Oprah once said that "when you invite people to your home, you invite them to yourself." That's because your humble abode is a reflection of who you are. However, it's really hard to decorate and reflect the true "you" if you're living in a rental. You can't make permanent changes or you'll end up losing your security deposit when you move out. Here are some decorating tips for your temporary Read more

If you're frustrated by the increase in rent, you're not alone. Business Insider sheds some light on this phenomenon. With mortgage rates at record lows and a rental market flooded with previous homeowners, most experts agree that now's the time to transition from renter to buyer. That's easier said than done. Today's reality is that consumers left battered and bruised by the recession aren't Read more

Rental rates in several markets are on the rise, particularly in San Francisco. In fact, rents rose to about 10.4 percent in San Francisco and 12.2 percent in San Jose at the close of 2011, according to RealFacts, a firm that analyzes rental data. If you don't want to face a hefty increase come lease renewal time, here are a couple of options you can take. Rent control. Research the rent Read more

Good news for prospective home buyers: the housing market crash caused an increase in demand for rentals and drop in housing prices, which makes it cheaper now to buy rather than rent in many US cities, according to data compiled by Trulia, a residential real estate website. In fact, Trulia found it was cheaper to buy rather than rent in 74 percent of the 50 biggest cities in July. Here are five Read more

We're thrilled to present this smart Kiplinger story here on Savvy! Whether you're moving out of the dorms for the first time or you've been living sans-resident-adviser for a while now, you might consider getting one or more roommates to help cut costs. But sharing a living space can be a minefield of monetary problems. Sidestep any big blowups by discussing how you’ll address potential Read more

An anonymous reader weighed in on a posting in our Savvy Confessions group which asked readers for advice on strategies for renegotiating rent. Here's what the anonymous user had to say: The challenge here is that generally, rents are rising nationwide. If your landlord is an individual, you might have some luck with "we are taking great care of your house and paying on time or early Read more

This anonymous poster in our Savvy Confessions group needs tips on how to get a lower rent when renewing a lease. Help out and leave your comments and suggestions below. Hi guys! So my lease is going to be up soon and because we got a discount for the first year, our rent will be higher if we renew our lease — the discount doesn't apply anymore. Do you have any tips on what I can say or do to Read more

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy! Ah, roommates. Sometimes you can’t afford to live without ‘em — but it’s not so easy to live with them. I’m a big advocate of a roommate agreement, through which everyone in the apartment sets up policies about utilities, pets, parking, etc. But even before you get to that point, there are a few questions you might Read more

Although we saw the housing market crash, most people still think buying a home is a better option in the long run. However, renting doesn't mean that you're throwing money away. The New York Times cites a paper written by Jordan Rappaport, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, which shows that renting can actually make you wealthy: [Yet the] analysis in this article Read more

Even with the housing market collapse, the American dream of buying your own property seems to still be popular. I recently asked if you would be content with renting forever and forgo buying a house, and the response was pretty surprising. About 66 percent of you say you eventually plan on buying your own home. Here's what people had to say: No! I hate renting. I can't wait to get a house of my Read more