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Maybe you don’t have the luxury of your own apartment or home at the moment, especially with the economy’s job market and the rising living costs in many metropolitan cities. Even in college, many of us have lived in a roommate situation, where things like space, bills, and finances are shared amongst two, three or even four other people.

If you are preparing yourself to live in a roommate-style situation or already found yourself living with others, make sure you keep in mind a few tips on how to handle the finances of this tricky living situation.

Source: NY Daily News

Legal battles with landlords never tend to go well, particularly for the tenants, but the fight Mo’Nique, her husband Sidney, and one of their landlord’s, Alice, are involved in is just hitting all below the belt.

Last year, Mo’Nique’s landlord filed a lawsuit against her saying she owed $370,000 in unpaid rent for bailing on the two-year, $20,000/month lease agreement she signed for the Georgia property in March 2011. The couple immediately shot back with a suit of their own, demanding they be let out of their contract because the home smelled of dog feces, wet dog, and urine, plus there was an overflowing septic tank. They also said they had a verbal agreement to be let out of the contract with 60 days notice because of all the problems, and accused the landlord of backtracking. Well now they’re doing a lot more than that.

A new set of documents has been filed in the case, including a string of nasty emails sent between the parties. Sidney said the landlord should be embarrassed by the home she was leasing, and Alice said the couple is just embarrassed that they can’t afford the rent, writing:

“We do understand that your business has been greatly affected by the cancellation of your weekly talk show. However we do not want the publicity and heartache/hardship for either of us.”

That was the last diplomatic approach to the issue because when Sidney said Alice “has a poor man’s mentality,” adding “you talk tough when you are owed but run when you owe,” the landlord said this about the allegations of odor in the home:

“Maybe the illegal substances you use in our home (i.e. WEED) has weakened your sense of smell.”

Don’t think Sidney didn’t have a comeback. He shot down the landlord’s comment immediately with this:

“The only illegal greenery was with the illegal immigrant you brought on our premises to cut down the trees … Maybe the overuse of alcohol has affected you and your husband’s judgment.”

They are out.of.control. According to TMZ, this banter goes on for 136 pages so you can only imagine how much nastier both sides got as time went on. I wonder who’s telling the truth with this one.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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High rent prices and high unemployment often spells eviction; especially for low-income black single mothers in urban neighborhoods. Property owners are paying big time in their efforts to dispose of their tenant’s belongings, and according to the Associated Press, moving and storage companies are reaping all the benefits.

“The odds of a woman being evicted in black neighborhoods is twice that of men,” Matthew Desmond, a sociologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison said to the Associated Press. “Just as incarceration has become typical in the lives of poor black men, eviction has become typical in the lives of poor black women.”

Desmond led a study in Milwaukee that found that in majority black neighborhoods, one in 10 renter households is evicted.

It’s a growing misfortune that has property owners spending millions of dollars a year on evictions.

Property owners may pay about 2500 to evacuate a two-bedroom apartment, according to moving company owner Eli Navon. Job prices vary as movers must pack up everything including the garbage, as they are not allowed to throw anything out. When the tenant is not in the home, some companies choose to take their time, earning more money as they are paid by the hour.

Eviction moving does not come without its risks. Mirtal, of White Glove Moving & Storage told the Associated Press that once time he and his fellow movers were met “with bats and chains” and were told that they were evicting a friend.

In addition to paying for the movers’ services, property owners than must pay for a storage unit to hold the displaced belongings for 30 days. Owners that choose to hire a lawyer to resolve the matter completely take on even more costs.

Evictions become a heavy burden for both the tenant and the property owner, for the moving and storage companies who find themselves in between the drama, making money off of other people’s unhappiness has never been more profitable.

Eagerly awaiting your next move, you found a rental home well-suited for you at a bargained price! The luxury in renting your own place from a landlord affords high quality living, amenities and an ideal location near suburbia or the city. The stipulations that come with becoming a tenant involve adhering to a lease and providing other non-refundable items while properly caring for the interior and sometimes, the exterior of the space. A good landlord will be evaluating you to see that you follow through on these terms, so here’s what you should do and expect from your prospective humble abode.

(Entrepreneur.com) — This year may be the best time ever to rent space to start your own business: The nation’s 102,000 shopping centers are dotted with vacancies that landlords are desperate to fill. “I’ve never seen better deals,” says Paul G.W. Fetscher, president of Great American Brokerage in Long Beach, N.Y. “Everything is negotiable.”

But knowing what to negotiate is surprisingly complicated. Landlords may be anxious to fill empty spaces, but they’re also eager to make up for the money they’ve lost during the recession, and, unless you’re careful, that bargain lease you sign today can be filled with hidden charges, escalating fees and clauses that kick in when you’d least expect it.

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(WSJ.com) — Like many business owners who have suffered during the downturn, Randy Lebolo decided the most reliable client for his small construction firm would be Uncle Sam.

When the real-estate market was in free fall nearly two years ago, Mr. Lebolo decided to shave staff, negotiate with his landlord for a lower lease, and begin the long process of becoming certified to bid on federal work opportunities. He finally won his first government contract recently to remodel a courtroom in a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., courthouse. But the job pays just $250,000, not nearly the lucrative amount Mr. Lebolo—who says his Boynton Beach, Fla., firm had a history of multimillion-dollar commercial construction jobs before the downturn—thought he’d land.

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