Does Your Landlord’s Home Owner Insurance Policy Cover you as a Renter?
If you think that your personal possessions are protected by your landlord’s home owner insurance policy think again! The only thing that the home owner insurance policy of your landlord will protect is the property itself. If the sewage backs up, then maybe your possessions are covered, if the landlord sees fit to pay you out. However, in most cases, and in most states, a rental home does not offer coverages in the home owner insurance policy that protect you, the renter.
What Does your Landlord’s Home Owner Insurance Policy Cover?
The policy is like most other home owner insurance policies, but it has been modified as a rental. Basically the home, the structure and the property are covered, as well as others in the event of the landlord’s liability, not yours. So if anything goes wrong, like a friend breaks their leg on your stairwell, you are liable, not the landlord. Sounds kind of crumby doesn’t it? But there are ways that you can protect yourself as a renter.
How to Best Protect Yourself as a Renter
Get renters insurance. This is the best way to protect yourself from liability and your personal possessions in the event of a disaster related loss or theft. Renters insurance is offered by many companies and standard coverages cost about a buck per day. Now isn’t a dollar per day worth the peace of mind that you gain? And, typically there are small deductibles with renters insurance that cost a few hundred bucks out of pocket or take off the payout of the claim.
The Landlord Checks Your Credit, How do you Know They are Kosher?
For those of you who are looking for a home rental, the state of the current real estate market should be something that you take into consideration. Why you might ask? Simple! Because there are currently many landlords out there who may not be paying the bills on their rental homes, and if they are not, they could very well be nearing the foreclosure process. Some renters have even been duped into renting a home that is already in the foreclosure process, and there is not much they can do about it but move, as the law does not protect you from this sort of anomaly.
How to Prevent Rental Nightmares
Just as your landlord or prospective landlord may request a credit report from you and proof of your current income, the same is true from you. You can find out if the home is entering foreclosure or if the landlord is on the up and up. A good rule of thumb is to check out the county recorder office in your area – found at the city or government website for your location. Searches are free and will tell you if the house is in foreclosure or not.
Other Home Rental Tips
It is always better to use a property management company that has an established history with home rentals, than a sole proprietor. This is because a company has a rating, and more laws that they must abide by, over the latter. You can easily do some online research and see what others have to say about the company, if they are getting sued, and if they have any recent complaints against them. As a renter you need to make sure that you are getting a deal that is in your best interests as well!
What Comprises Truly Great Service at a Restaurant?
For those of you out there who demand the best service when you eat out, what truly comprises great service at a restaurant? I am sure there will be comments aplenty of this posts, as a great deal of people eat out at restaurants all of the time. That being said – this is just purely my own opinion on what constitutes good service at a restaurant, not necessarily the law of the trade. Your comments and opinions are openly welcomed. Let’s enhance this blog to make it show that we, as consumers, can demonstrate what we expect to get when eating out.
The Server is Half the Experience
Whoever serves you will ultimately create half of your experience when dining out. How often do they check on you? How many times do you have to ask to get your drink refilled? Are they friendly, informative and courteous? These are the must threes in my book: they must be friendly and informative, let you know about specials, explain different dishes, etc. A good server checks on you often to see how you are doing, refills the glasses without being asked, or asking if you would like more. They make sure that you are catered to during your time spent at the establishment.
The Food is the Other Half
How long did it take to get your meal? Was it presented in a fashion that was attractive? Was the food served as promised in the menu, and was it of the quality that you expected? These are the other must threes. The food must be presented properly. It should be high quality and cooked to request. And it should always be served as promised on the menu.
Please, add your comments and opinions – let’s make this blog long folks!
Sometimes You Get What you Pay For, Other Times you Don’t!
For sure there are places that we know what to expect when it comes to the quality of the food that was are served and the service that we can expect to receive. In a nutshell, you get what you pay for most of the time. Right? But then there are those restaurants that charge too much for the food and provide a lax service that makes you grunt, especially when it comes time to tender the bill. And my perspective on this is as such: if you want to charge a certain rate for a dinner at your restaurant, make sure that the service given exceeds the price that the customer is expected to pay. Simple enough, right?
Case and Point
I have eaten out at many steakhouses in my day, good and bad, expensive and cheap – although when I have the pockets I always opt for the pricier ones because they generally serve better food and offer better service. But when it comes to certain steakhouses in Arizona, some are better left off the diner map. For example, I compared two meals I ate, one at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and the other at Fleming’s. Herein lies the irony – Paul Fleming used to own both, but he sold Ruth’s Chris a few years back and now the service is much different; the entire experience is different.
How Does this Happen?
Paul knew how he wanted to run his restaurants. I ate at Flemings about a week ago the service was fantastic. The food even better. The experience one of a kind. The bill, pretty darn hefty, but worth it for what I got. I would have gotten a similar bill at Ruth’s but half the service, and less presentation. It seems like Paul truly has a significant influence over how restaurants he owns are run, as was seen at Fleming’s.
Tipping on the Pretax Total is Way Outdated
Have you ever been out to eat at restaurant with your folks or your grandparents and when the bill comes they fret over the tip amount to leave? Certainly many people struggle with gratuity, and some even read Forbes guide to gratuity so they know what to tip, when and where. But come on people – tipping is simple: you leave a certain amount and that amount increases with the amount of service that you receive. So, much like a report card, where everybody starts off with a zero and that total raises as you submit work and it is graded, the same is true with tipping.
Where did this Pretax Total Mish Mash Come From?
But then there are – mostly found with older traditional people – those who refuse to base their tip on the total, rather they use the pretax total to derive a percentage from and tip based upon that number. So what, what’s a few bucks, like twenty cents more, Please! This pretax mish mash emanates from those who believe they should not pay gratuity on taxes, like it really matters. When in reality, these same people fail to realize how much of the tip that they leave is actually seen by the server.
What Comes out of the Server’s Tip
When you tip a server, they in turn must tip other employees that were associated with the meal that you just enjoyed. The busing person who set and cleared your table gets a tip. The bartender who prepared your drinks gets a tip. And the host that seated you gets a tip. In fact, out of a $20 tip for a meal, a server is lucky to even see $12 of that tip. Keep this in mind the next time you fret over a pretax total.
Dinner Theatre Restaurants Gaining Popularity in Arizona
If you have not been keeping your eyes peeled for all of the new types of restaurants that are opening in your city, you may want to peruse online or through your local phone book to find a dinner theatre. Not a new concept at any rate, but one that is now daftly gaining popularity as more people are growing bored with the concept of not being entertained while they eat. Dinner theatres are basically a theatre play combined with a restaurant. Most often they serve fine foods and offer great service, and you get to watch a play while you eat.
In Phoenix, Arizona, there is a very popular dinner theatre restaurant called Mystery Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theater. I believe the restaurant is actually rated at least three stars, but I recall it being rated four stars. They offer a full menu of great foods, like steaks and seafood, and a good wine list. You get a nice seat, but don’t get too comfortable as you will be asked to participate in the murder mystery unveiled before you as you eat. It’s entertaining, and it’s interactive; like playing clue over a fine meal.
The popularity of these dinner theatre restaurants is truly showing its might as more are popping up all over Phoenix, including a new one at the Greyhound track, called Copperstate Dinner Theatre. And why not? What a great way to go on a date and really enjoy your meal with an interactive dinner theater. And for those of you who are looking for a simple change of pace, you can find them at these exclusive restaurants, as well as a few more that are scattered around Arizona.
Have a Siltbreeze for the Holidays
Going through a list of releases from Siltbreeze, just examining the first ten or so that they put out is pretty astonishing considering that it was almost twenty years ago.
There’s the Dead C, the Gibson Bros., and Sebadoh. It’s shocking to just think about the foresight – or at least the taste – that the folks running that label had.
More recently, Siltbreeze has had a vociferous presence at SXSW for years and has been touting the likes of Times New Viking, Psychedelic Horeshit, Mayyors and Eat Skull for just as long as any blogger would care to recall. And while those names aren’t widely known as of yet, they might be soon. I’m sure the same thing was said of Sebadoh in 1989.
Disregarding the historical importance of this little label, Siltbreeze has, in one last gasp, put out two new discs. Just in time for Christmas – your parents will surely dig ‘em.
Again the names of these groups aren’t going to be pretty or well known, but judging from the source, there’s gotta be some relevance to it all.
Der Teenage Panzerkorps (no, I really have no idea if they’re actually German) comes up with a frantic mix of dead-pan and over zealous singing atop of skewed post-punk tunes. It’s oddly catchy given the context and the noticeable lack of melodic vocal ability.
In contrast The Love Is So Fast chooses to work with a larger rhythmic pallet, albeit just as lo-fi as DTP. The tempos of TLISF tend to be a bit slower than DRP as well, but the group makes up for that by incorporating what sounds like an army of synthesizers and keyboards, almost drowning out the vocals. It’s not quite Lydia Lunch or something off of the No New York compilation, but I bet they own that disc.
City of Phoenix Using Candid Approach to Quell Stray Cat Breeding
You always hear about how many stray animals are roaming the streets of major cities, and how little the cities actually do about it. That being said, there are some newer strategies being implemented by some major cities that will surely help to quell the amounts of breeding the occurs between stray cats, which is the primary cause of more stray cats – they breed incessantly and that only contributes more to the problem. One of the most plausible solutions to the problem of breeding and over breeding is to spay and neuter all animals, so they cannot breed out of control.
The city of Phoenix, Arizona, has taken a newer approach to this problem. Like many major cities, they lack the funds to effectively combat the stray cat problem. But they have enough funds to try and do something to control these numbers. Anybody who finds a stray cat in Phoenix can take it in to the local shelter which will spay or neuter the cat for free. The cat will then be set free again in the city. Sad I know. But at least by doing this to all strays that they find, they can eventually come to a solution for the problem.
When you take a look at the alternatives, spaying and neutering all cats found is better than having to euthanize them. Still, more people need to step up to the plate and do their part to control stray animal populations. This is just the first step in the right direction. One can only hope that over time there will be even more plausible solutions to animal control that do not involve killing innocent animals in the future.
Newer Dental Credit Card Offers Low Interest Rates – Eases Patient Finances
A newer dental credit card has made its way across the counters of numerous dental offices over the past decade, and it’s called Care Credit – a subsidiary of GE Money Bank. Basically, this is a low cost credit card that can only be used for dental work, hospital bills, and some veterinarians also accept it for payment of vet bills. But the main premise of this card is to offer consumers a way to pay for necessary dental treatments without going broke from the out of pocket costs in the process.
How it Works
You apply for and get approved for this dental credit card that is the first step; their credit requirements are lax, and so many people will get the green light. Then you present it at the time of payment to your dentist who charges the balance due to the card. You can use up all of your available and approved credit line, which is then billed as a very low interest credit card payment, and can even be paid online at their website; the interest rate is very low, making the cost of financing needed dental care more affordable for all consumers who hold this dental credit card.
Who is Eligible?
Anybody who is a US citizen that has the credit rating and income that meets their minimum requirements is eligible for this dental credit card. I have used this company in the past to finance costly root canals and crowns, and ended up paying monetary amounts of interest until I had paid off the card. And there is no prepayment penalty. This might make sense for those of you out there who need a treatment urgently but cannot afford to pay for it all at once.
Do Some Pet Lovers Take it Too Far?
Have you ever been over to a friend’s house, or a relative’s house, or anybody’s home for that matter, and noticed how much they baby their pets? We all love our pets there is no doubt about that. But do some people take babying their pets too far? Case and point: we all know that crazy old man or woman who owns like forty five cats or dogs, smells like them from about a mile away, is an avid member of PETA and wears clothing that is adorned with pets and their pictures, or even has a cat coffee mug. Are they a little overboard on their love for animals? Is this a freakish display?
Certainly animal over breeding, puppy mills and backyard breeding has contributed to the rise in homeless animals or animals that must be taken into animal shelters, often being killed after a while because of lack of funds or willing families who will accept them. But, does over babying our animals and pets by adopting hundreds at a time really help the situation? Many times these same people lack the funds to properly care for the animals, and in the end they end up having to try and find a way to make ends meet, which is nearly impossible when you have so many pets to care for; it drains all of your resources.
The solution: love animals and do your part, within reason. If you can’t afford to adopt fifty animals, then start donating to local animal shelters. Heck, volunteer your time and help them for free – that will make changes happen. If you can, even recruit friends and family who can help to find homes for pets. Only take in the pets that you can afford to provide for efficiently, otherwise you are equally contributing to the problem.