1.  Clean …Duh. Gauge how much time you have to clean and how much flack you’ll get if things aren’t spotless, and then get to it, from a quick shove-everything-into-the-closet to an all-out war-on-dirt-in-every-corner. While we agree that your mother should leave you alone and allow you to live in your own filth, just because [...]

You can benefit in numerous ways from renting to your relatives. You already know them, so you should have a good sense whether they’re the kind of people who would blow up a kitchen and try to pass it off as a maintenance issue, or the kind that will pay the rent on time and [...]

A beer gift basket For the beer snobs among us, this will be most welcome, and not your typical gift. More surprising and possibly more weird, or more classy, depending your point of view:  a range of dessert wines. A weekend getaway for one That really mixes it up, doesn’t it—separation as a Valentine’s Day [...]

By MyNewPlace Guest Blogger, Ron Leshnower – About.com’s Apartment Living Expert! 2012 is an election year and, as daily headlines remind us, the country is in the middle of a contentious primary season. If you’re sharing an apartment with another person, this is a time when you may discover that your roommate favors a candidate [...]

You can own the most magnificent apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, but unless you sell it right, a prospective renter could just as easily rent the second most magnificent apartment on the Upper East Side, owned by your property manager nemesis, Dr. Strangerent. So how do you ensure that it’s your lease [...]

The couch blocks access to the food, the chair arrangement is like a maze, and given the blockade of people in the hallway, you’ll never make it to the bathroom…if you’ve ever been to a party like this, you can appreciate that a little planning can make a big difference in the flow of a [...]

We’ve all had the experience:  that neighbors who won’t take their barking dog inside at night, who consider treble to be inferior to bass and makes you think there’s an earthquake every time the stereo comes on, who has loud, erm, relations on an alarmingly regular basis.  If you’re living in such a situation now, [...]

There’s no two ways about it:  building a home as a married couple can only be learned through trial and error.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t get some pointers along the way.  Below are some things to ponder when making that biggest of moves. Think about what it could look like, not only what [...]

By MyNewPlace Guest Blogger, Ron Leshnower – About.com’s Apartment Living Expert! Adorning your apartment with holiday decor can be a fun way to celebrate the holidays or get into the festive mood of the season. Normally, if someone you know doesn’t share your decorative tastes, it’s not a big deal. But when you live in [...]

An apartment landlord will take a deposit from renters for a variety of reasons. The deposit can help cover the cost of rent if a tenant can’t pay one month and it can cover the costs of cleaning that landlords need to front after their tenants move out. While there’s nothing wrong with paying a [...]