Trying to decide between renting and buying can be tough. Both sides have their positives but with the recent state of the real estate market in Dallas and throughout the country, more and more people have been abandoning the “dream” of owning their own home and opting for the far safer option of renting. Let’s take a look at just a few reasons why renting is a far superior option in this day and age to buying.

While mobility may be the most underrated part of renting, it allows an individual or a family the ability to always keep their options open. No matter what career you’ve chosen, the job market is always competitive, and by renting, you have the ability to live in an exciting new place every few years instead of being anchored to one spot for the rest of your life. If a once in a lifetime opportunity happens, you have the ability to go for it without having to go through the exhausting process of selling a home.

Depending on how handy you are, one of the biggest attractions of living in an apartment is the fact that if anything breaks or if something terrible should happen, all you have to do is pick up a phone and sit back and watch as your landlord or building manager pays for it. While homeowners live in constant fear of termites, broken pipes and a million other costly maladies, you can sit quietly at home and never even have to entertain such thoughts. That peace of mind is invaluable.

With so many close presidential elections occurring in recent memory, voter registration is at an all time high. Registering to vote is easy and in most cases, all you have to do is go down to city hall and talk to the supervisor of elections to do what you need to do. However, if you are short on time or if you are registered in another state, there may be some extra work for you to do. Let’s take a look at some alternate places where you may be able to sign up to vote.

Although it is not in place everywhere, the Motor-Voter bill allowed many Department of Motor Vehicles offices to register you to vote when you picked up your license. If you have moved to Dallas from out of state, it is a good idea to get your driver’s license changed over as soon as you can. Check to see if you can change over your address there or if you have to make a separate trip to city hall to do so.

If you were already a registered voter from another state, you may have to fill out an extra form either online or in person at city hall. It is illegal to vote in more than one precinct in one election, and it will help the local voter rolls in your old home town if you let them know that you no longer live there. You will likely have to present two forms of identification, such as a driver’s license, birth certificate or passport, to move your voter registration over to your new address. Make sure you put your change in at least a month before the next election as most areas do not allow people to register to vote or change their voting address on the same day as the vote is actually being held

One of the biggest drawbacks to living in a big city like Dallas is finding parking when you need it. If you have your eye on a sweet downtown apartment building, parking can become a daily frustration that has the potential to send you to the suburbs with clumps of your own hair in your hands. Every city has its own parking quirks and rituals, so the sooner you can have someone show you the ropes, the better. Here are a few easy tips you can follow.

In any downtown core, parking rates at various garages can vary drastically. This problem has gotten so out of hand in some metro areas that the city government has gone ahead and bought up all garages so prices can be uniform. Assuming this hasn’t happened by the time you read this in Dallas, it is a good idea to learn where the best parking values are in your city, and remember, even the shadiest garage is safer than parking on the street.

Sometimes, public parking spaces are hidden in the oddest places. Alley ways, businesses and even private residents can have public spots mixed in with their own with the only clue being a faded and bent sign. These spaces are worth their weight in gold so keep an eye out for the ones closest to you.

Finally, different parts of downtown often require different permits or stickers for unlimited, meter-free usage. These boundaries are often signified by a change in signage but sometimes, you’re simply supposed to “know.” Make sure you do since paying to have your car towed is never cheap.

It is a plague that most of us thought was extinct and more than a few of us thought was never real in the first place. Bud bugs have again made their presence known throughout North America and all over the world. Recent studies have shown a huge explosion in the bed bug population after the 2000 Sydney Olympic games, with hotels and tight knit living spaces like apartments suffering the worst. While Dallas apartments may have only a few reported cases, cities like Vancouver, B.C., and Washington D.C., have major bed bug infestations. Here are a few things you can do to keep yourself sane if you find bed bugs in your place.

First off, tell your landlord immediately. Your landlord is required by law to take care of the problem, but showing him or her some red welt-like bites you’ve gotten isn’t going to be enough. You are going to have to capture one of the bugs to show your landlord and the exterminator. To find them, simply take the sheets off of your bed and look between the mattress and the box spring. They are quite large and easy to see if you are looking in the right place.

You will be asked to pack up all of your clothes and you will likely have to toss your mattress and box spring in the garbage. If your neighbor has bed bugs already and you are afraid that you might be next, run out and get a mattress and box spring cover that will seal your things off from the bugs. These covers are very, very affordable and a great way to keep your losses down if you encounter bed bugs.

If you find that you do have bugs, it will likely take several treatments to get them under control. Ask your local pest control expert if there is anything extra you can do to speed about your apartment’s recovery.

Hunting for the perfect apartment when you are single can be tough enough, but if you have an entire family to look out for, it can seem like mission impossible. Most jurisdictions cannot legally discriminate against you if you have small children, but the truth is that landlords actually do this because they think that your kids will cause excess damage to their property or that they will be so noisy that other tenants will want to move out. Here are a few tips you can follow to help reduce the chances that you will be discriminated against.

If you can, go with professional management companies instead of individuals, that way, if you feel that you were discriminated against, you have a large company you can sue instead of an individual. When you deal with a large company like this, there is less of a chance you will run into institutionalized discrimination that is actually done on purpose compared to one misguided landlord discriminating on his own.

Some apartment complexes specifically advertise towards families instead of to singles or childless couples. Keep an eye out in your community or in your newspaper for ads that are targeting families. While most apartment complexes offer studios or one bedroom, there are two and three bedroom units out there and the only people who are going to fill them up are families.

The Internet can be your friend when it comes to avoiding discrimination. Most apartment hunting websites have consumer feedback options that allow people to rank and rant about various complexes. You can know before you go if the people you are going to be dealing with are worth your time or not. If you see a pattern of discrimination, check to see if someone has filed a lawsuit since you might be able to get in on it if you feel that you have become a victim, as well.

It is a nightmare scenario that none of us want to have to face: you have signed a legally binding contract to live in an apartment, but now, before you have even moved in your first piece of furniture, you need to leave, and you don’t have any time to spare. In most cases, you are simply going to have to forfeit your deposit and chalk up the experience to bad luck. However, there might be a few things you can do to try to get out of your lease agreement that will allow you to keep your money. Let’s take a look.

While most rental contracts do have clauses that either grant you the right to sublease, or deny it outright, subletting is often the best and cheapest way out of a tight rental agreement. When you sublet your apartment, you, yourself rent it to another person and that person lives there and pays the rent. This often happens when someone gets called away from their home town for months at a time. Make sure that your landlord or rental office knows that you are planning on subleasing your place, otherwise, you could get into trouble.

If the main reason that you want to flee your new place is because it isn’t up to snuff, make sure you document all of the faulty things in your place before you try to break your contract. You will probably want to seek the advice of a trained lawyer to see what your best course of action is, but take lots of pictures and have a second witness with you when you do.

Often times, your best choice in a situation like this is honesty. In a city like Dallas, people come and go all the time and your landlord will likely let you out of your contract assuming he or she can fill the unit right away. If not, you may be responsible for part of your first month’s rent. Ask and see what kind of deal you can work

Sometimes, in the quest to find the best living space possible, we have to compromise. We all want to find the apartment with the best location for the best price that offers as many of the amenities that we love. However, what happens when you find what would otherwise be a perfect apartment except for a whole host of lingering odors that you can’t seem to get rid of? Here are a few essential tips you can keep in mind if you stumble upon a smell that just won’t go away.

Carpet is often one of the biggest culprits when it comes to holding in odors from generations past. This can be especially true if the previous resident in your unit was a slob who never quite kept the place as clean as he should. Even if your landlord swears that the carpets were professionally cleaned before you moved in, invest $50 and have a steam cleaner come in and take care of things. If you feel odors in the carpet are persisting, ask to have the carpet replaced.

If cigarette smoke is a smell you just can’t get rid of, and you’ve already cleaned the carpet, you might want to look towards the walls. Take this simple test to see if your walls need a washing: take a soapy paper towel and wring it out as high as you can on one of your walls. If the water that runs down the side turns a murky brown, your walls are covered in a thin film of cigarette smoke. Look on the bright side, though; you now have a chore to fill up your next few free hours!

Even if you are just moving from a few towns over, finding yourself in a new city can be a bit overwhelming. You don’t know where anything is, and you don’t know anyone you can ask about orientating yourself; that’s why large, friendly cities such as Dallas provide a huge selection of relocation resources that are either free of charge to use or are very affordable. While this is far from a comprehensive list, it can serve as a launching pad to help you adjust to your new life in beautiful Dallas, Texas.

Before you even move into your new place, you are going to need the utilities turned on. There are several utility companies in the Dallas metro area, including GTE, Southwestern Bell and TU Electric. Make sure you research which utility services your area so things like water, power and cable can be turned on well in advance of you moving in. Besides, nothing beats sitting down for a night of television after a hard day of moving and unpacking.

If you have been forced to move to the Dallas apartment area with little to no notice, there is a huge selection of hotels, motels and extended stay accommodations in the city. Dallas prides itself on being a world class city that has enough hotel beds to host major events and massive parties. If you need to find a place to stay while in Dallas, check the websites for respected hotel chains such as Marriott, Best Western and a whole host of others.

Of all of the maladies that we face on a weekly basis, the specter of an overflowing toilet may not be the most serious, but it is frequently one of the most dreaded. Even if we find out later it was a kink in our building’s plumbing and not a lack of fiber in our diet, the feeling of panic and even some shame is all the same. Here is a handy mental checklist you can file away for the next time you see the water level in your john rising to critical levels.

First and foremost, don’t panic. In the six to eight seconds it takes the water to go from normal to overflow, we manage to think of every possession that this disaster might ruin and it tends to block our ability to react. There isn’t a scenario that is helped by panicking so try to keep your head on straight.

Second, almost all toilets, even ones in apartments, have a silver or gold knob located behind the bowl or on the back of the tank that turns the water off in case of an emergency. Since this more than qualifies, simply locate the valve turn off and quickly turn the knob clockwise (Loosy-Lefty, Righty-Tighty). Within seconds, you should notice that the water has stopped filling the bowl, and you are left with a significantly less critical situation.

From there, you can either use a plunger that you have beside your bowl or even some Liquid Plumber if you were able to catch it before it spilled its banks. If you can’t clear the clog, call your landlord or your apartment manager.

If there is one truth in the Dallas apartment community, it is that rental spaces are getting smaller and smaller over time. What used to be an 800 square foot apartment is now a 650 square foot apartment and, often times, the price has gone up! It is for this reason and more that families with kids are constantly searching for space saving ideas. After all, an apartment is cramped enough when it is just the adults around!

While they may be a bit of a cliché, if you have two kids and they are both old enough to sleep in adult style beds, you might want to consider a bunk bed or a similar stacked bed system to clear up floor space. This allows your kids to have enough space to play with their toys in their room instead of having to drag them out all over the house.

Instead of having a clunky old toy box that takes up half of your kids’ floor space, try installing a low shelf system that your child can use to store his or her toys. Not only will this teach them to be neat, it allows things to be stored vertically instead of horizontally, which saves you serious space.

Another great addition to any kids room is a storage box that you can slide underneath their beds to store everything from toys they don’t play with very often to seasonal clothes they don’t need out year round. These large plastic Tupperware containers can be bought at just about any big box store and only cost a few dollars. They are a bit unsightly, which is why we store them somewhere where you can’t see them, but they can really add much needed storage space in any kids’ room.