Rental Talk

In the wake of all these stories about the mortgage market, and people walking away from their mortgages to save themselves, I wondered what it was doing to the rental market.  

In Seattle at least, I know that the rental market was being seriously squeezed in the years leading up to the housing crash.  I had several friends who were kicked out of their rental apartments because the building was converting to condos for sale.  This was the case all across the city - at one point I read that 80% of Seattle's rental units had been converted to condos, but I don't know if that number was accurate.  (How could they know?)
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I have seen the recommendation to "walk away from your mortgage" cropping up everywhere lately.  It sounded like fringe advice at first, but now I have seen it advised by financial advice celebrities like Suze Orman, and most recently in a New York Times article.

In fact, the Times is running two renting-positive articles at the same time - one recommending that homeowners stuck in an upside-down or "underwater" situation with their mortgage just walk away, and one exploring the stories of people (specifically men) who bought houses, came to regret it, and went happily back to renting.
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This morning I read a feature article where the editors of the New York Times interviewed famous authors on how they decide what to cull from their book collections.  I noticed that one of the authors admitted that he never does, and several others framed it as a hypothetical question, using words like "would."
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I'm sure you've noticed storage units cropping up all over the place, but did you know there are seven times as many storage unit facilities as there are Starbucks?  That we now have more than seven square feet of self storage space for every man, woman, and child in America, so that it's "physically possible that every American could stand - all at the same time - under the total canopy of self-storage roofing"?  Because seriously, I didn't!  

The New York Times has a long and engrossing article about storage unit rental.  I expected it to be a diatribe against the wastefulness of self storage, the waste of money, of time, of land, and of clutter.  But Jon Mooallem has written a far more nuanced article than I would have expected.  
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Anyone who has ever been in the lower income brackets has had to deal with less than satisfactory conditions in a rental property. Negligent building managers, sub-code utilities, ancient appliances, pests, loud neighbors... it's being stuck between the rock of a low income and a hard place called no representation. One tenant going up against a property manager is a losing battle and if that tenant is forced to live in low-rent housing, he or she certainly doesn't have the extra scratch to pay court fees, let alone hire a lawyer. Even if worthy disputes did make it to litigation, where would the prosecuting tenant live in the meantime? Perhaps low-income renters ought to do what low-wage workers did in the early 20th century: Organize.

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A new law in Richmond, California is outlawing cigarette smoking in all apartments, condominiums and public places. When my family and I were in San Francisco a few years ago, I remember how hard it was for my aunt to find a place to smoke—I’m sure residents of Richmond are feeling her pain.

Apparently the big anti-smoking campaign is in response to the American Lung Association grading the city with an “F.”

The ban will be enforced by January 1, 2001, following a ban already in effect against smoking in farmers markets, parks and other public places. Fines for smoking in an apartment will begin at $100. Read more

If you’re faced with moving from a house to an apartment, you’ve got a lot of good things in store for you—little to no maintenance, no property taxes, and possibly even perks like free water, trash or cable services. You probably even have at least a semi-furnished place awaiting where you don’t have to buy a fridge or a stove, saving you big bucks.

But the one thing that many apartments lack is sheer space. Sure, there are some huge lofts and really great multi-bedroom digs out there, but the average apartment is pretty cramped. So the question remains—what do you do with all your stuff?

Here are a few tips and tricks to use when you’ve got a small living space. (These can come in handy wherever you live—including small houses, too.)

Use every inch in site. If you have a jumbo space not in use but you still have piles of stuff, it’s time to rearrange. Read more

The economy's tight right now, so in the process of apartment hunting the first thing that comes to mind is price. Why pay any extra $100 if you don't have to?

I was recently in such a position. The rent at my current apartment was reasonable, but I thought I could do better, all things considered. After sifting through ads for boarding houses and shared bathroom Single Room Occupancy listings, I thought I found a good deal. Decent location (at least geographically speaking), private bath, private kitchen, and a significantly lower price. I didn't depend on it, but I thought that it couldn't hurt to schedule a visit.

Thus began the experience I have come to call, "Visiting the Worst Apartment in My City".

Now, I've seen bad apartments before, so I think I have a pretty thick skin about these things. I've toured the likes of a dump in Ohio with ancient, rubbery linoleum floors, cracked walls and light fixtures that were being held up with little more than a rusty nail and a daily prayer. Read more

<!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; Normal 0 &lt;![endif]-->There are few things in this world that can be more frustrating than a grouchy, demanding, or vindictive landlord. Not having a good relationship with yours can cause undue stress and anxiety, especially around the time that rent checks are due. Being friendly and proactive can help to diffuse any landlord anxiety before it even begins.

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Laying the Foundation

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The first step in a good landlord-tenant relationship should occur on the day of move-in. Let your landlord know who you are and a little about yourself by introducing him or her to your family or roommate. This will help them put a face to a name and helps to humanize your room mate which will help your landlord connect to you as not only a customer, but as a person. All mature, professional business relationships begin with an introduction and a firm handshake. Read more

If you have ever heard from disturbed and perturbed homeowners who commonly lament that they feel like they are merely renting a home from the bank as opposed to their wiser friends who choose to truly rent a home and not be subjected to the ins and the outs of home purchase, there are ample reasons as to why. First and foremost, a home is supposed to be an investment, however when owners are dwarfed by costly repairs, dropping home values and banks that seemingly don’t really care about them, many times it is similar to renting a home, which would, in the end, cost a lot less and have no apparent contractual long term strings attached.

How the Numbers Stack up
Here is a good way to compare the costs. Let’s say you bought a home at a decent average interest rate of say eight percent on a thirty year fixed note—in the end you pay roughly a hundred or so grand in interest on a four hundred thousand dollar home. Read more