Searching for an apartment isn't fun.
I don't know if you are aware of this or not, but apparently 99.99% of the country is in a housing slump. Click on CNN or CNBC's websites and you will see a stream of bad numbers about prices, new construction starts, and existing home sales.
I live in the .01% of the country that isn't in a housing slump. Check that....I live in the .01% of the country that has declining property values, dwindling home sales, and outrageous rental rates.
When I first moved down here, a 1/1 in a decent community went for about $515-$550. A 2/1 or a 2/2 would be in the $600-$700 range. You could by a 2/2.5 condo in any one of about a dozen new developments for about 150K to 200K. Since the plan was to get down here for 4 years and then pack up and get a tenure tracker somewhere, I opted to rent. As I am about to begin year 7 I'm still glad I rented, because the housing market is in a calamity now.
To compare today with then, those condos are now going for 125K to 175K, so a fairly substantial drop in value. Glad I didn't buy. However, no one sent the landlords the memo that we were in a slump, as the rents for a 2/1 and 2/2 are now in the $750 - $1,000 range. To me, this makes absolutely no sense. If the value of a property has dropped, and the state legislature has made it a point to dramatically reduce property taxes, why are rents still increasing? I'm sure that none of them have been renovated, at least not to justify the additional cost. Since most landlords down here are crooks (see below), I'm sure that the building conditions have probably worsened.
If I was going to be here 7 more years, I would buy one of these condos on the cheap, live in it, and unload it when the market returns. Since that isn't going to be the case, I am stuck renting. Also, I am a professional renting in a college town. Realtors treat professionals as buyers...meaning you have a job, you are going to be here a while, so let's sell you a house. Welcome to the community. Realtors and landlords treat renters as third-class citizens. You are going to be here for 4-5 years to get your degree and go somewhere else OR you can barely afford to make a car payment or just went through foreclosure, so we don't have to be nice to you. The place I am renting from now sent me their move out paperwork other day. The instructions are more detailed and thorough than a syllabus for an upper level chemistry class. I have to vacuum the coils on the refrigerator (?!?), clean the baseboards, pay to steam clean the carpet, and replace chips in the tile. If they decide that these repairs are not good enough, I will be billed. If they take $100 of the deposit, they will then charge me an additional $75 just because they feel like it.
To make matters worse, new places aren't cooperating. On Thursday, I e-mailed 4 real estate agents, each with multiple rental listings that I am interested in, and as of today I have heard back from none of them. I included my signature block, which includes my degree and my job (which actually has a name affiliated with it that should mean something in this town) and still nothing. Tomorrow I am going to call them and/or drop by their offices and see who really wants to rent these units. I will likely have some good stories to share.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Frustration
5 comments:
Found a place. Paying more a month than I initially budgeted, but it is a brand new unit (never been lived in) and they came down $100 from the listing to get into my price range. Once the leasing agent asked if I was a student and I responded with "No, I'm a faculty," the conversation changed dramatically.
Congrats on getting a place. I just assume most landlords are crooks. But in their defense, the property rental business has to be the craziest shit possible, although I'm basing this assumption solely on my experiences as a renter. And the idea that you might get your deposit back is a myth perpetrated by the media to keep the rental market afloat. "Boys, there ain't gonna be no fuckin' deposit."
I don't know. Up until this point I received every deposit I have ever paid back in full. These people here won't do that for me because they are the worst kind of crooks.
Congrats on finding a new place Ron, and for the realtors finally deciding to treat you on some grown man shit.
I was only able to retain a deposit once, and that was by convicing them to accept it as last months rent, by using my amazing power of bullshit on a small Burmese man who didn't communicate all that well (my first apartment in Brooklyn).
"Nah boss, it wouldn't make sense to give you last months rent since you're just gonna have to turn around and give it back to me when we move out...(these aren't the droids you're looking for...)"
When your deposit is $1700, you gotta fight for that ish any way you can.
And while the Reverend is right about the rental business probably being a colossal headache to anyone who invests in it, Landlords as a general rule should be held in the same category that America holds child molestors and Osama Bin Laden.
On the topic, for anyone who cared, the "Let's Get Evicted" skit on District Selectman was 100%shoot, not a work. I almost wanna send my old landlord the disc, to let him know he made it on a rap album. But then he might find out my whereabouts, hahaha.
Congrats on finding a new place Ron, and for the realtors finally deciding to treat you on some grown man shit.
I was only able to retain a deposit once, and that was by convicing them to accept it as last months rent, by using my amazing power of bullshit on a small Burmese man who didn't communicate all that well (my first apartment in Brooklyn).
"Nah boss, it wouldn't make sense to give you last months rent since you're just gonna have to turn around and give it back to me when we move out...(these aren't the droids you're looking for...)"
When your deposit is $1700, you gotta fight for that ish any way you can.
And while the Reverend is right about the rental business probably being a colossal headache to anyone who invests in it, Landlords as a general rule should be held in the same category that America holds child molestors and Osama Bin Laden.
On the topic, for anyone who cared, the "Let's Get Evicted" skit on District Selectman was 100%shoot, not a work. I almost wanna send my old landlord the disc, to let him know he made it on a rap album. But then he might find out my whereabouts, hahaha.
Post a Comment