Where for poor, educated & sick

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by miczmehandl

If you read my original post, it says medium to large city. Sierra Vista is a small town, not to be confused with a city. I'm from Arizona. The reason you have vacancies is that many people prefer a real city to a small town. How long is your applicaton. Most are like 10 pages long requiring tons of highly personal information. Ok, I will call your bluff, give me an email with a short note saying u have a vacancy and an application. I think your just advertising ur vacant units. Also I'm a single guy, so they are not going to rent me a large apt. What public transport they have there?

Honestly, what are you trying to get from this thread? Your answers are common sense and self-evident.

Larger cities tend to be much more expensive than small towns. Indianapolis is one of the cheapest major cities I can think of - I live here, and you're not going to find much for one person, if anything at all, for $400 within the city limits. At $500, you can probably find something, but it's likely to be dated/rough or in an unsafe part of the city. For the places you could hypothetically afford, they're highly unlikely to be walkable. There are quality hospitals in most parts of the city, but you have to be able to afford to be treated. At your budget, what can you really do?

Walkable cities are generally far more expensive. Boston, NYC, and Chicago are all very walkable cities, and they're sure not cheap.

I think the best you can do is be in the satellite towns of some fairly major cities in the Midwest or South.

[miczmehandl]

Originally Posted by Colorado Rambler

Oh my! That rain you experienced in Colorado Springs was a highly unusual event. Usually, Colorado Springs gets a little rain in the summer from convective clouds pushing up against the mountains and causing scattered thunderstorms that might last for 20 or 30 minutes. Most days Colorado Springs gets no rain at all. Average rainfall in the Springs is around 16 inches compared to a US city average of 37 inches. Colorado Springs does get snow, however - an average of about 41 inches a year. But there's a saving grace - thanks to the arid climate there, the snow usuallly sublimes more than it melts - climatologists call it "sublimation" when frozen water just evaporates off into the sky instead of first melting before it evaporates. This means that you can get a nice fluffy snow storm in Colorado Springs and the next day is all sunshine and blue skies and most of the snow just vanishes. Poof! I always enjoyed watching this phenomenon when I lived there (I grew up in the Springs).

In addition, finding a place on your own without having to depend on subsidized housing is much more do-able in Colorado Springs. I checked padmapper and found rentals for a one bedroom house for $475 in a decent part of town and another for an one bedroom apartment for $499 in a VERY nice area. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. When I lived in Colorado Springs, I found my places to live just by cruising the neighborhoods I liked and keeping an eye peeled for the inevitable FOR RENT signs. In addition, University Hospital, Colorado's outstanding and nationally recognized medical center, is only about a 60 to 90 minute drive away in Denver. In Colorado Springs itself, you can get excellent care from Penrose/ St. Francis Hospital. I was very satisfied with the treatment I received for my disability there. Truth be told, I'm seriously considering going back home to the Springs to live out the rest of my days. While I love the beauty and remoteness of SW Colorado, there are very few amenities here and the local hospital sucks. The main thing that's holding me back is figuring out how to raise the money for the 400 mile trip back with rented U-Haul and coming up with the $$$ for damage deposit and possibly first and last month's rent. I suggest you give Colorado Springs some deeper consideration unless you are just flat out opposed to the occasional winter snow storm.



*sigh*

I am getting very frustrated with some of the links people have been giving on this thread. I did exactly as you instructed and clicked on your facebook link for Sierra Vista. I read down the page and saw lots of happy messages from the Sierra Vista complex, nice pix, and the ad for the 3 bedroom apartments. But nowhere could I find where they said just what the apartments rent out for. Where did you find the info on the $169.00 rental price? I'm mystified. I guess I'll trying going back in the thread and find your other post where you gave the link for the Social Service website. I'll get back to you.

OK, I found it. I must admit that I am completely ignorant of what “Median Income Based Rent” actually is about. Their definition:

A combination of both Income Restricted and Income Based Sliding Scale; the property has specific restrictions to rent to tenants whose income is no more than a specific percentage of HUD's Median Family Income [MFI] values for the region. This feature can list a range of incomes and their corresponding monthly rent values. For example, if the tenant makes between 30% and 40% of the MFI, then they might have to pay $316 per month. But if they make between 40% and 50%, then they would have to pay $360 per month.

AND I found where you got the $169.00 amount for rent, too:

% M.I. Rent
20% $169
30% $315
40% $460
50% $605
60% $751
Fair Market Rate $910

($300) damage deposit

I just checked out HUD’s website and I see that that median income based rent is a feature of HUD’s public housing program (the one they abolished in Atlanta, BTW). I have that rarest of government documents, a section 8 voucher which is under a different set of rules. You learn something new everyday. Now THIS link of yours I like because it lays out the facts and numbers very nicely. Thanks. As a matter of fact, I think I may just do some double checking with them by calling the numbers for the Colorado Springs site on Monday. I know that town like the back of my hand and I’ll know straight off whatever they may or may not be up to.

Colorado Springs is a nice smallish city, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a studio there for under $400, but I'll take a second look, thanks

[sfcambridge]

Originally Posted by miczmehandl

Actually, I'm not doing so bad here. I have a small two bedroom house, full time maid just 50 feet from the beach. I'm eating well, have had dates with 20-40 year old Filipinas with good attitudes in the last two years than I've had in my entire life in the us. If push comes to shove and I'm in the us, I can reenter my old profession and afford those ripoff rents renters are paying there but why bother? Btw ' my rent here is 195 a month, utils included. I did not say I had no, I only implied I am not going to waste it on swag rents (stealing wout a gun). There is medical insurance here I might get. A doctor visit here is 7 dollars.

Then why not find yourself a 20 year old Philipino wife, and get on her health insurance. Then you are all set, right?

Enjoy your retirement. You seem to be in the perfect place, for you. It does not surprise me that you have had more dates in the past 2 years than you have had in your entire life in the US. Doesn't surprise me at all...

[meo92953]

I have to respond to that. My brother married a wonderful Phillapino woman & although it was 50 years ago (love those two), he was the one with health insurance, not her. I haven't kept up with the health care in the Philippines, but...

[miczmehandl]

Originally Posted by meo92953

Good grief. People have gone way out of their way to help you & you are so negative. Wow.

It's funny how people make assumptions about posters ,how they don't actually read a post b4 replying. Some good replies here, a few hate filled netters (nutters), and well-intentioned but useless replies, but that is the nature of internet forums where people can say whatever they want. But thanks to those who gave good replies.

[in_newengland]

The End.