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A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

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221–230 of 450 posts

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#221

When I see people complaining about never being able to purchase a house my response is always the same. move. $1,100 is considered "well below market rates" for a 1 bedroom apartment in NYC? That's _nuts_ to me. I'm paying $1,600 for a 3 bed, 2 bath 1800 sq ft house with a 2 car garage. Vaulted ceilings, my neighbor is a police officer and I'm on a corner lot across from a park. fire department is literally 3 blocks…

> When I see people complaining about never being able to purchase a house my response is always the same. move.

People generally care where they live more than they care about the things you describe. Location is the most important factor for most people in real estate purchases - so much so, that it's a cliche.

You are free to have your own preferences, and I'm glad it has worked out well for you. But let's not be incredulous that others have different priorities - that's the human interaction baseline.

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#222

When I see people complaining about never being able to purchase a house my response is always the same. move. $1,100 is considered "well below market rates" for a 1 bedroom apartment in NYC? That's _nuts_ to me. I'm paying $1,600 for a 3 bed, 2 bath 1800 sq ft house with a 2 car garage. Vaulted ceilings, my neighbor is a police officer and I'm on a corner lot across from a park. fire department is literally 3 blocks…

Moving doesn't tend to change much. Yes housing prices go down but so do wages. Also you'll have the added expense of a car (and all the stress that brings along with it).

that's true in theory, but not practice. It assumes housing availability is a constant across the US

As I mentioned, I know a woman who is buying more house than that and her income is technically below the poverty line.

In addition, I work remote in tech and looking up the average salary in NYC, I'm making more and it's not close. Not everyone can do that and I understand that, but my point is that people around here don't feel as though house ownership is out of their power.

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#223

When I see people complaining about never being able to purchase a house my response is always the same. move. $1,100 is considered "well below market rates" for a 1 bedroom apartment in NYC? That's _nuts_ to me. I'm paying $1,600 for a 3 bed, 2 bath 1800 sq ft house with a 2 car garage. Vaulted ceilings, my neighbor is a police officer and I'm on a corner lot across from a park. fire department is literally 3 blocks…

There's a reason why low cost of living areas are low cost of living, and it's not because they're self-sustaining futuristic arcologies. It's because people who can afford otherwise generally don't want to live there. I want to walk, not drive, out my front door, and be within 15 minutes, on foot, from entertainment and dining and friends and shopping and groceries and pharmacies and salons and cafes. And I want tho…

And presumably you can afford to out bid all the other people who want what you want. Its great that you are wealthy and/or able and willing to spend a very high fraction of your income on non essentials like walking to nice restaurants and being near cool people you want to be near.

The problem is that people who can't afford that think it is a hate crime if they can't afford to live in Brooklyn with the rest of the hipsters.

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Housing being seen as this generational I own it forever thing that Americans have doesn’t also square with the American narrative of housing as an investment. I agree with this part. Viewing it as investment is the wrong choice.

Not sure I do agree. During ownership, it should appreciate as assets do. Then things like taxes get reset for the next owner based on whatever they pay. In this way, things reset transparently and still often enough as the normal duration of mortgage is something like 8 years. Not everyone is a buy and hold generation of ownership, people move for jobs and a million other reasons, but people that do choose to live i…

This is why I distinguished it as asset class vs asset. It should be primarily tied to the value of the land beneath plus some nominal appreciation for the building on top rather than assessed value of the building on top plus nominal appreciation of the land. Similar to the land value tax formula. This treats it closer to a commodity rather than its own asset class as it is today.

This makes it more of a modest investment overall, one that people would stop tying their entire net with to

Deferring tax increases based on the sale of a house until the next owner is what California does and it’s a disaster.

Land value taxes are more equitable and treat it closer to a commodity and drive more efficient utilization

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#225
post #13

The UK has completely abolished fees (I think) for tenants - I am a reluctant landlord - and I completely agree with that, the power asymmetry in finding housing is already bad enough without allowing blank-cheque negotiations. In my section of Germany, housing is even worse with rent caps and tenant rights, plus a lack of housing. Tenants are hard to move on, so landlords are painfully cautious about getting the rig…

Land Value Tax: Make it financially unfeasible to speculate, to withhold units from the market, and to withhold unused land from the market. Let prices freely fluctuate with the market. Increases in rent derived from externalities (i.e. Amazon HQ2 setting up shop nearby or a new subway station) go back into public coffers, while increases in rent derived from landlord actions (i.e. renovations, building bigger, bette…

You're making it too complex. Enforce owner-occupancy aggressively.

You can own two housing units untaxed, as long as you can produce evidence you spent at least 30 days a year in each of them. This doesn't disrupt non-speculators-- even the modest rich with a single vacation home, or the snowbirds who have a home in Minnesota and a winter place in Arizona don't see an impact.

Anything beyond that? Annual tax of 70% of its appraised value.

Nothing appreciates fast enough to justify holding it at that cost, so you'd see a fire-sale on housing. Add some cheap state-backed credit to lubricate the transition period, and unoccupied units glut the market while renters become owners.

Multi-family structures might create some interesting situations. With the landlord effectively forced to divest himself of properties, he has to reinvent himself as a service contractor, bidding for the maintenance contract on the buildings he once owned. This would be a great moment for karmic feedback against the ones who had neglected quality and safety-- who'd contract for $200/month maintenance from the same firm that never fixed anything when you paid $1500/month for maintenance-plus-land-access?

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Land Value Tax: Make it financially unfeasible to speculate, to withhold units from the market, and to withhold unused land from the market. Let prices freely fluctuate with the market. Increases in rent derived from externalities (i.e. Amazon HQ2 setting up shop nearby or a new subway station) go back into public coffers, while increases in rent derived from landlord actions (i.e. renovations, building bigger, bette…

I'm in Texas, a state with pretty high property tax. We've also seen a ton of appreciation in recent years. Booming economy, transplants from other states, then the COVID factor. We also have a near free market on rent; I've been a landlord and not aware of any limitations. There are a couple limits on property taxes (namely a cap of 10% increase per year on "homesteads", and an Agriculture exemption for rural proper…

10% is brutal. It should take a lot of effort to increase taxes by more than inflation. 10% year over year means something is broken.

I’m glad we cap ours at 3%. And our community hasn’t collapsed for lack of property tax revenue yet.

And we are a progressive state, while Texas is conservative. Would have thought it would work out the other way around but I guess not.

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#227

When I see people complaining about never being able to purchase a house my response is always the same. move. $1,100 is considered "well below market rates" for a 1 bedroom apartment in NYC? That's _nuts_ to me. I'm paying $1,600 for a 3 bed, 2 bath 1800 sq ft house with a 2 car garage. Vaulted ceilings, my neighbor is a police officer and I'm on a corner lot across from a park. fire department is literally 3 blocks…

It’s not always so easy to move. People form community. That’s hard to replicate. People have jobs. Those can’t necessarily move with them. People need connections. They tend to congregate near larger areas with high costs of living. It’s really a trade off between paying for what’s more valuable to you.

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#228

When I see people complaining about never being able to purchase a house my response is always the same. move. $1,100 is considered "well below market rates" for a 1 bedroom apartment in NYC? That's _nuts_ to me. I'm paying $1,600 for a 3 bed, 2 bath 1800 sq ft house with a 2 car garage. Vaulted ceilings, my neighbor is a police officer and I'm on a corner lot across from a park. fire department is literally 3 blocks…

$1,100 is considered "well below market rates"

1,1k gets you a room. If you are lucky.

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moving doesn't tend to change much. Yes housing prices go down but so do wages. Also you'll have the added expense of a car (and all the stress that brings along with it).

that's true in theory, but not practice. It assumes housing availability is a constant across the US As I mentioned, I know a woman who is buying more house than that and her income is technically below the poverty line. In addition, I work remote in tech and looking up the average salary in NYC, I'm making more and it's not close. Not everyone can do that and I understand that, but my point is that people around her…

House ownership statements are always with a location in mind. I want to walk or take public transport for 15-20 minutes to have most medical docs around, multiple different cuisines, park etc.

What i do not care is a 2 car garage. That already implies a lifestyle i really do not want. So where wpuld i move to in the US?

Re: A rent-stabilized 1 bedroom apartment for $1,100 In NYC? broker's fee is $15K

#230
post #2

How is that legal?

NY passed a law banning broker fees but it was overturned by the courts. Broker fees are legal as long as the tenant contacts the broker. https://www.brickunderground.com/sites/default/files/901586_...
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