Obscene rent cost

Traveler

Traveler

Senior Member
Location
San Diego County
Just saw on this mornings news that the average rent in San Diego is $ 1,887 / month for a 1 bedroom apartment. :aargh:

That is up 8% over last year.
 

The only way to deal with that is to have government rent control. Other than that, the prices are subject to the marketplace.
 
We are experiencing a surge in my area for newly created apartments in old commercial buildings.

It appears that the rents are directed at empty nesters with sizeable assets or young professionals that are willing to share space.

The high rents also seem to be an attempt to keep the Haves at a safe distance from the Havenots. I suppose that has always been true but it feels like an attempt at gentrification in my city.

It is still possible in this area to find inexpensive apartments in outdated nondescript complexes like the one that I live in.
 

Yep very expensive in London too... anything between £1000 for a run down one bed, to up to £5,000 depending on the area of the city


Here's an example of one of the most basic one bed apartments you can get...and it's priced at a whopping £1,192 PCM... which is the equivalent of 1.692 USD ..on top of that there's a last months' rent and agent fees of just under £400.. ( a total of almost £3,000 )... before anyone spends even one night there for the most basic apartment

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-72253553.html

..going up market but still only one bed.. you can pay ( if you're daft enough)... £4,693 PCm for this one bed (USD $6661.00) ... http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-62870287.html ( equivalent to £1,083 per week)... and bear in mind these apartments are much smaller generally than apartments in the USA too...on top of all that rent there's a monthly fee of council tax to find as well...

Shocking!!
 
Many consider higher rents are in more desirable neighborhoods, while lower rents are not. There are apt. complexes in this city that are lower rent than we are currently paying, but we definitely wouldn't live in the areas they are in.

Actually, as long as people will pay the higher rents, for nicer places, those high rents will continue. Basically it's called "supply and demand".

Our two-bedroom "bungalow" apartment, which is attached to the end of the building we live in, is a one-story. Meaning, we have nobody living on top of us. There are only four of these types of apartments in the complex and, at one time, there was a "waiting list" to rent one. The rent is somewhat higher for ours than for a regular 2-bedroom.
We have told a few neighbors about our plans on moving out and one definitely wanted our apartment when we did move out. He had to move though.

My wife will complain about the yearly rent increase, but I tell her that rent increases go with renting.

There are those, that live in other parts of this city, that couldn't, or wouldn't, pay the rent cost of the area we live in.
 
Yes, but NYC (as I suspect of any major city) has a definite bottom number.

You can't rent a studio apartment ANYWHERE in NYC for less than $700-$800. That means you'll live in a 10x20 room, sometimes with the shared bathroom down the hall, and get to pay through the nose for the privilege.

Even here in Hicktown USA you can't rent a ROOM for less than $125/week. That's usually a 10x12 with (sometimes) heat, a window if you're lucky and bedbugs if you aren't.
 
In the 1960's I paid $70/month for a very nice little house. My was monthly income, after taxes was aprox $ 525. So, I was spending 13% of my income on rent. This continued until the mid 70's, when the "boomers", and their duel incomes, began to change everything. Once that happened, all hell broke loose.
 
And yet the claim is that more people are moving to major metropolitan centers.

How do they afford it? Or are they mainly on the dole?
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My grandchildren, who are young adults, are all living in major cities. They prefer it. One grandson lives in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, which has become gentrified. The way he can afford it is that he shares an apartment, and he also doesn't own a car. Owning a car is not considered a plus in NY. Within the city, they have good public transportation, and when traveling anywhere else, they use Uber or rent a car for longer trips. Seems to work for them.

The big house in the suburbs with a lawn, etc. seems to be a thing of the past.
 
Housing and rental costs are all a reflection of our growing Overpopulation, and the lack of construction keeping up with demand. Higher gas prices and automobile costs, etc., are forcing more and more people into overcrowded Urban environments, where they are squeezed into available spaces like ants in an anthill. This trend will most likely continue, and prices will rise to the point where millions are working hard and spending most of their money on little more than a bed, small closet, and a shared bathroom...What a miserable way to live.
 
don m. said:
housing and rental costs are all a reflection of our growing overpopulation, and the lack of construction keeping up with demand. Higher gas prices and automobile costs, etc., are forcing more and more people into overcrowded urban environments, where they are squeezed into available spaces like ants in an anthill. This trend will most likely continue, and prices will rise to the point where millions are working hard and spending most of their money on little more than a bed, small closet, and a shared bathroom...what a miserable way to live.
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Amen !
 
Don M. said:
Housing and rental costs are all a reflection of our growing Overpopulation, and the lack of construction keeping up with demand. Higher gas prices and automobile costs, etc., are forcing more and more people into overcrowded Urban environments, where they are squeezed into available spaces like ants in an anthill. This trend will most likely continue, and prices will rise to the point where millions are working hard and spending most of their money on little more than a bed, small closet, and a shared bathroom...What a miserable way to live.
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Many factors involved IMO. And much of it depends on where someone wants to live, needs to live, and the occupation that they think they need,that dictates where they must live.

There are many reasonably priced properties near here. Now if a person just needs to be in the trendy local...Then greater Cincinnati is likely not going to fill the bill.

That said , a person can ....go into the city 12 miles from here and overpay if they wish?

BTW....I have a distant cousin that lives in NYC {Manhattan} Bought her apartment in 1965 ...It is worth a bunch more now than it cost her then.
 
Don M. said:
Housing and rental costs are all a reflection of our growing Overpopulation, and the lack of construction keeping up with demand. Higher gas prices and automobile costs, etc., are forcing more and more people into overcrowded Urban environments, where they are squeezed into available spaces like ants in an anthill. This trend will most likely continue, and prices will rise to the point where millions are working hard and spending most of their money on little more than a bed, small closet, and a shared bathroom...What a miserable way to live.
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That’s the great thing about retirement, a person doesn’t have to live in, or near, a big city anymore! They no longer have to make the big bucks that big cities offer.
 
I have been apartment hunting, town of approx 100,000 with 4 major grocers, a Walmart and you get a one bedroom, newly redone bathroom and kitchen with new cabinets, ceramic top stove, bottom mount fridge, and a dishwasher, laundry hookups, new ceramic and laminate floors.

The building is about 30 years old and each unit is newly redone as the tenant moves out. Cost is approx $950 to $1050 and includes heat and water, hydro extra.

Don't ask me where cause I'm not telling.....I am on a waiting list :D
 
Really, Bottom Line of this is.........if people can't afford to live in certain areas, they can't afford it. Others can afford it and do live there.

I use to work for a company in Denver, CO. Some of the employee's that worked in the same building that I did, definitely lived in areas of Denver that wife and I sure wouldn't. Nightly shootings, police helicopter over their houses or apartments almost on a nightly basis........simply, "no thanks". We had a house in Parker, some 28 miles south/southeast of Denver. Very nice "small town" environment (but not nearly so much now though). A house came up for sale in the Development that we lived in. I told one the ladies at work, who happened to live in one of those "not so desirable" areas of Denver, about the house. She said to me, "Why would I want to live down there around all of those snooty people? No thanks." I looked at her and said, "because the crime element is much better than where you live." She knew this, but still considered the area "snooty". Well, wife and I had descent paying jobs and could afford the area, so we were buying a house there. Actually, Parker wasn't "snooty", but down the freeway in Highlands Ranch, definitely was. To outside people that is. Heck, even the movie theater in Highlands Ranch was extremely "up-to-date"..........IOW, very cool looking.
 
WhatInThe said:
Since California is considered to have the highest poverty rate in the nation high rents would be a reflection and/or cause of high poverty.

http://www.politifact.com/californi...alifornia-has-nations-highest-poverty-rate-w/
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When I lived there, and to the best of my knowledge it has not changed, was there were no restrictions whatsoever on how often or how much landlords could increase rents. One place I lived, for example, the manager told me the landlord's policy was to increase rents by 20% every 6 months. The excuse I heard long ago was any type of restrictions or rent control would mean lowering property values. I know nothing about real estate, but the approach in general certainly backfired: individuals needing to move frequently because they could not keep up with increasing rents, many individuals ending up homeless, and large numbers of people needing government-subsidized rent assistance. And as for the lowering property values excuse, blocks of apartment complexes emptied and were abandoned because people could not afford to live there.
Making matters worse in one specific area, privately-owned apartment buildings were taken over by large real estate companies. Not only did this result in rents increasing even more, but unreasonable restrictions on family size, etc. So, while I definitely regret leaving, I had no other options. And the same was true for many other people, too.

It may sound naïve, but in my opinion individuals who work for a living (or have other legitimate sources of income, like retirees, etc.) should be able to afford decent housing. But from what I've seen, decent housing is quickly vanishing- part due to greedy landlords, and part in some places at least various programs that give a higher priority to individuals who don't work over individuals who do.
 
...raise rent 20% every six months... Which in turn causes turnover. I've seen that more than once.

Many consider renters transient and assume they'll be gone anyway but local housing markets & economies don't support frequent moving. Many get stuck then fearing losing their roof tolerate increases longer than they should which causes financial hardship which in tuns hardship into ruin. This is what many landlords count on. If they get at least one rent increase per tenant they're looking good, if they get 2-3 they're in bonus territory. The storage unit industry is like this in many areas. This is why there are constant promotions like first month free etc. Like many businesses and corporation many landlords would rather see mega profits than steady dependable income, especially corporate run apartments.
 

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