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The Rise of Renting in the U.S

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Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#121

Post by rhapsodic »

Animats wrote: post #117

Cheerleading for higher house prices used to be widespread, and was a big part of the problem. It's inflation, people. It's still the same house, for more money. The median house historically costs about 2.2x the median income. That number hit 4x nationally in 2007, and 10x in California. It's not that high this time, but it's still very high by historical standards.[1] San Francisco hit 10.5x in 2007, and now it's a…

> It may be time to look at applying antitrust laws to rental real estate.

Or better yet, look at repealing or modifying the laws that keep the supply of housing from rising along with the demand.

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#122

Post by timmaah »

seivan wrote: post #89
lowglow wrote: post #64

I've sorta turned my back on the standard american dream. Racing to new areas of growth, working to build someone else's dream, getting paid well immediately for performance, paying high rent, etc to afford the image of success, and making friends that participate in this same high ambition culture. Instead of making markets, markets start making you. All the rules, and "norms" we've collected around ourselves to par…

How does it work with having a companion. It might be easier to find someone with the same outlook. But if you're already in a relationship it's going to be an uphill battle.

My wife was into it 100%.

We sold the big expensive house and moved into a 25' Airstream almost 4 years ago. I felt like I wasn't getting ahead. A bit stuck. I know she did as well. A bit different from the grandparent we still work a normal 40 hour week with normal (remote) jobs but have kind of checked out of the normal american dream.

http://i.imgur.com/FQfQIlu.jpg That little dot in the middle is where we are spending this week. Middle of the Mojave Desert about 10 miles from any human.

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#123

Post by monknomo »

Ocerge wrote: post #71
blhack wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm about to get basically kicked out of a house I've been renting for 5 years. My lease expires in April, and I haven't been able to get a response back from the owners about renewing it. I understand, though... My neighborhood basically grew up around me, and my house is by far the cheapest rent in the neighborhood. The owners want to kick me out, remodel/demolish/rebuild the place where I live, and rent it for twi…

It's a bummer they won't even respond. Do you have legal grounds to get an answer on renewing a lease within a reasonable amount of time before you get kicked out (1-2 months)?

If it's like where I live, after your lease runs out you go to month to month. The owner could deliver 30 days notice to leave at any point from 30 days before the lease ends and then you must leave.

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#124

Post by Phlarp »

floppydisk wrote: post #76
irishcoffee wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this counter-point a lot. Its never clear to me how you invest the mortgage payment and also pay rent to live somewhere. Am I missing something? Sincere question.

The basic premise behind that idea is rents are (historically were) cheaper than a mortgage so you could take the mortgage-rent delta, invest that, and generate a return greater than the interest rate on the mortgage and end up ahead. A lot of the mortgage calculators have a 3-5yr inflection point where renting, traditionally, was always cheaper if you planned on staying somewhere for 3-5yrs and moving. The problem i…

>Tack on the millennial generation's hesitancy to settle down in one location and you get a set of economic conditions that encourage renting and regular rent increases.

Are we hesitant to "settle down" or are we trapped in a death spiral of student debt, rising rents and underemployment?

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#125

Post by astrowilliam »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #108
lowglow wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beautiful. You are an inspiration! :)

Thank you! But I can't take the credit. These other people I found organically online gave us the push we needed: http://www.thenomadtrip.com/ http://fattygoodlander.com/ http://www.sailingtotem.com/ I love technology. I love the work I do. But I will only live so long. Work to live, don't live to work. Make enough to live well enough to spend time living well. You won't lay on your death bed wishing you crammed a fe…

Your last statement really hit a note with me. I've been spending my life chasing money and recently realized that I was just filling a hole. I have found someone that is willing to go adventuring with me. Screw the boring office worker life, it's time to start living. Good luck and have an incredible life!

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#126

Post by steve-howard »

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #98
steve-howard wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They'd need to address the powerful incentive to create fake reviews.

While true, I think the bigger issue is that no landlord would, in their right mind, agree to be represented on a website that is almost certainly going to contain nothing but negative reviews. If one stops to ponder what would make an individual want to rate their landlord on a "RateMyLandlord" kind of site, then the answer is pretty simple: hatred. The biggest reason for people to write such a review is to complain…

My rental contracts are always standard and calculated from a table based on how long I want to commit to a particular unit. I've never gotten any sort of quid pro quo for paying on time and not being an asshole. From the sound of it, though, New York is a whole different ball game as a renter from basically anywhere I've ever lived.

There are reasons to leave reviews for apartments (for which I'm taking landlords as a proxy, which is an assumption that may diverge from your take). I've lived in quite a few places and most of them had good and bad qualities that I'd love to share with someone who wants more information when apartment hunting.

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#127

Post by esja »

Animats wrote: post #117

Cheerleading for higher house prices used to be widespread, and was a big part of the problem. It's inflation, people. It's still the same house, for more money. The median house historically costs about 2.2x the median income. That number hit 4x nationally in 2007, and 10x in California. It's not that high this time, but it's still very high by historical standards.[1] San Francisco hit 10.5x in 2007, and now it's a…

It's also worth noting... the normal multiple used to be around 3x a single income. Now that many/most women work, the measure has changed quietly to "household income".

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#128

Post by cylinder »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #95
seivan wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does it work with having a companion. It might be easier to find someone with the same outlook. But if you're already in a relationship it's going to be an uphill battle.

I might be able to answer that. My wife and I are early 30s. I spent my 20s in the rat race, working 60-80 hour weeks for material possesions (nice vehicle, luxury townhouse, etc). At some point, I got tired of it and said, "Can we try something different?" I switched to a fully remote job. We disposed of the townhouse (no equity in it). We downsized our lives (1 car! I ride a bicycle everywhere! You would not imagin…

Well you got a remote job, so you did a little locational arbitrage. Most people leave the small towns because of lack of opportunity. The cost of living is low because incomes are low.

Can someone come up with a model that's sustainable and applicable to the majority of people?

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#129

Post by rm_-rf_slash »

Animats wrote: post #117

Cheerleading for higher house prices used to be widespread, and was a big part of the problem. It's inflation, people. It's still the same house, for more money. The median house historically costs about 2.2x the median income. That number hit 4x nationally in 2007, and 10x in California. It's not that high this time, but it's still very high by historical standards.[1] San Francisco hit 10.5x in 2007, and now it's a…

You are dead right about small cities. There are like 3 landlords aside of the (big) colleges where I live, and rent is a nightmare. It doesn't help that one very infamous landlord prefers to leave storefronts in vital communities vacant instead of lower the rates, just because he still makes money by leveraging his properties for his investments in China.

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#130

Post by kmonsen »

meddlepal wrote: post #112
nugget wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bernie Sanders, a proud socialist and outspoken advocate of wealth redistribution, just pulled even with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for President. In the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, voters under the age of 30 broke for Sanders by 70% (compared to 57% for Obama in 2008). Meanwhile Donald Trump, who has the most liberal social record of all the GOP candidates, and who continually insults the GO…

Wait and see on Bernie. NH democrats might as well be from Vermont and I don't think there is any doubt Bernie will eat VT's primary when it comes up.

He will probably not win, but he is doing much better than anyone expected. Same with Trump (except he has an outside chance at winning this year).
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