read a couple of books and do some studying on budgeting and personal finance - education yourself now and you will avoid pain in the future. I learned a lot from reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, and I have found some great advice from the simple budgeting guidelines on LearnVest. Budget in these three categories with these percentages, You may find that your ""essentials"" lower than 50%, because you are sharing room and utilities. You want to put as much into ""financial"" as you can for the first 1-2 years, to reduce (or eliminate) your student loan debt. Many folks will recommend you save six months (salary/expenses) for emergencies and unexpected situations. But understand that you are in debt now, and you have a unique opportunity to pay off your debt before your living expenses creep up (as they so often do). Since you are a contractor, put aside 2 months expenses (twice what I would normally advise), and then attack paying off your debts with passion. Since you have a mix of student loans, focus on paying them off by picking one at a time, paying the minimum against the others while you pay off the one you picked, then proceed to the next. Dave Ramsey advises a Debt Snowball, paying the smallest one first (psychological advantage, early wins), while others advise paying the highest interest off first. Since you have over $2400/month available to pay down debt, you could plan on reducing your student loan debt substantially in a year.  But avoid accumulating other debt along the way. Save for larger purchases. Your bedroom purchase may have been premature, but you needed some basics. But check your contract. Since many 0% furniture loan deals retroactively charge interest if you don't pay them off in full - you might want to make regular payments, and pay the debt off a month early (avoid any 'gotcha's). You might want to open a retirement account - many folks recommend a Roth account for folks your age - it is after tax, but you don't pay tax when you withdraw money. Roth is better when you have lots of deductions (think mortgage, kids). But some retirement account would be great to get started. Open a credit union account (if you can), that will make getting a credit card or personal loan (installment) easier. You want to build a credit file, but you don't want credit card debt (seems contradictory), so opening 2 credit cards over the next year will help your credit. You want a good credit mix (student loans, revolving, installment, and mortgage - wait on that one)." This is something you are going to have to work out with the leasing company because your goal is to get them to make an exception to their normal rules. I'm a little surprised they wouldn't take 6 months pre-payment, plus documentation of your savings. One option might be to cash in the bonds (since you said they are mature), deposit them in a savings account, and show them your account balance. That documentation of enough to pay for the year, plus an offer to pay 6 months in advance would be pretty compelling. Ask the property manage if that's sufficient. And if the lease is for one year and you're willing to pay the entire year in advance, I can't see how they would possibly object. If your employment prospects are good (show them your resume and explain why you are moving and what jobs you are seeking) a smart property manager would realize you'll be an excellent, low-risk tenant and will make an effort to convince the parent company that you should live there. "A person can finance housing expenses in one of two ways. You can pay rent to a landlord. Or you can buy a house with a mortgage. In essence, you become your own landlord. That is, insta the ""renter"" pays an amount equal to the mortgage to insta the ""landlord,"" who pays it to the bank to reduce the mortgage. Ideally, your monthly debt servicing payments (minus tax saving on interest) should approximate the rent on the house. If they are a ""lot"" more, you may have overpaid for the house and mortgage. The advantage is that your ""rent"" is applied to building up equity (by reducing the mortgage) in your house. (And mortgage payments are tax deductible to the extent of interest expense.) At the end of 30 years, or whatever the mortgage term, you have ""portable equity"" in the form a fully paid house, that you can sell to move another house in Florida, or wherever you want to retire. Sometimes, you will ""get lucky"" if the value of the house skyrockets in a short time. Then you can borrow against your appreciation. But be careful, because ""sky rockets"" (in housing and elsewhere) often fall to earth. But this does represent another way to build up equity by owning a house." I use a spreadsheet for that.   I provide house value, land value, closing/fix-up costs, mortgage rate and years, tax bracket, city tax rate, insurance cost, and rental income.  Sections of the spreadsheet compute (in obvious ways) the values used for the following tables:  First I look at monthly cash flow (earnings/costs) and here are the columns:   Next section looks at changes in taxable reported income caused by the house,  And this too is monthly, even though it'll be x12 when you write your 1040.   The third table is shows the monthly cash flow, forgetting about maintenance and assuming you adjust your quarterlies or paycheck exemptions to come out even: Maintenance is so much of a wildcard that I don't attempt to include it.  My last table looks at paper (non-cash) equity gains:  I was asked how I compute some of those intermediate values.  My user inputs (adjusted for each property) are:  My intermediate values are: "No magic answers here. Housing is a market, and the conditions in each local market vary. I think impact on cash flow is the best way to evaluate housing prices. In general, I consider a ""cheap"" home to cost 20% or less of your income, ""affordable"" between 20-30% and ""not affordable"" over 30%. When you start comparing rent vs. buy, there are other factors that you need to think about: Renting is an easy transaction. You're comparing prices in  a market that is usually pretty stable, and your risk and liability is low. The ""cost"" of the low risk is that you have virtually no prospects of recouping any value out of the cash that you are laying out for your home. Buying is more complex. You're buying a house, building equity and probably making money due to appreciation. You need to be vigilant about expenses and circumstances that affect the value of your home as an investment. If you live in a high-tax state like New York, an extra $1,200 in property taxes saps over $16,000 of buying (borrowing) power from a future purchaser of your home. If your HOA or condo association is run by a pack of idiots, you're going to end up paying through the nose for their mistakes. Another consideration is your tastes. If you tend to live above your means, you're not going to be able to afford necessary maintenance on the house that you paid too much for." It actually depends on the services provided. If you're renting through AirBnB, you're likely to provide much more services to the tenants than a traditional rental. It may raise it to a level when it is no longer a passive activity. See here, for starters: Providing substantial services.   If you provide substantial services   that are primarily for your tenant's convenience, such as regular   cleaning, changing linen, or maid service, you report your rental   income and expenses on Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From   Business, or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040), Net Profit From Business. Use   Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income, if your rental activity   is a partnership (including a partnership with your spouse unless it   is a qualified joint venture). Substantial services do not include the   furnishing of heat and light, cleaning of public areas, trash   collection, etc. For information, see Publication 334, Tax Guide for   Small Business. Also, you may have to pay self-employment tax on your   rental income using Schedule SE (Form 1040), Self-Employment Tax. For   a discussion of “substantial services,” see Real Estate Rents in   Publication 334, chapter 5 From the apartment owners perspective what was the purpose of $300? They promised they wouldn't rent it to somebody before you had a chance to see it. But lets say you did see it, and decided you didn't like the view. Would they have to give the money back? if so, why would they promise not to rent it if somebody showed up first?  I would have made it clear, as the owner, what the money was for. It was a $300 fee to delay rental. You would have essentially bought x number of days of delay. You could view it as a mini-short-term rental. Of course there should have been paperwork involved. There should have been been a receipt that at least mentioned the amount of money involved. You may need to pay the amount owed, and may need to determine if you want to sue in small claims court. Of course your agent may have some liability based on your contract with them and any paperwork they signed when the money was sent to the owner. The fact that the bank sided with you doesn't mean the courts will. The bare minimum should be 6-months of expenses.  Ideally, it should be at least 1 year.  My personal preference is 2+ years, but one thing at a time. Figure out your necessary expenses: food, shelter, transportation and necessary extras.  An example of a necessity, beyond the basics, for me is a decent internet connection.  Telephone costs is another good example.  (Meanwhile, electricity and such bills should be included in the figure for shelter.) You may want to include some allowance for clothing as well; especially for the 2+ year plan. "Have her chip in for the regular expenses, utilities, food, etc., and a bit for ""rent."" Then tell her to be sure to deposit to her retirement account, preferably a matched 401(k).  It's admirable to want her to build 'equity' but it's pretty convoluted. You can't actually give her ownership, and in the event you break up (I know you won't, but this is to help other readers) you'll have to pay her back a lump sum when she moves out. That might not be so easy." Exactly, if you can afford the rent on a $1500-2K a month apartment in SO-CA-TOA and were able to pass the credit check for it, no question you can afford a 30 year on a $250K house. Trouble is that $250K houses are now closer to $400-500K in the cities that pay enough for millennials to afford a $2K a month apartment.