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Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

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Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#341

Post by ghaff »

SoftTalker wrote: post #292
pickleglitch wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The median monthly rent for houses and apartments in the U.S. in 1970 was $108, or around $930 in today's dollars. So, in today's dollars, that would be $11,160/year. Median household income in 1970 was $9,870, or $84,714 in today's dollars. Median rent in the us today is around $1,750, or around $21,000/year. Today's median income in the us is around $89,000. So, housing cost has nearly doubled, while wages have onl…

Supply of housing has not kept pace with population since then. So you have more people chasing relatively fewer houses. Also compare a 1960s or 1970s house to one built today. Today's houses are bigger and much more luxuriously appointed, with gourmet appliances, stone countertops, multi-head showers, walk-in closets, huge bathrooms, etc. Once the boomer generation dies off or goes into assisted living you'll see a…

The house I live in has one small bathroom. It was probably built before there was indoor plumbing. (Early 1800s.) A back of the mind concern when the day comes I end up selling but not much I can do about it. The house has had a lot of upgrades over time but some things can't be easily changed.

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#342

Post by fooker »

smallmancontrov wrote: post #332
fooker wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not say anything about how you should feel. That's up to you. I'm telling you why the system works like it does now. You can, of course, choose to deliberately not understand it.

If you didn't mean to imply that I should feel an obligation to compensate the risk of a capital loss, what was your argument? No, the system works the way it does because it was built by the rich, for the rich, to ensure they had a way to get paid for being rich. You can, of course, choose to deliberately not understand that.

That's an amusing misunderstanding of history. I can see why you'd feel this much animosity if you strongly believe this.

Good luck changing things without understanding how they work though.

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#343

Post by [deleted] »

smallmancontrov wrote: post #244
cpburns2009 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly my problem with these arguments that demonize landlords. I've lived in multiple cities where I knew I'd only live there for a couple years, and I'm only interested in renting. How do you live somewhere short term without someone owning the rented property?

Swapping the base layer of the capital stack has zero visible change to the person renting. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's common in asia. Instead of: Investor owns the land Investor pays for construction, finance, maintenance Investor receivers rent They do: Government owns the land Investor pays to lease the land for 30 years or whatever Investor pays for construction, finance, maintenance Investor receives rent The…

[deleted]

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#344

Post by smallmancontrov »

selectodude wrote: post #259
wmwragg wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is another element, private equity (PE) has got involved in the housing market, and like anything that PE gets involved with it burns it to the ground and then exits with it's profit leaving behind a wasteland. PE equity will do anything to get their profit no matter who it hurts

Private equity owns about 500,000 homes nationwide, so like less than a half of a percent. Anyway they got into the housing market because the margins are so good because everybody refuses to allow new housing to be built. Congratulations, you played yourselves.

> you played yourselves

Owners played non-owners

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#345

Post by lifestyleguru »

stephen_g wrote: post #283
amazingamazing wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very simple. Housing is not built.

Not that simple. In Australia over the last 10 years, the number of dwellings increased by 19% while the population increased by a smaller 16% [1]. Yet house prices still doubled. This is the same trend that has continued for decades, growth in number of dwellings has tended to outstrip population growth but house prices shot up since 2001 when the tax settings were changed to massively benefit speculation. We also h…

What exactly they build in Australia, livable dwellings? In New Zealand cities they build 5 meters wide, two floor row houses, upstairs and downstairs split into separate apartments 25-30 sqm large. It's an investment token, not a dwelling. Across Europe they build the same housing tokens but buildings have more floors and are from a concrete instead of wood.

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#346

Post by [deleted] »

anthonypasq wrote: post #172
throwaway041207 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my neck of the woods (New England), home prices have doubled since March of 2020. I have yet to read a comprehensive overview of how this happened and how we get out of it. Of course, people went nuts offering over the asking price when interest rates were super low so I understand, to some degree, that baselines were reset. But the current housing market doesn't feel sustainable. I don't understand how a proper m…

covid was the largest money printing and wealth transfer event in history. When rich people get money they buy assets. We have had extreme asset inflation since then. Metals, equities, real estate etc. Watch Gary's Economics on youtube. We get out of it by building more, read Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Its extremely simple.

[deleted]

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#347

Post by forshaper »

selfmodruntime wrote: post #31
gravypod wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 1970 a $300/month apartment would be ~$2000/month in today dollars. I do think rents are too high as productivity and supply chains are much more efficient. I think in the 70s we were still using black pipe for gas, iron septic lines, and copper pipes for water. But, I don't think new builds or renovations are cheaper inflation adjusted (harder to estimate). Cost of money (inflation), building, and maintenance is…

The 1970's median salary was $800 (so rent was 37%), the 2026 equivalent is $5220 or 49%.

Incidentally, the 1970s are when productivity kept rising, but typical worker pay stopped rising with it.

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#348

Post by ridgeguy »

jader201 wrote: post #180
WarmWash wrote: post #67

The problem is absolutley that housing is too expensive, which of course a bunch of realtors are not going to point out. Increasing wages will not fix the housing crisis, and will just drive prices higher. How convenient for a bunch of realtors...

Of all the jobs to get replaced by AI, I would be happy to see realtors to be first in line (but I also think this is wishful thinking). I feel like I get very little value out of what seems to be a mostly fixed/required price. I know flat fee realtors exist, and if/when we sell our home, I’ll be looking into this heavily. But I feel like they rank up there with car salespeople/dealers.

YMMV. When we sold in 2021, our realtor connected us with an interest-free lender who put up $76K for repairs and staging. This, and other services, made the difference between our selling for $1.8M and the $2.4M we got. Maybe we could someday get similar service from a realty AI, but in our recent experience, the humans made all the difference.

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#349

Post by raybb »

WarmWash wrote: post #67

The problem is absolutley that housing is too expensive, which of course a bunch of realtors are not going to point out. Increasing wages will not fix the housing crisis, and will just drive prices higher. How convenient for a bunch of realtors...

Vicious cycle. There was a story yesterday about a couple's rent going up 70% after they told the landlord they were having a baby around the same time the lease was up for renewal.

https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/17/san-francisco-marina-landl...

Re: Wages in America Are Too Low for the 30% Rule to Work for Renters Anymore

#350

Post by triceratops »

pc86 wrote: post #336
triceratops wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the point of this clarification.

There is a difference between "forced to pay a fee" and "forced to pay an inflated fee." The GP said it's not about being forced to pay a particular commission, which is the first one, which is accurate.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48585389 the thread started here where the commenter said "diabolical fee". In any case this is high pedantry.
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