OlehGirl.com
Poof! Money evaporates here
So like one month ago exactly I rented this apartment and had to run to the bank to do all kinds of stuff, like putting 20,000 sheks into an untouchable fund in the event I damage the apartment, which I did via a bank loan. Because I have to pay the full years’ rent in advance, my mother wired me the money to do so and it is still sitting there in the dollar account as the landlady and her husband have not yet given me directions to putting it into their account. In the meantime, because the exchange rate was at a serious low, my bank manager convinced me it would be better to take a 15k shekel loan to cover the moving expenses, initial rent check, $950 payment to the crooks who are running the real estate agency (I really should post about what all those people have done. I will note that I now have a new phone with a new phone number, in part because they have been calling me between 5-13 times a day, every day and harassing me) rather than converting anything over. So ok. Now 15k sheks is about $3,500 dollars. Granted basically $2,000 went to the rent and the real estate crooks. Then there was the 2k sheks I paid to Kosso the mover (about $500). Then the electric company informed me that they had only been guestimating my payments every month in the previous apartment and that now, according to the meter, I owed them an additional 400 sheks to make up for their undercharging me for 2 years. Somehow, the water bill for both July and August was 3 times higher than it was for the other months of the year (generally running about 85 sheks a month –now July was at 312 and August at 270! What the hell!). Then there were additional cleaning supplies and stuff like that, that you always have to get when you move apartments. But I still have to get furniture stuff for the new place (yo, a bookcase or two)…
In short, checking my bank account, I have not only gone through the entire 15,000 sheks I borrowed but also my monthly salary and it is not even the end of the month. I honestly cannot figure out where it is all going. I don’t eat out (well actually, I did during the 3 day-moving period which cost 150 sheks more than I would spend in a month). I don’t go to movies, or plays or any other entertainment things that cost money. I mean, I splurged on one movie in the last two years! Food cannot be costing me that much because I only eat one meal a day! I’m sitting down today and trying to figure out where to cut down on costs but good l-rd from where I don’t know.
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| Print article | This entry was posted by Yael on September 20, 2007 at 11:11 am, and is filed under Uncategorized. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
(Photo by Dani Machlis)


about 2 years ago
You seem to have been taken for quite a ride!
2000 shekels for moving is way overpriced, as I have managed to move an entire 3 bedroom apartment from tel aviv to ramat gan for 600 shekels.
Secondly, you do not have to pre pay for an entire years rent, you must only write predated checks for each month you will be staying at the apartment.
I know how hard it is to find apartments here, but real estate was a bad pick. Not that they are criminals, but the price they charge is criminal!
You seem to be living quite the high life if your monthly rent is $950, as this is the monthly income of the majority of Israel’s family. Be thankful you are able to afford a luxury like this.
The 20 000 you put into holdings is was unecessary, as all that is required by law, is that you obtain a cheque bankait, which will usually run you in the neighbourhood of 5000 shekels.
Most apartments require you pay only your last months rent in advance, so when the time comes to move, you are able to save as a result of your last month’s rent already being paid. If you had done this at your previous apartment, you may have been saved the need to aquire a loan for the move.
In any case, you are in Israel, and must be as ruthless and penny pinching as possible. If not, this situation will only repeat itself over and over again in the coming years. Be wise, and learn to fight back against people who try to take advantage.
Shana tovah
about 2 years ago
Israel –you obviously haven’t rented in Tel Aviv within the last year. Things have changed from 2 years ago when I rented with a 5000 shek guarantee and a $650 month rent. Now, 2-room apartments are at least $800 a month and you would be darn lucky to find that. I needed a 2 1/2 and the minimum that I found in over a month of looking was $900 –and it was, of course, scooped out from under me by the first person to walk in to view it (I was the second). Because the prices have gone so sky-high and because there are so few apartments compared to people who need them, the landlords can pretty much demand –and get –anything. 20k guarantees are now the norm (I have friends who’ve had to put even more into a guarantee). I got the apartment when I agreed to pay them the full year upfront –else they were going to give it to either the young couple with baby in tow that were offering $1100 a month for it and the set of roommates who were trying to top them by saying they’d go up to $1200 for it. They didn’t want to rent to someone who did not have 2 people to sign a guarantee for the balance of the year’s rent and, as a single olah here, I don’t have the requisite family ready to stick out their necks to sign. Makes renting much harder –many people won’t rent to olim-without-family-here at all, as I discovered, because of not their not having those guarantors.
Things have definitely gone crazy with renting in Tel Aviv. I could not afford this on the salary of a single job. This year I am working a both a full-time job and a half-time job. Life in Tel Aviv.
about 2 years ago
I guess a lot of your money goes to transport because I remember in a lot of your posts you’ve written about rushing to Beer Sheva by train or cab, and I guess the cost of that adds up a lot. Sorry I have no suggestions of how you can save money in this area but maybe you can think of ways to cut transport costs.
Also, where do you shop for food? I shop in Chetzi hinam, which is much cheaper compared to other super’s like sufersal.
Me and my husband were looking at our shopping recepits to see which items cost the most and can we live without them. For example, we were paying 30 shekels for a big bottle of OJ, and for that price we realised we could live without it.
Then of course there are the cats…have you shopped around to try to get the best price for cat food? Maybe buying it from a wholesaler?
about 2 years ago
Did you say you had to pay the whole years rent in advance? I guess I’ll quit complaining about the Canadian requirements for renting apartments for my kids, I thought they were outrageous but compared to that they are benign.