In 2010, 33.1% of Americans were renting rather than owning and analysts say that this percentage will probably continue to rise.

This expanding rental market has presented a great opportunity to homeowners who are unable to sell their homes. If you’re considering renting out your house, there are some important things you should know before taking the fatal plunge.

What Does It Take?

Being a landlord is not a walk in the park. Even with model tenants, there are many responsibilities that will fall on your shoulders. The more planning you do, the more prepared you’ll be for whatever comes your way.

The Lease
The first thing you need to do is draw up a lease. Unless you’re a law professional, you’ll need the help of an attorney to do this correctly. The lease spells out your rights as a landlord and the rights of your tenants. A good lease should include rental due date, late penalties, pet policies, rules of behavior, repairs, eviction terms, etc…

The Law
Each state has different landlord-tenant laws. Before renting out your house, read up on the laws in your state. They will influence certain terms of your lease; for example, security deposits. Make sure that what you write in your lease is in accordance with state laws.

Rent
How much to charge? That is the question. Since potential tenants will be shopping around for the best prices, you’ll need to set a competitive price. Find out what other landlords in your area are charging and then set a price that will attract tenants; but that also makes renting worth your while.

Insurance
Protect your property with rental home insurance. This is a policy that you’ll need to add to your existing homeowner’s policy. It covers legal costs, medical expenses, loss of rental income, and repairs. You should also encourage your tenants to buy renters insurance.

Getting the Word Out

Hiring a real estate agent can make finding tenants a lot easier, but the service can be pricey. Many landlords choose to minimize expenses by getting the word out on their own. Local newspapers are one good option, but you can reach a bigger pool of candidates through the internet.

RentalAds.com is a rental property website with thousands of rental choices and it attracts thousands of potential tenants. Renting out your house on the site is easy and free.

Choosing a Tenant

You’ve drawn up the lease, taken out an insurance policy, and listed your home. Now you get to choose the tenants. Make your choice very, very carefully!

You need to find a dependable person who will pay rent on time and who will keep the home in good condition. If you are going to share the home with the tenants, make sure they are people that you will feel comfortable living with.

One way to find good tenants is to ask for references, check criminal history, and look up their credit histories.

Happy Renting!

Renting out your house has many potential risks. However, if you take care to understand all your responsibilities, prepare thoroughly with professional help, and choose a good tenant; you can turn it into a good, profitable experience for you and your tenant.

The new iPhone 4S is said to be the most amazing phone yet. With its dual-core A5 chip, iOS, and iCloud ready to stream your information wherever you go, and a crystal-clear retina display, it’s easy to start drooling over all the tech specs and potential apps you would get when you upgrade.

But what to do with your current phone?

It’s still fairly new, in good condition, and definitely worth a few extra bucks – so reselling your phone could be a viable option rather than turning it into a neglected paper weight or simply tossing it into the trash.

However, before you list your phone up for grabs on eBay, there are a few simple steps you need to follow to ensure that you get the most for your phone.

Erase Your Information

Prepping your phone for resale is crucial for ensuring that your personal information is safe. The process is fairly simple, whether you have an android or an iPhone, and you can wipe your phone clean in almost no time.

For Android Phones: Android phones need to be wiped from multiple locations before being completely ready for resell. Unlike the iPhone, an Andoid stores data in internal memory as well as an SD card.

To wipe your internal memory, go to Settings, SD & Phone Storage and tap Factory Data Reset. This will remove all data on your phone and return it to its out-of-the-box state.

To wipe your SD Card, tap Settings and then SD & Phone storage (again). Hit the “Unmount SD Card” and then “Format SD Card” to erase all your information. For a more secure erase, plug it into your computer and reformat it again.

Although you can keep the SD card for yourself, it’s recommended that you consider selling your phone with an SD card to increase resale value. (Buying a brand new SD card is preferable to wiping an old one as it can increase sales’ price and keep your data safe).

For iPhones: Restoring your phone to its original factory settings is almost a no-brainer. Simply select the Settings app on your phone, select General, and scroll to the bottom of the menu.

There should be a “Reset” button at the bottom of the screen. Simply tap the “erase all contents and settings,” and you’ll be good to go. This performs a full wipe of all your data, so it’s almost as if your phone were fresh out of the box.

Additionally, you can go into iTunes and perform one last backup by hitting the “restore” button. For a more in depth tutorial on how to erase your data before resale, click here.

Unlock Your Phone

Unlocked phones go for much higher prices through various online retailers due to the fact that they are more compatible with networks worldwide. This untethers your phone from your current network, so individuals purchasing your phone can pick and choose which carrier they want to use.

We recommend using an unlocker program such as iPhonelox.com that will unlock your phone for less than $20. Although you can find step-by-step tutorials for unlocking your specific phone by simply doing a Google search, there will be less risk of damaging your phone when you go through the professionals.

Be sure to weigh the cost of unlocking your phone with the total resale price an unlocked phone to see if it’s worth the effort.

Deactivate Your Phone Number

Now to get rid of your phone number.
To disassociate your phone with your phone number, you can simply remove your SIM card (if you’re using AT&T or T-Mobile), which can then pop into your new phone if you so choose.

On the other hand, if you’re on Verizon or Sprint, you need to de-activate your phone by calling your carrier (since there is not SIM card to remove) or activating your new phone on the same number.

Final Thoughts

The above steps will not only help you get the best price when you sell your old phone, but help to keep your information safe and secure.

If you have any questions about restoring or unlocking your phone, feel free to leave a comment below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Another one of the most popular and delicious types of exotic food offered in Provo is Indian food, and with at least two Indian restaurants on University Avenue alone, you certainly have a lot of options when deciding where to get your fix.

One of our favorite Indian restaurants in Provo is Bombay House, where you truly get to experience India. Bombay House takes great pleasure in providing the Indian experience for “all five of your senses,” as they fill their restaurant with the music of ancient India, beautiful murals, and the scents, texture, and flavors of the most authentic Indian food in town.

One of Bombay House’s most popular dishes is the Chicken Tikka Masala, which includes chicken, garlic, ginger, and spices, served over rice and delicious when also eaten with naan. You can even specify how spicy you want your meal–we recommend the medium-hot level spice for a zesty and exciting dish.

For a different type of flavor, we also recommend is the Chicken Coconut Kurma, a chicken dish that contains coconut milk, garlic, ginger, cashews, spices, and golden raisins.

There is truly only one downside to dining at Bombay House, and that is its pricing. The Chicken Tikka Masala, for example, is $12.95; however, for this price, you get unlimited sides of rice, for which you will typically have to pay extra at other restaurants, and tons of food. We have yet to be able finish a complete meal while at the restaurant and have always had plenty of extras the next day, which we love.

Try Bombay House today!

Despite the fact that Tucano’s is a sort of all you can eat buffet, this tantalizing taste is often just enough to whet the appetite and will have you coming back for more.

Only problem is that Tucano’s is a little pricy and isn’t exactly the type of place that you want to be going once a week for lunch.

However, Braza Express is a financially more thrifty alternative and will keep your wallet feeling full and your stomach as well.

The slogan of Braza Express is that it is fresh Brazilian food served “The Brazilian Way.” This means that you get a serving of rice and beans, then your choice of a side, a salad, a roll and a serving of delicious grilled mat.

Although the menu is somewhat divided between types of meat, i.e. chicken and steak, you can mix and match to suit whatever you’re craving for that day.

Because the meats are slowly grilled, they’re never tough and always full of flavor. I got the barbecue chicken and was so pleased to find out that it not only melted in my mouth with juiciness, but it was also packed with enough flavor that it didn’t even need the hot sauce I was planning to throw on.

If you’re a red meat fan, you’ll be happy to know that the steak is even more succulent than the chicken and is seasoned with savory flavors like garlic to bring out the richness of the meat.

Although the sides might sound boring in comparison to the meat, they’re not to be overlooked. The rice and beans are different from something you’d get at a mexican restaurant and have a more garlicky taste.

Another option you get to choose from are delicious and exotic sides like cinnamon sugar fried bananas or fried and seasoned yucca. If you think this sounds a little heavy, remember that your meal comes with a salad too so you don’t have to feel too guilty.

Located at the bottom of the Zions Bank building right on University Avenue, Braza Express is easy to access and shouldn’t be missed.

In the past, if you’ve been looking for pizza that will both excite the taste buds and fill the stomach, you have to go to expensive restaurants like California Pizza Kitchen that can end up hurting the bottom line if you’re looking to pay for more than just yourself.

But Slab Pizza, built a couple of years ago beneath the apartment complex Campus Plaza, offers a delicious and gourmet way to get full without compromising your budget.

Its simple menu looks very modern and easy to read, almost like the chain Chipotle which offers very few ingredients in different ways.

One of the most popular pizzas is the Buffalo Chicken which uses a bleu cheese dressing as a base, topped with a more mild cheese and, of course, finished with some spicy buffalo chicken.

To make the experience even more complete, small strips of celery strings are artfully placed on the pizza to make the illusion of a wing dish transformed into a pizza.

Another popular pizza, as well as a personal favorite, is the Thai Chicken. With the house peanut sauce substituting the normal marinara, as well as roasted peppers, sesame seeds and garlic chicken, this pizza is a delicious blend of cultures.

But don’t think that it doesn’t satisfy like good, old-fashioned pizza. Each slice is topped with a good serving of mild, mozzarella cheese that creates a satisfying and almost guilty feeling.

And in case you’re worried this artsy, modern pizza parlor won’t have you full, for $4-$7 you can get any slice of pizza you want, and the slices are 1/4 of a large pizza.

This new restaurant adds to the ethnic flare of Provo’s downtown dining scene. With a bright red, green and yellow building, this restaurant is not easy to miss.

However, having just opened on October 9th, there are still many people who haven’t ventured inside yet. But its owners Jett and Arian Selvartnam want to change that.

These brothers want to give people a completely unique dining experience by offering Utah its first authentic Sri Lankan and Singaporean restaurant.

Using banana leaves to cook and serve their food, and only offering foods that are in season and will be good for your soul and body, this restaurant is truly one of a kind.

What to Get

I’ve always been a huge fan of Indian food, and I was pleased to see that Banana Leaf feels kind of similar dishes. So I ordered my favorite Indian curry: chicken tikka masala.

This rich curry is packed with rich cream and vibrant spices as well as an earthy tomatoey foundation to keep it grounded. But instead of rice, they brought us out plates of delicious Pa’an to eat with.

Pa’an is an extremely moist flatbread that is topped with butter, seasonings and garlic and it is the best spoon for curry anyone could ask for.

If you want something a little lighter than the masala, my husband got the ginger coconut tikka and that was delicious as well. Instead of a tomato base, his curry was made with coconut milk and had much more of a coastal vibe.

All in all, if you’re driving on University Avenue near Center street, you will not regret coming in to the Banana Leaf.

At 22 West Center, Station 22′s goal is to provide the professionals who work in downtown Provo with a quality place for healthy ingredients and good food.

Its owner, Richard Gregory, strives to use only the most high-quality ingredients to create food that not only tastes good, but is also supplying your body with real fuel that will be good for you in the long run.

As if that wasn’t enough, Station 22 also strives to use local and sustainable profit when they can. They know that one of the hardest industries to be in right now is anything small and local.

With no bailouts to make up for a recessed economy, local businesses like Station 22 are trying to support each other by using products that support the businesses around them.

This also helps ensure that your food is fresher, since it’s closer to the source, and it cuts down on emissions into the atmosphere that would have been caused by the transport of ingredients and goods that come from all over the globe.

Gregory ways that “we source our bread locally and plan to source local produce as soon as we can. Most of our dishware is made from recycled sources and/or is compostable.”

You feel that local, earthy aura as soon as you step in the doors with the walls covered in local art.

But the aesthetic and theory behind Station 22 isn’t the only thing that makes it great. The food is also phenomenal.

I got the Adventist which is a Ratatouille-inspired veggie sandwich. With layered roasted seasonal veggies with roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions, and red peppers all on a ciabatta roll, there was nothing left to be wanted.

If you’re looking for something a little more substantial, my husband got the Mighty Meatloaf sandwich which had bacon-wrapped meatloaf topped with sharp cheddar cheese, housemade ketchup and fresh lettuce & tomato.

Needless to say, we both came home happy.

One of my favorite ways to get my spicy food fix is with Thai food. Surprisingly, Provo has quite a good scene for Thai food, despite its lack of other delicious cuisines.

The best place out of the smattering of Thai restaurants has to be Spicy Thai. Not only is their location great, right off of University Avenue, and the food is incredible, but they’ve also got prices that make your mouth water that much more.

If you’re new to Thai food you simply must try the pad thai noodles and the masaman curry. These two dishes identify Thai food as the mix of Indian, Asian and Island cuisine that it is.

Pad Thai is a tangy and sweet noodle dish that is made from a fruit that is indigenous in Thailand and surrounding areas. But this dish is also made savory with some crushed peanuts for topping.

The mix of flavors definitely adds some pizzazz to your typical Asian noodle dish you could get at Panda Express. You can also get pad thai spicy too if you’re looking for a little heat.

Masaman is by far my favorite curry. This dish also includes the peanut flavoring that Thai food is so famous for. With a creamy, nutty base, Masaman also has sweetness from the coconut milk that gives the curry volume, and of course, spice. As with any dish at Spicy Thai, you can order your dish mild, hot or daring.

If you’re used to the thickness of Indian curries, you might be surprised to see the thinness of Thai curry, but that just means that they can put more delicious vegetables in it like potatoes, carrots, onions, and even some cashews!

Although I love watermelon and corn as much as anyone, I’m willing to say goodbye because I know that there will be many opportunities for me to eat all sorts of squash in the very near future.

Not only do I adore the squashes of fall, but I love the earthy spices of nutmeg and cumin that come with them. It all makes it so much easier to pack away all my swimsuits and shorts for the coming cold weather to know that I’m in for some good food.

And good food is definitely to be had at Pizzeria 712. This restaurant focuses on ingredients more than their menu, and as such, the items on the menu are always changing to reflect which ingredients are in season.

In fact, a quote that the restaurant lives by is, “When you have the best and tastiest ingredients, you can cook very simply and the food will be extraordinary because it tastes like what it is.”

As you can imagine, reading this made me that much more excited for my pizza.

In true fall spirit, the pizza I chose featured roasted butternut squash, caramelized onion, sage, and blue cheese.

The squash was in perfectly soft, little cubes and added an earthy sweetness. The sage and the caramelized onion played in a perfect bitter and sweet harmony and the blue cheese brought out all the other flavors with a melty, salty flavor.

As if the toppings weren’t enough to take my mouth on the ride of its life, the crust was somehow chewy and thin. No crispy, flavorless flakes here.

If you’re ever on State Street in Orem, Pizzeria 712 is well worth the visit.

(In case you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of Farmers Markets.)

But since every time I go to a good Farmers Market I lose all control and basically try one of everything, I feel like I can review the whole market as if it is one restaurant.

The Farmers Market that I visited most recently was the one located just south of Center Street and just off of 500 W in Provo. It’s held in the shady part of Pioneer Park and the booths run along the perfectly choreographed sidewalks ever so nicely.

Although you can never quite be sure if each booth will be there from week to week, there are some regulars that have become favorites of mine.

One of those booths has Thai food with the most exquisite spring rolls. Not only are they pretty huge and you can get three of them for three dollars, but the peanut sauce that comes with them is the perfect blend of savory and sweet.

Another personal favorite is the jalapeno jelly stand. They have a full range of mild to spiciest spicy (my husband chose mild while I am always pleased to go as spicy as they can give me), and all of them are delicious. They have samples for you, spread over a cracker with cream cheese, and you have more will power than me if you can try one without buying.

My favorite stand, however, happens to be one with a rainbow of homemade breads. You’ll find everything from sundried tomato focaccia, to cranberry orange walnut, to Jewish pumpernickel. They have all the breads in sample size so you can try liberally before you buy, but be warned, you’re going to leave on a carb high.