Can my friend screw over people to save herself money? Maybe, but that’s a shitty thing to do. Property will like come after her for the money as well and take her to court. You sign a contract and that what you’ve agreed to. Pay the money to break the lease or suck it up and live there.

1. Craigslist is a TERRIBLE idea.

2. There are some massage therapy schools in the area that may be able to have students practice on you for less.

3. Check with your insurance and/or doctor. If it's medically related they may be able to get you into a PT who also does massage.

I can't speak to the value of the insurance, but I will say that my sewer line collapsed a few years ago and it was Terra cotta. Cost about 7k to get it repaired. Because I didn't have insurance, I had to pay it all. Just what I wanted to spend my money on. Could have come from roots from my neighbor's tree. They had a silver maple, and they are notorious for destroying underground pipes.

Regarding the expectations, house has a fly problem (they’re everywhere), the other house mates are filthy (refuse to clean shared spaces) and she was initially told that she would be able to move rooms (she didn’t get the room she wanted) in a few months but now has been told she can’t move anymore.

I would strongly encourage her to not “just choose to stop paying”. Barring unlivable conditions (mold, pest infestation, broken HVAC, etc), it’s kind of hard to just break a contract she willingly signed. Yes, breaking a lease illegally will have negative consequences for her, and I imagine going to court while you’re on a visa is probably not a good look.

Could you go into more detail about it not being “what she expected”? Depending on what she means by that, she might have some options. But realistically, unless it’s something really bad, she’s gonna either have to stay there for the duration of the lease or find 3 months rent to break it. For the same reason that it wouldn’t be fair for her landlord to decide he wanted her apartment back and that she had to leave immediately

You may need to post the same question on the Washington Reddit page. Their laws many be different than Baltimore's

This sounds like a good idea, get the system looked at first.

Another problem, is if your clothes washer does not have a lint trap, you need to use those metal mesh socks which attach to the gray water line in the slop sing. . I had a back up due to a lint build up Had to have the main sewer line in the house cleaned to the clean out to the yard. Also ask your plumber about installing a safety valve to prevent sewage backing up into the house.

Ive been to the one in Baltimore twice and both times though it was absolutely terrible.

Bad service, food burnt, over salted, etc.

Fogo de Chau is awesome in other cities but seems to be poorly run in Baltimore

Yeah. It’s 3 months rent. Which is a little steep

People are different in what is comfortable for them. With that logic I could comment on people that are hot at 75. 70 is chilly to me and to be honest, I would prefer somewhere in the mid 70s to about 80.

Typically the lease contract will have a specific penalty for breaking a lease (oftentimes 1-2 months rent)

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None of those are stroads. A stroad would have sidewalks, constant businesses directly off it, billboards, etc. All of those are roads.

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Why is your phone not in do not disturb mode when you sleep?

Homeserve is subsidized by the city and if you are eligible for it, yes you should get it immediately.

Service line coverage is for your door to the street. Back up of sewage & drain is coverage from your door to inside your home.

Thanks!

Have a plumber come out and have a inspection done on it ie they will run a push camera down the line and they will be able to tell you if there is any issues ie cracked pipe offset joints etc that would be a problem in the future. That will cost depending on who you get $2-500. It will be cheaper in the long run to know what’s there. Also being a row home depending on how it’s built if your house connection is on street side you may only be responsible for 5’ of sewer line before the county or city take over if it’s in the alleyway it’s typically done from the cleanout or so many feet. Myself included do not deal with those type of insurance companies due to the fact that they want it done as cheaply as possible to the point of just wanting a joint fixed when the whole lines trashed and have actually tried to hassle me over the cost of pipe. Also easy insurance don’t dump grease down the drain and say no to flushable wipes.

Good to know, thank you!

Thanks, this was very helpful! I know exactly where the clean out is, don’t have any backups, and I do have a snake of modest length. But it’s that time of year again — the time I worry about whether I should’ve gotten X insurance coverage 😂

The real question I guess is, since there’s nothing alive anywhere near the drain lines, I guess there’s no risk of roots (we have a handful of city planted trees on the sidewalk but nothing in the alley in back). Is there anything else that I should be reasonably concerned that drano or a snake can’t fix between my house and where the city takes over?

HomeServe exterior line coverage is 100% worth it. My main exit line developed a hole, let your imagination run wild with that. Filed a claim, guy came out with an endoscope and found the hole, his company evaluated options, and within something like three weeks my drain was fixed, all covered by the policy.

Edit to add: as far as I can tell this insurance works the way insurance is supposed to work, by pooling risk. You look at it and wonder how they don't get killed by adverse selection, and I still sorta wonder that considering that it's not compulsory. But if you step back and look at how we finance fixing a city full of 100-year-old drains, the answer is everybody pays $10/mo and we fix them as they break.