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Rents are dropping across the US

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Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#391

Post by jjav »

wetmore wrote: post #374
jjav wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Suburb" is such a broad term so difficult to compare what it means. Your description sounds the exact opposite of suburb to my experience. A suburb area is optimal for young kids as they can go everywhere. Parks, playgrounds, forest trails, movie theaters, everything is within a 10 minute walk or 3-5 minute bike ride. That's what the suburb experience means to me and the life we live right now. In a city (SF/NYC) I…

Actually you possibly could. Just because you think that's what NYC is like doesn't mean it's actually that way. I won't comment on Sf since I've never lived there.

FWIW, I spent my 20s mostly in NYC (although living across the river in NJ) so I'm not unfamiliar with the area. Granted, it's been a while.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#392

Post by pengaru »

silpheed5 wrote: post #386
ghaff wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do understand the attraction of parts of SF, Marin, the Santa Cruz mountains, etc. But not so much the Valley. And of course the places I just named are eye-wateringly expensive relative to other very attractive/relatively expensive places in the country that are also very attractive in terms of outdoor recreational activities and other such benefits.

The weather is nice year round, lots a hiking nearby, beach is 40 min drive and easier commute to work while still being able to visit the city at night or weekends when you want. Good public schools if you live in the right areas. My personal favorite is the lack of mosquitos. I've lived in the midwest, south, new england and in Europe and never even considered there could be a place with such pleasant weather and n…

Having spent quite a bit of time in the Santa Cruz mountains, Big Basin SP, Pescadero/Butano SP, and Portola Redwoods SP areas, the no mosquitoes thing is a bit optimistic.

Sure it's not as bad as say, northern Minnesota, but once you get away from the ocean and desert areas, if there's standing freshwater around there can be plenty of mosquitoes. The last time I camped in Big Basin everyone was running through clouds of them to/from the restrooms.

But yeah, in the cities like SF and LA, there aren't very many. The city would spray for mosquitoes at night when I lived in San Mateo, which surprised me coming from the midwest and not expecting Californians to be ok with such chemicals sprayed throughout their neighborhoods while they slept.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#393

Post by loco5niner »

pmiller2 wrote: post #218
RhysU wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always liked DINK: Double income, no kids.

Well, when two HENRYs love each other very much, they do frequent move in together to become DINKs. ;) More seriously, DINK seems to be approximately the plural of HENRY in this context.

Except, I think that HENRY implies that they are not willing to adjust their extravagant lifestyle in order to become rich.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#394

Post by loco5niner »

rpmisms wrote: post #388
ska wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only an 18 year old could consider a Tesla ancient.

Ancient for a Tesla. I had a Prius that was near my age previously. Besides, in the tech world, JS frameworks become ancient in months.

Again, only an 18 year old.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#395

Post by frank2 »

pengaru wrote: post #392
silpheed5 wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The weather is nice year round, lots a hiking nearby, beach is 40 min drive and easier commute to work while still being able to visit the city at night or weekends when you want. Good public schools if you live in the right areas. My personal favorite is the lack of mosquitos. I've lived in the midwest, south, new england and in Europe and never even considered there could be a place with such pleasant weather and n…

Having spent quite a bit of time in the Santa Cruz mountains, Big Basin SP, Pescadero/Butano SP, and Portola Redwoods SP areas, the no mosquitoes thing is a bit optimistic. Sure it's not as bad as say, northern Minnesota, but once you get away from the ocean and desert areas, if there's standing freshwater around there can be plenty of mosquitoes. The last time I camped in Big Basin everyone was running through cloud…

In my part of Marin County, they use a bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis, to control the mosquitoes. There are enough mosquitoes so that you'll get bit if sit in one spot long enough, but I don't recall ever getting bit while walking.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#396

Post by asveikau »

core-questions wrote: post #375
sharadov wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My definition of suburbia is the endless rows of cookie-cutter houses within gated communities, where the closest grocery store is 5 mi away and the eating options are TGIF or Ruby Tuesday. What you describe is where I live, its 15 min from downtown and I've great parks nearby, lots of mom and pop restaurants, hiking and biking trails.

You understand why those suburbs were created, right? It's not because people don't want to live in the city close to everything, it's because the city core has decayed and become a criminal hellhole, where the nice areas are unaffordable and the affordable areas are not safe to raise a family in. Autonomous Zones are only going to make this worse.

You are talking like either the movie RoboCop or as if the 1980s crack epidemic were still in swing. A lot has changed since violent crime started declining rapidly in the mid 90s.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#397

Post by Finnucane »

gamblor956 wrote: post #380
Finnucane wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you rent it out so someone can live in it, then it isn't vacant any more, that's the whole point of the tax.

Yes, that's generally how you get around a vacancy tax without spending more time and money on convoluted solutions to get around the tax, like buying furniture and setting up utilities and paying someone to periodically turn on the lights and run the water and pretend that they live there without actually living there. (This is actually a thing that people used to do when Vancouver introduced its vacancy tax.)

You're not really 'getting around the tax' when the intention of the tax is to give owners an incentive to rent or sell to an occupant. You're doing what the tax is trying to get you to do.

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#398

Post by taylorhou »

jdhn wrote: post #149
taylorhou wrote: post #94

If I were a renter right now and in an urban area with a lease renewal coming due, I'd 1000% call the mgmt co's bluff. Context: my firm provides back office services to 50k+ rental units across the nation and unless you're in some oddly hot market, most mgmt companies currently are holding their breath that their renters don't say anything and renew at the same price. If you're reasonable, you can easily negotiate a…

Do you see this in non-hot markets as well (aka the Midwest)? My lease is up in July, and I don't really want to move, but any chance to knock even $50 off my monthly rent would be nice.

to give some context (depending on your rent) but anytime a landlord/PM has to place a new tenant, there are leasing fees/commissions (usually) that equate to between 1/2 to a full month's rent. so if your rent is $1000/month, at a $500 leasing fee to the landlord for a new tenant, they are better off just giving you a $40/month discount (minimum) if you just consider the commission.

they also have to deal with make ready costs, time, and potentially vacancy which any landlord who is objective would gladly say "you want $50/month off your rent? done!" - i would at least.

the only time this doesn't work is in a "hot" rental market where the landlord/PM can charge more for rent and/or have a waitlist (in multifamily scenarios)

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#399

Post by taylorhou »

closeparen wrote: post #266
taylorhou wrote: post #94

If I were a renter right now and in an urban area with a lease renewal coming due, I'd 1000% call the mgmt co's bluff. Context: my firm provides back office services to 50k+ rental units across the nation and unless you're in some oddly hot market, most mgmt companies currently are holding their breath that their renters don't say anything and renew at the same price. If you're reasonable, you can easily negotiate a…

I didn’t try to negotiate down, but I did move up to a much nicer apartment for essentially the same price.

that's essentially the same thing! congrats!!

Re: Rents are dropping across the US

#400

Post by taylorhou »

doh wrote: post #371
lotsofpulp wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finding desirable tenants can sometimes be a pain in the ass too. But being willing to walk away is, of course, the best negotiating position.

That's right. I tend to negotiate less on the initial lease and negotiate more on its renewal as we prove that we are a valuable tenant (paying on time, low interaction, ...). Even when we lived in SF, where negotiations were almost impossible as they would have filled the unit within a week, they still were willing to do something in order to retain us.

absolutely this. whenever our PMs come to us with tenant requests for discounts and we (upper management) take a single look at their ledger of on-time and online payments, we immediately do a back of the napkin calculation of the cost of a turnover vs the discount and even if its in a turnover's favor, we usually say give it to them because of the uncertainty of turnovers.

think of the analogy "even money" in blackjack - when the dealer is showing an Ace but you've got blackjack, most objective people will take the "even money" versus gamble against whether the dealer has BJ or not. also why you tend to not split tens unless you're counting =p

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