The rent is too dang high? (Atlanta, Smyrna: 2013, apartment, condo)

[cwkimbro]

Sad, but Georgia Peanuts is right. This is all caused by a huge shift in demand from the fall out of the recession/housing collapse and millennials that move frequently and don't have enough saved up for a home.

The remedy really needs to be more apartments throughout town. Some people will be priced out of neighborhoods, but this is a region-wide demand issue and many areas do not have apartment friendly zoning. This is largely caused of fear from the socio-economic changes it will have on schools over time.

Rent control will really just lead to a system where a few lucky chosen people get the discount and the rest pay more. The only fix applicable to everyone is supply.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by fzx

You can always find reasonable rentals if you are willing to do some trade-offs. For example, older apartments, less luxury amnesties, or simply move away from the current apt.

In addition, in the future, when all these proposed apt get built, you will find them lower the rents soon.

Understood, but there is a demand shift that is causing most rates to go up... not just the extreme trendy upper end attracting yuppies.

Out in Gwinnett in a so-so demand area my 97 year old great aunt was in an aging complex for over 15 years. Since 2008 the surge of rental demand raised prices several hundred dollars a month above the regular year to year price increases.

To be fair... the impact goes a little further beyond luxury and location premiums.

The other thing to note is many of her neighbors are definitely working class people with lower wage jobs and they definitely have plenty of kids. Their wages on average have no increased, so many of these families budgets are getting stretched thinner than they use to.

The ultimate problem was a shift in demand. Either demand needs to shift back or supply needs to be increased more easily/cheaper region-wide.

[jsvh]

Rent Control does not work.

Same as how gas price controls in the 1970's caused gas shortages.

No one will want to build the new apartments Atlanta needs if the developers cannot make enough money from the rents. If no new apartments get built then we will end up with the same high rents as New York.

There is a few years lag while all these new apartments are being built. But the rent will have to moderate once all this supply comes online.

[matilda79]

Agree with poster above that rent control is not the solution. What a lot of apartment complexes face in some areas is zoning/permit approval, especially in the suburbs. Couple this with the housing bust and you have the perfect storm.

I have been an apartment dweller for some time, preferring to defer a home purchase until I find something I actually LIKE in an area I LIKE. Unfortunately, apartments and apartment dwellers face a lot of stigma from residents of some communities, especially if they don't bear the classification of "luxury apartment." No one who just purchased a $500,000 home wants to be neighboring an apartment complex. Heck, the further north you go in the suburbs, a luxury apartment complex may as well be a housing project to some of those folks.

Atlanta's problem is the "not in my backyard" complex. It always has been. Atlanta has always favored ownership, whether it a house, townhome, or condo.

Renting is viewed as something reserved for derelicts or poor people who can't seem to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." Not my view, but may be the wider view.

Someone is going to have to evolve here because renting has become the new reality, at least for the time being.

[brownhornet]

Well everything in Smyrna has started jacking rent up since the Braves announced they were moving to the area. Some of the "value" properties have gone from $550 northward of $700 in less than a year.

[Plokivos]

ATL should not be that expensive. period.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by Plokivos

ATL should not be that expensive. period.

Let other people tell it, it's cheap. But when you do the actual legwork of trying to find affordable housing in good areas, it's actually pretty expensive.

[matilda79]

Correct, Smyrna is getting a bit outrageous. The average seems to be about $950 for a one bedroom (absent fees like water, trash, admin, pets). I remember just about a year ago, it seemed you could get something decent for $800. No more.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by matilda79

Correct, Smyrna is getting a bit outrageous. The average seems to be about $950 for a one bedroom (absent fees like water, trash, admin, pets). I remember just about a year ago, it seemed you could get something decent for $800. No more.

I noticed before I left how ridiculously high Smyrna had gotten (and also Mableton). I saw new houses being built near the city incinerator (also a lot of those houses in the area are built on a landfill) starting at $650k. And I kept thinking, "But it's Smyra!"

Then I saw a cluster of brand new townhomes a couple miles up the road from there that were apparently empty, unsold and just sitting.

[matilda79]

You should drive past the luxury condos/homes near plant Atkinson. I don't get it. You get to smell something akin to rotten eggs all day for $650k. Not for me.