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Have you ever roomed with an ax murderer or Hannibal Lector’s evil twin? Have you ever wondered how it happened? It was probably the time you decided to just trust your gut and forego the usual things people do to screen applicants. No surprise, your gut has turned sour.

So what can you do to make sure your next roommate doesn’t show up on America’s Most Wanted? Don’t trust your new roommate until you know you can trust him. With today’s social media frenzy at its dizzying heights, it’s easy for internet savvy twenty-something’s to throw common sense out the window just because someone’s Facebook page is way cooler than theirs and it would look great if they friended him. Just because your future roommate can use StumbleUpon and LinkedIn in a sentence, and make sense, it doesn’t make him a good roommate. You need some proof.

Have him bring a tri-merged credit report to the interview. A tri-merged report shows all three agencies, Transunion, Experian, and Equifax on the same report. Not all companies report to all three agencies so you need all three to make sure you get a full picture of your prospective roommate. Your applicants can easily Google free credit report and get a tri-merged report that won’t ding his/her credit.

Once you get the report don’t just look at the scores and make your decision there. See what kind of story those numbers tell. Look in the public information section to see if he has any liens against him for past debts. Look for wage garnishments. Those kinds of things may be telling you that this person is going to have a hard time coming up with rent each month. When it comes to credit card payments use your best judgment. It’s very easy to get in over your head with credit cards and most people, given the choice, will pay their rent before paying a credit card bill. Delinquent car payments are a little different. A car may be his only way to get to work. If he loses that he may lose his job which will seriously hamper his ability to pay you. Feel free to ask him about things on his report. Look for rental history if it’s reported. Not every landlord reports to the bureaus.

Do a background check on any future roommates. There are any numbers of websites you can go to to get instant information. If anything shows up, you have to decide if that translates into him ripping you off, stabbing you in the dark or just the bad luck of being caught with a joint when he was a dumb eighteen year old kid. Use your best judgment.

Just because he’s trustworthy doesn’t make him a great roommate; he might have the personality of an armadillo. Finding someone with similar interests will probably make for a more easygoing living situation. Good luck and happy hunting.

“You have three days to get out!”

In terms of cataclysmic events, that one ranks right up there with, “You’re fired!” and “I’m pregnant.” When you hear the big E (evicted) word what you think you’re hearing is not always what you’re hearing.

To you eviction may mean the locks on the door being changed and your stuff held hostage. Maybe it means your landlord showing up at 6am with the local sheriff as they proceed to haul your stuff out on the front lawn. That’s probably what you heard when he said evicted.

To understand what is really going on here you need to contact the Renter Guidelines Board in New York. You can find them online with a simple Google search and you can also call them if you need clarification on certain issues.

Being evicted is a process, not an event like a bomb going off; although it might sound a lot like that when you hear it the first time.  Before you start cramming your stuff into your car, friend’s garages, and your mom’s sewing room take a deep breath and sit down. Your landlord cannot evict you. You will need a judge to give that order and to do that your case has to get in front of one.  If the judge eventually decides that your landlord has just cause, then he will give you the date to be out. That’s your eviction notice. While it could be just a few days, you’re likely to get more time to get your affairs in order.

If you decide to go ahead and move out you’ll want to do so before you get an eviction order from the judge. That’s not something you want on your credit if you plan on renting again anytime soon. But until that official order is given, you have never been evicted and nothing will be reflected on your credit. Just keep your landlord apprised of your plans to get out. He probably knows the law and will be satisfied to just get you out rather than going through the long eviction process.

And that’s the key word there; process. Even if he has just cause to evict you, time, at least for a while, is on your side. Don’t forget to contact the New York City Rent Guidelines Board to find out what your rights really are. Good luck and happy new apartment hunting.

If you’re buying a house in Los Angeles, make sure you check out the neighborhood that comes with it. I took a look at a particular house on Mavis Drive and liked what I saw, so the next logical step was to check out the 90065 neighborhood that surrounds it.

Before making the drive down there I wanted to check out the demographics that came with the 90065 zip code. Here’s what I found.

Since I have children I wanted a neighborhood that had children as well. I discovered that a full third of the households there had children; that’s good news for me. If there are that many kids there are probably plenty of amenities for them. Since I have kids, I want to know about the kinds of crime in the area and if it was on the rise or the way down. Looks like crime has been on the downfall since about 2001, and as for violent crime, it seemed very low. Most crimes dealt with some form of theft.

I noticed that more than half the households there spoke Spanish which is great because my wife is from the little Spanish speaking country of Ecuador. My wife’s a teacher and I work in health care so it was nice to see that as far as neighborhood industry goes almost a third of the residents fall into the education and heath category. Nearly three quarters of the population relied on their own vehicles to get to work, with only a small few took public transportation. I didn’t know whether public transportation was just not available there or what, so that needed checking out. Since I come from a place with a lot of options when it came to public transportation it’s nice to have that as a backup if your car breaks down or something.

When it comes to household income, nearly half of the households there have an income of less than 30k. The next biggest category was households who earned between 30k to 75k, nearly as many as households who earned 30k or less. The largest age group there was the 40-64 category with the 25-39 coming in a close second. Surprisingly, nearly half of 90065 residents are not members of the workforce. I guess that would account for the huge group of households with a fairly low income.

Now that I have done all the research I can do online, if I am still interested in the Mavis Drive house, it’s time to take a drive through the neighborhood and find out all the things I could not find on my computer. Like is the house in a wild party section of town or is it bookishly quiet. A drive through on a Saturday night should answer that question.

So, when you are considering a move to Los Angeles, you have to do both kinds of research, online and by foot, or by car to really see if this is the place for you. Good luck and happy researching.

If you are planning on relocating to Los Angeles your research should come in two phases. The first part can be done from the comfort of your own home while you’re still sitting in your pajamas. For the second phase you’re going to need to visit the area in person and do some leg work. That can come in the form of driving around your neighborhood at different times and days looking for problem areas, or it could mean taking a test drive to see what your morning commute will be like.

For the information you can’t get by driving through your prospective neighborhood, it’s time to fire up that computer and do some research. I did a broad Google search using the words real estate and came up with 4 billion results.  Finding the right website among all those wrong ones can be a little like finding a needle in a haystack; about a million of them.  I dug in and my needle came in the form of www.movoto.com. You can easily jump to the section on neighborhoods by typing in the following link, http://www.movoto.com/real-estate/homes-for-sale/los-angeles.html. About half way down, on the right side of the page you’ll find a column of zip codes. Just click on one and you will find surprising amount detailed information the neighborhoods in that zip code.

Since my wife and I have two young boys ages 6, and 10, it was important to find a low crime neighborhood that was home to many families like my own.  If there are a lot of kids in the neighborhood that usually means parks and playgrounds that cater to children of all different ages. And, all you have to do is say hello and you will find of wealth of information about where to go and what to do with your kids. Parents in general enjoy helping other parents adjust to their new surroundings. Just as important as telling you where to take your kids, they will also tell you where not to take them.

The first neighborhood I checked out was the 90013 zip code. I threw this one out immediately because just about 75 percent of the homes were single person residents. The next zip code I looked into was the Atwater one, 90001. Atwater meant nothing to me so it was time to do some research. Right off the bat this one looked more promising.  A full quarter are six or more person households, about a third were four to five person, while another third were two to three person families. For my family of four this looked very promising. Three quarters were Spanish speaking households which suited me fine; my kid’s mom is from South America.

Not only did I find breakdown of the kinds of crime in that neighborhood, I discovered that the number of crimes have been going down since their peak in 2001. You can also find information about employment status as well as means of transportation to work. In this neighborhood a full 75 percent drive themselves to work. That could tell me that most industries are far from the neighborhood or it could mean there is no public transportation. Or maybe people there just prefer to drive. Without taking out a map or visiting the area I won’t know for sure. That’s why doing computer research is only part of the work you need to do before buying home in any prospective neighborhood.

If you take your time and thoroughly check out where you are going to be relocating to you can avoid finding yourself in a beautiful home in a crime ridden neighborhood. On that note, if you see bars on the windows everywhere it’s probably not a good sign. That’s just another detail you won’t find on your computer. Take the drive to Los Angeles and you will find its well worth the effort.

Good luck and happy house hunting.

If you are planning a move to Los Angeles make sure you spend some time checking out different neighborhoods. Be sure the one you choose fits your needs. Before you move your family of four into that neighborhood of predominately childless families, stop and take a look around you. Where are the children’s parks and playgrounds, hands on children’s museums and indoor play areas? How close is the nearest daycare? If you have young children you will find that neighborhoods with families that have kids tend to cater to them. If you do some searching you should be able to find a house that is within walking distance to a children’s park or playground. Speak to the people who will be your neighbors. You’ll find they are full of information on the latest free fun places to take your kids to after school and on the weekends.

Probably the biggest consideration for families with kids is choosing the right school. When you buy a house in a particular district you are usually required to send your kids to the schools within that district. Sometimes school districts will allow you to send your kids to an out of district school, but it usually comes with a high price tag for the privilege.

If you’re not happy with the schools that are available in your district you might consider sending your kids to a private school. That will give you the flexibility to choose the best house for your family without being restricted by the local public schools. Private schools allow you more flexibility when it comes to choosing the right school for your kids but sometimes that flexibility comes at a very high price. Many private schools can run you upwards of two thousand dollars a month per child. You may find that in the end the price of a private education is too restrictive when it comes to choosing the right house. Sometimes you can find a school affiliated with a church and those can be a lot less expensive. Contrary to popular belief, not all church schools have a religious agenda.

When you are checking out a particular neighborhood you need to explore it during different times and on different days. What seems like an idyllic place to live during the day can sometimes turn into a nightmare when the sun goes down. There may be a convenient store on the corner but would you dare walk there by yourself? Are there any other kids in your prospective neighborhood? If there are kids but you never see them out of doors or at the local park you may want to reconsider. Residents may not feel safe going out of doors with their kids come nightfall.

How easy is it to get around in your prospective neighborhood? Is everything you need within walking distance or do you have to get into your car? How is the drive to work going to be? Can you get to your job using public transportation or do you have to sit in rush hour traffic every day? You might want to take a test drive. Find out if you will be driving to work with the commute. Is it going to be a three hour marathon or will you be going opposite direction?

Before you make your move take advantage of the internet. With websites like www.neighborhoodscout.com you can find detailed information on any neighborhood in Los Angeles. You can find information on a neighborhood’s general overview, crime index, schools, appreciation rates and much more. There is a lot of information you can get for free, or for a small yearly fee you can get a lot of detailed information about every aspect of your prospective neighborhood.

Good luck and happy house hunting.

It’s no surprise, foreclosures in California have been on the rise for quite some time now, and Los Angeles has been one of the hardest hit areas. The good news for homeowners is that banks are not as inclined to take back people’s homes and modification programs have rescued a lot of good people.

If you’re a buyer in this market this a great time to pick up your next house at an auction. Everybody loves an auction. There’s nothing like the excitement of bidding against like-minded competitors in the pursuit of getting your dream home at a price far below the market. Just don’t get so caught up in the excitement that you allow someone to bid up the property to an amount you cannot afford. Remember, auctions are almost always cash transactions.

Here’s how it works. To buy a house at an auction, first you have to find one. One way to do this is to get a local LA agent. One of the best places to go is your local Title rep. Title companies will have the latest date and times for the newest foreclosure auctions.

Before a house can go to auction is has to be scheduled and advertised. This is usually handled by the tax assessor’s office. In Los Angeles the house can only be sold 21 days after the first publication of the auction. At this time the homeowner can still pay the delinquent amount and stop the auction. The auction will follow one of several formats. In the minimum bid format the seller gets to set the lowest bid amount and the highest bidder walks away with the house. When the absolute format is used, the house is sold regardless of the price. The last and least used format is the reservation format. The seller can choose to not accept the sale for any reason. The seller may choose to back out if the highest bid is lower than they are comfortable with. However it’s not often used because the sellers at auctions usually have no choice but to sell the house.

Because auctions are nearly always cash transactions, be prepared to verify your identity and your ability to pay.  You can do this by showing a copy of a cashier’s check payable to the auction trustee or even a refundable deposit that you get back if you don’t purchase anything. If you are pre-approved for a loan to buy the property then bring that paperwork with you to the auction.

Most foreclosure auctions are public and require the bidders to be there in person. However, once the bidding has begun, some auctions allow internet bidders or anyone else who has been approved by the trustees. Highest bidder gets the property.

You may think home prices in Los Angeles are out of your range, but if you have the means a foreclosed property may just be the way to go for you. Because of the sellers need to be rid of the property, it’s possible to pick up a house at a significant discount. Good luck and happy house hunting.