In a post last week, we discussed the “rent or buy” decision that individuals can face. A recent study indicates, that, lately, the likelihood of individuals in the U.S. who are facing this decision going the “rent” route has been going up.
Among the things the study looked at was how big of a portion of U.S. households rent their residence. The study found that households that rent make up 37 percent of all U.S. households. You have to go back around a half-century to find another time when renting has been this common in America.
Why do you think renting is so popular these days?
There being a particularly high number of individuals looking to rent can have many different effects.
One is that the bump in the demand for rentals can lead to a rise in the price of renting. In the U.S. and here in San Antonio, rent prices have been on the increase.
Also, higher rental demand can make finding a good apartment or home to rent more difficult.
So, in times of high rental demand, when a person looking to rent finds an apartment or rental home they like at a price they can live with, they may be tempted to try to lock it down as fast as possible, even at the expense of carefully looking at the lease agreement before signing it. However, not having a clear understanding of the terms of a lease agreement before signing it can create real problems for an individual, given the major effects the terms of such agreements can have on one’s rights in the future.
So, careful review of the lease agreement is a very important step to not skip when seeking to rent a property, whatever the circumstances.
Experienced real estate lawyers can help prospective renters with lease agreement reviews and provide them with clarifications if they run across terms they are not clear on.
Source: KENS5, “Study says more are renting than buying,” Jeremy Baker, March 10, 2016