Who can afford the rent?

[wittsend]

Admin please delete. It accidentally re-posted when I tried to get the "Quote" to post correctly (not sure why it's not???). Thank You.

[Gunslinger]

The county I live in is adjacent to one of the more affluent counties in the nation and it borders Washington, DC. It has many high earning people who work in and around DC. That county is also one of the highest taxed counties in the country. For some years now there's been a big influx of people from that county to this one with its lower tax base. These transplants like the lower taxes but want all the amenities and services they're accustomed to.

What's happening is that, along with the demands of these transplants for county services and increased development those who have lived here most or all of their lives are getting taxed out of existence. I guess it's what's referred to as progress.

[Greenstude]

When I see posts like these, once again I am glad to live in a city reputed to have some of the lowest real estate prices in Canada for any given quality of home.

I am well familiar with the costs Buzzard mentions. One of our daughters paid close to $1,300/month for a tiny, but decent, bachelor apartment in Vancouver. She has just moved to Duncan BC where she is paying slightly more than that for a "granny suite" in a recently-built private home.

[RadioRoy]

In my little town, they are building 6 story condos and apartments as quickly as they can. The studios go for $2750 and the one bedrooms for $3000. Glad I bought my house.

[GTHawk]

I remember when you could get a decent apt. For $200 a month ( back in the old days).
Well, I just finished renovating a 2 bdrm. 2 bath apt .with all new stainless appliances, antique pine floors and built a deck out back. The place even has off street parking for 2 cars.
So the wife turns it over to a property mgr. because we're tired of dealing.directly with tenants. The place is on the MLS for $2100 per month. I'm not complaining, just shocked. Who can afford the current market? No wonder home ownership is down.

I have an older home (built in 1881) located in a town of 4000 people. The home was converted to 5 apartments several years ago. I purchased the home in 1976 and payments were 111.00 per month with taxes included. Taxes at that time were 247.00 per year, now they are 2870.00 per year. The place has been paid for for many years so the only expenses I have are the normal, taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance. When I purchased the place 41 years ago the rents were 105.00 per apartment. Now the most expensive is 450.00 per month. One tenant stayed there for 20 years and we keep the rents the same as long as the tenant stays. His rent was 275.00 per month. The rent on that apartment went up only after he passed away and we remodeled the apartment and is now slightly below market value. I mention this mainly to illustrate that for people to live in unsubsidized housing I would recommend living in a small town like ours that is close to a large city. A lot of money can be saved in this manner. We are not in a college town or a large city where rents are much, much higher. This building is listed on the National Historic Register which will insure the ongoing preservation of the property. You might consider the historical value of your property if you want it preserved. We know that municipalities like new buildings.

[Jeff_H]

A followup to my comments up-thread about lack of rental housing in rural Minnesota...

Was visiting family for Turkey last week and happened to read a article in the paper. I found this same article posted here (different paper, same article):

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/business/4364183-greater-minnesota-housing-problem-too-much-risk

The claim is made that there is a shortage of rental housing in rural Minnesota since its too risky for investors/developers as they cannot charge enough rent to cover their risks given the local job markets. But, the local job market is looking for workers but can't get them due to no housing so nobody is moving in. Chicken and Egg.

My thoughts on how to potentially fix this have some political tones so I leave it at that.

[jnormanh]

There are free houses in Kansas. Some of them are not horrible, and could be fixed up by a handyman type.

The only drawback is you have to live in rural Kansas.

That's kinda like free sex. Only drawback is you get something else too.

[Skip Lackie]

There was a time when most cities had a complete set of local industrial firms capable of making or fixing things, and Washington DC was no different. Over the years I have been able to get leaf springs made, drive shafts shortened and balanced, engines and distributors rebuilt, and electric motors made or modified to fit some old piece of equipment -- just by driving over to the industrial part of town. But about 20 years ago, the developers began moving in and started converting those old buildings into condos and luxury apartment buildings. Dog parks, bike-only lanes, and day spas have proliferated. And all those old firms have either moved or gone out of business. Now comes the word that the Central Armature Works, which has been in business for 102 years, is moving to the suburbs. The company owned its own building, which has become so valuable that the property taxes have increased from $55K to $700K per year in 25 years. I'm happy that the company's owners will reap a financial windfall, but am saddened by the loss of what used to be a gritty, but useful neighborhood full of people who knew how things worked.