Rentals in Roanoke (2010, apartment, renter)

[Teebyrd86]

I am amazed at the fact that my LL decided to raise the rent on an apartment that is currently availiable. I am trying to understand the huge rate increase. I currently pay $510 for the same apartment which I've been in for a year a half. She is asking $650!! I am wondering why in these hard economic times is she raising the rent that much. I can understand a little but that is a lot. I guess I came in at the right time. Btw the assured my neighbor that our rent will remain the same at least until 2010. Has the cost of rentals gone up that much in the Roanoke area over the past year and a half?

[seanpecor]

It could be that the LL is responding to a variety of factors including:

- The current difficulties that folks with credit ratings below 700 are having in securing a mortgage. If more people are being denied mortgages then they have to rent. The % of renters in Roanoke will likely be growing over the next few years because of this new reality.

- If properties are thought to be depreciating over the next 12 months then those who relocate to Roanoke may opt to rent for 1 year to see how prices shake out. The LL may be anticipating this trend over the next 4-6 months? To me this seems silly, but I guess I wouldn't rule it out as a small causative factor.

- More people may be relocating here (from NY, NJ, Northern VA, Florida, etc) but can't buy a home until their old home sells. So more folks may be renting here because of that?

The LL may be responding to their own personal financial condition too If they were heavily invested in the stock market, they've taken big losses. Maybe charging 20% more for rent is going to help them maintain their current quality of life?

When I was a teenager I worked for a property management company and they would jack up rental fees when they remodeled a unit, to recoup the improvement costs. The justification to the renter was that the unit was much nicer than adjoining units now, hence the additional cost.

Ultimately though, prices are determined by our free market system. It would be interesting to know if your LL is eventually able to rent out that unit at $650/mo. If so, that would help signal a trend.

Sean

[Eeeee22895]

As a landlord here, I have never raised the rent during a tenant's stay. It could be that I'm not as tough as I should be, but I want to reward good tenants for keeping a place nice and staying a long time. It's also a pain and expense to advertise screen prospective tenants, and spruce up a house not to mention potential down-time and lost revenue.