My rent is going up too. When the housing market flails, the rents go up. Landlords know they can get away with it and they do. Of course, there are still those who are more fair but.....
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Rent Increases
- Thread starter natalie_ca
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it really makes a difference where you live, too.
rents for a 1 bedroom are around $500-$700 here. my mortgage payment is under $600 a month for a 2bedroom/1bath house just under 1000 square feet.
rents for a 1 bedroom are around $500-$700 here. my mortgage payment is under $600 a month for a 2bedroom/1bath house just under 1000 square feet.
Belongs to Evie made very good points.
I think of my landlord and me as a partnership - even though that isn't true legally. I dont ask for much, am v. patient and flexible - even on important things. It is pleasant living there and I like the neighbors so I wish to have an amiable relationship with the owners.
However, I have been screwed by many property owners in the past and they might be like Evie but the tenants sure didn't know that. Last place I lived - rent went up 10% a year regardless - although it was a mice infested place with thick black mold on most walls and leaking ceilings (every time it rained my bed would get drenched). When we called the office we were screamed at told they were too busy to deal with us and to 'get over it'. No effort was made to maintain the property and the mortgage had been paid off for years and years. If your lease would be up in 3 mns they would bring potential renters to your home unnannounced because *they* had not decided if they want you to stay or not.
Anyway, that is an extreme example, but with all my prior experiences I have not had much luck on good landlords - so that makes tenants more resentful to rent increase IMO.
I never understood extreme rent control and how owners are supposed to make a living? I lived in SF years ago and one woman had been there 30 years in my building and paid $550 for a 3 bdroom flat? That's crazy! She rented the other two bedrooms and made a profit. Meanwhile I paid $750 for a studio, for comparison sake.
I think of my landlord and me as a partnership - even though that isn't true legally. I dont ask for much, am v. patient and flexible - even on important things. It is pleasant living there and I like the neighbors so I wish to have an amiable relationship with the owners.
However, I have been screwed by many property owners in the past and they might be like Evie but the tenants sure didn't know that. Last place I lived - rent went up 10% a year regardless - although it was a mice infested place with thick black mold on most walls and leaking ceilings (every time it rained my bed would get drenched). When we called the office we were screamed at told they were too busy to deal with us and to 'get over it'. No effort was made to maintain the property and the mortgage had been paid off for years and years. If your lease would be up in 3 mns they would bring potential renters to your home unnannounced because *they* had not decided if they want you to stay or not.
Anyway, that is an extreme example, but with all my prior experiences I have not had much luck on good landlords - so that makes tenants more resentful to rent increase IMO.
I never understood extreme rent control and how owners are supposed to make a living? I lived in SF years ago and one woman had been there 30 years in my building and paid $550 for a 3 bdroom flat? That's crazy! She rented the other two bedrooms and made a profit. Meanwhile I paid $750 for a studio, for comparison sake.
I would guess none of you wants to hear about the 2-bedroom lakeside condo we used to live in in Hot Springs, AR, and paid $450/month rent. We thought that was high, and moved into a 2-bedroom duplex we paid $375/month for.
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- #25
How long ago was that?
I think the oil in Texas keeps prices on the low side though. At least that's what I was told by some job recruiters when I graduated nursing school and they were trying to get me to move there to work.
Also, in addition to the current rent of $719 I have to pay my own utilities. Water and heat are included because the heat is a boiler system and is steam heat. But I pay for my own Cable and Hydro. Hydro for me runs about $55.00 per month, and I don't know how much my cable is because I bundle. My bundle package for cable / dsl / phone is $150.00 per month.
And we are taxed to death on our utilities. GST, Provincial, and City taxes. It's crazy.
We've lived here since 2005 & our rent just went up for the first time - only $15 per month
So now we're paying $475 for a 1 bedroom w/ a large deck/patio, lots of storage & in the best location in town, the rent includes a detatched 1 stall garage. We live in an apartment on the 2nd floor, they pay the water, sewer & garbage, we pay the electric/heat & our own cable/internet, obviously.
We love it here
Before the flood, we lived in a 2 floor - 2 bedroom/2 bath townhouse that was only $675, that included being lakefront & had an attached garage w/ full backyard, deck & patio.
We love it here
Before the flood, we lived in a 2 floor - 2 bedroom/2 bath townhouse that was only $675, that included being lakefront & had an attached garage w/ full backyard, deck & patio.
Holy crap! That's great!
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- #29
ElectricityOriginally Posted by laureen227
what is Hydro?
I'm sure my hydro bill would be a bit lower if I didn't have waterbed that needed to be plugged in 24/7, plus I have a deep freezer, and I bought myself a portable washer and dryer and dishwasher, so that takes up extra power, plus I leave my computer on 24/7, and my TV is on a fair bit.
If I get into a cooking frenzy and cook daily instead of cooking one day and reheating for 2 more days, my electric bill would be even higher.
We were thinking of buying, but every mortgage calculator was coming up with equal to our rent or more for a monthly payment. That's not including heat, power, insurance, taxes, etc. We also decided it was best to wait until I'm done with my associate's degree, in case I get a job that's a drive from here. Too bad...I was rather excited about a house.Originally Posted by laureen227
my mortgage payment [after almost 10 years of living here] is STILL lower than my rent was.
'course, now i have water, garbage, etc. that i didn't have there... but the rent where i was is probably higher now than my monthly totals, even including those things.
We're going to move at the end of our lease. Mostly because of location, and the power company screwed up big time. Turns out we were paying $200/mo for power to heat this place in the winter (electric heat) and they are back billing us for it.
Wow, there are some great rent prices some of you are paying... & some insanely high.
We are paying $1800 a month for a 4 (technically 5) bedroom House.
This is the house we are renting, when I took photos before we moved in:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US
And just to sneak my kids into the picture
Here are some with us living in the house & the kids living it up in their new large space
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US
We are paying $1800 a month for a 4 (technically 5) bedroom House.
This is the house we are renting, when I took photos before we moved in:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US
And just to sneak my kids into the picture
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US
Ours has gone up $100 in 3 years when you take the discounts we now get into consideration and the fact that the city made our landlord reduce rent when he got a huge tax rebate that he had collected as part of our rent. We now pay $985 for a 2 bedroom apartment including heat, hydro etc - we just pay cable/phone/internet
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That's only a little more than ours will be in Philly this fall. We're not all lucky!
I feel for you! I am grateful to not be dealing with rents anymore, and that my husband bought his house about 15 years ago with a va loan...prices had gone nuts around here in recent years.
Though it needs work (always!), we have a large back yard, good sized front, and almost 1,500 square feet in the house. We are set up on the budget plan for our electric and water so that bill is always the same year round (love doing that).
Though it needs work (always!), we have a large back yard, good sized front, and almost 1,500 square feet in the house. We are set up on the budget plan for our electric and water so that bill is always the same year round (love doing that).
I understand rent increases. Afterall, the cost of living goes up across the board - property owners included. What I don't understand though is the apartment complexes that hook you at a reasonable rate for the 1st year and then raise rent excessively at every lease renewal.
your house is HUGE! very nice!Originally Posted by Lore
Wow, there are some great rent prices some of you are paying... & some insanely high.
We are paying $1800 a month for a 4 (technically 5) bedroom House.
This is the house we are renting, when I took photos before we moved in:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US
And just to sneak my kids into the pictureHere are some with us living in the house & the kids living it up in their new large space
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US
Because that how they make money. The keep your deposits and everything, tell you you did not clean it up well enough, and then they find someone to pay the amount of rent they want. Also when they tell you you get 1 month free rent, they are building it in the other 11 months of the year, so really nothing was free to you.
On the other hand, I charge a low 1st months rent but take a large deposit. We have been up grading our apt. when they empty, new tile floors in kit & bath, with laminate wood in the living room, carpeted bedrooms new cupboards w/ corian counter tops. dishwasher and new stove. So when you are going to put a 3 to 4 thousand in it. You want to cover the cost of the damages.
The newest tenant on move in day put a hole in the carpet in the master bedroom with the bed frame. Oh well, they are going to have to live with it, it's brand new. $600 for carpet is what it cost me.
K.
There is a mortgage calculator in most spreadsheet programs, and lots of them online. I have a loan calculator I bought like 25 years ago when I was in real estate. I can come up with a payment for any time period, remaining balance, etc.Originally Posted by littleraven7726
We were thinking of buying, but every mortgage calculator was coming up with equal to our rent or more for a monthly payment. That's not including heat, power, insurance, taxes, etc. We also decided it was best to wait until I'm done with my associate's degree, in case I get a job that's a drive from here. Too bad...I was rather excited about a house.
I've used it to "de-lie" a number of car salesmen over the years!
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- #39
I have lived in my apartment since October 1996. In that time the only maintenance done inside my apartment has been the following:
1. Fix bathroom ceiling from leaking roof 5 years in a row. The irony of that is I live on the 7th floor and there is an apartment above me with the roof above them. That apartment was available when I was looking here, but I decided that roofs leak and that I would be better off taking the 7th floor and letting the 8th floor deal with any roof leaks. Unfortunately the drain from the roof empties above my bathroom, not above the bathroom above me, so they didn't have a leaking ceiling, I did. And they didn't fix the whole ceiling. They just repaired and painted where the leak was.
2. Fixed the bathroom ceiling 3 times due to the toilet in the apartment above me leaking due to a broken seal in the drain, which meant that their dirty toilet water was showering down to my ceiling.
3. Unplugged bathroom sink last year.
4. Unplugged kitchen sink ealier this year.
5. Fixed my oven door once.
6. Fixed 2 elements on my countertop range.
7. Tightened the knob on the pressure thing above my door so it didn't slam shut.
And that's it. My place as never been painted. There are huge bubbles of paint hanging from the top of the windows. The paint on the outside wall in my bedroom is all bubbled and if you touch it it all falls off. There is also a huge crack on the inside common wall in the bedroom. It's floor to ceiling. I have hardwood floors and after 12 years of walking on them, the varnish has worn off in places and the floors need to be refinished. Plus there are broken floor tiles in the bathroom that need to be replaced... infact the whole bathroom floor should be redone.
So far as maintenance in the common hallway on my floor. The only thing that has been done is that the carpet was professionally cleaned last year in July. That was the first time they have been cleaned since I moved in.
The exterior windows have never been washed. I used to pay some guy to come here and take out what windws he could and he would use a harness and a long pole with a squeegie and sit on the window ledge and wash the outside windows that way. It worked but I was freaked out that he might fall out of the window!!
The back parking lot had that black tar stuff put on it. But they didn't do a very good job because it all sunk. Now there are pot holes back there that would swallow up a semi truck!
There hasn't even been any landscaping done. The caretaker took it upon herself to plant some flowers and stuff, using their own money just so it looks nice.
They have fixed the roof so now my bathroom ceiling isn't leaking anymore.
But the majority of their upkeep goes to painting and redoing the floors of apartments before new people move in. Even if the floor doesn't need it, they refinish it anyway!!! So everyone who moves in gets a freshly painted walls and varnished floors.
When I asked, I was told it's not in the budget!!!
My rent goes up each year by 10 and 12 percent and it's not in the budget to paint my apartment and refinish my floors!
I did resign my lease because I can't afford to move right now. Moving takes money which I don't have. But I'm hoping that this is the last lease that I sign here.
When I moved in the building was nice. It was well kept and there were good tenants. But they have raised the prices so much and now rent to anyone, and quite often it's parents who have applied and gotten the apartment for their kids and it's the kids living in the place instead of the people who applied for the apartment and had been approved.
1. Fix bathroom ceiling from leaking roof 5 years in a row. The irony of that is I live on the 7th floor and there is an apartment above me with the roof above them. That apartment was available when I was looking here, but I decided that roofs leak and that I would be better off taking the 7th floor and letting the 8th floor deal with any roof leaks. Unfortunately the drain from the roof empties above my bathroom, not above the bathroom above me, so they didn't have a leaking ceiling, I did. And they didn't fix the whole ceiling. They just repaired and painted where the leak was.
2. Fixed the bathroom ceiling 3 times due to the toilet in the apartment above me leaking due to a broken seal in the drain, which meant that their dirty toilet water was showering down to my ceiling.
3. Unplugged bathroom sink last year.
4. Unplugged kitchen sink ealier this year.
5. Fixed my oven door once.
6. Fixed 2 elements on my countertop range.
7. Tightened the knob on the pressure thing above my door so it didn't slam shut.
And that's it. My place as never been painted. There are huge bubbles of paint hanging from the top of the windows. The paint on the outside wall in my bedroom is all bubbled and if you touch it it all falls off. There is also a huge crack on the inside common wall in the bedroom. It's floor to ceiling. I have hardwood floors and after 12 years of walking on them, the varnish has worn off in places and the floors need to be refinished. Plus there are broken floor tiles in the bathroom that need to be replaced... infact the whole bathroom floor should be redone.
So far as maintenance in the common hallway on my floor. The only thing that has been done is that the carpet was professionally cleaned last year in July. That was the first time they have been cleaned since I moved in.
The exterior windows have never been washed. I used to pay some guy to come here and take out what windws he could and he would use a harness and a long pole with a squeegie and sit on the window ledge and wash the outside windows that way. It worked but I was freaked out that he might fall out of the window!!
The back parking lot had that black tar stuff put on it. But they didn't do a very good job because it all sunk. Now there are pot holes back there that would swallow up a semi truck!
There hasn't even been any landscaping done. The caretaker took it upon herself to plant some flowers and stuff, using their own money just so it looks nice.
They have fixed the roof so now my bathroom ceiling isn't leaking anymore.
But the majority of their upkeep goes to painting and redoing the floors of apartments before new people move in. Even if the floor doesn't need it, they refinish it anyway!!! So everyone who moves in gets a freshly painted walls and varnished floors.
When I asked, I was told it's not in the budget!!!
My rent goes up each year by 10 and 12 percent and it's not in the budget to paint my apartment and refinish my floors!
I did resign my lease because I can't afford to move right now. Moving takes money which I don't have. But I'm hoping that this is the last lease that I sign here.
When I moved in the building was nice. It was well kept and there were good tenants. But they have raised the prices so much and now rent to anyone, and quite often it's parents who have applied and gotten the apartment for their kids and it's the kids living in the place instead of the people who applied for the apartment and had been approved.
I can say that in my last apt,(Wisconsin) the rent was never raised for the 7 years i lived there.( They did keep all my secuity deposit thou) Now I am In Salem Ma. And they raise the rent every 2 mins or so.
I am embaressed to say I pay $1635 for a simple 2 bed apt. Thats what it is in the Big city area.
I am embaressed to say I pay $1635 for a simple 2 bed apt. Thats what it is in the Big city area.
