There is nothing quite as troublesome and dicey in life as landlords. Living in this generation means that I’m probably never going to make enough money to have a downpayment for a house, and that’s just fine. I’m cool with renting forever, but there are things I will always be on the lookout for when I’m renting. I have discovered after playing years of the tenant tango that you need to understand that your landlord wants to do the absolute minimum in order to take care of your apartment and its problems. You can become the best tenant in the world and garner their respect–which will go a long way when you want to move and need a good landlord recommendation–by being the tenant who knows how to handle the small stuff on their own. Over the years, I’ve learned how to rebalance the water in an old radiator for a boiler system, how to unclog a dishwasher, how to fix the flusher on a toilet, and even installing gaskets on my windows. I at one point even gutted a whole bathroom full of mold, because my landlord couldn’t get to it for at least two weeks and the stuff was everywhere. I’ve also found that you want to find an apartment that also needs as minimal care as possible, because they are not going to do it for you. To this endeavor, I’ve found that its just best to avoid forced air heating and cooling. The best bet when you live as far north as I do is ductless HVAC, either a boiler or an electric furnace. Less things to fix is less that will get broken due to neglect.
The different types of thermostats