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And what I was complaining about just then, is the reason rents are up, I figure. A house isn't on the rental market for long (unless it's not a very good house) before it's rented, and there isn't that much available, especially in the more desirable sizes and areas. I don't know what the apartment market is doing, because I'm watching houses. Trying to get OUT of an apartment.
Anyways. Just kvetching. Market conditions shift, it's life.
I'm moving this from where I put it in the wrong thread...
I'm hoping to rent a house sometime in September. Wish me luck...I'm gonna need it. I've been checking listings daily, but it's still a bit soon, and I haven't seen anything perfect yet. I am aware that my perfect house might not work out, I have factors I'm flexible on...but man, the market just has not looked very friendly at all.
I wish so bad I could just find a nice private owner to rent to us, but I really doubt that's gonna happen. It's all PM companies now, which means they treat applicants like groveling peasants and hike up the rent every year. I miss having a private owner for a landlord. My last one was so cool.
Anyhow. Prices are just one reason the market is tough right now, and it's not just the buy/sell market. The rental market is pretty brutal at the moment, too.
(Yeah. You all know this.)
My dad was always one of those "old fashioned" landlords. His theory was he would not raise the rent as long as you did not bother him too much and did your part to maintain the rental. That worked up until about 20 years ago. Unfortunately so many people are untrustworthy and destroy property. They can tell you anything and still end up being the worst tenant. Recently he had a vacancy and was so excited as while he was at his property a man drove up and asked about the unit. He sounded perfect until my sister did some research and found out he had two lengthy evictions and several judgments against him. My dad now signed with a PM agency as he does not need the headaches of screening tenants himself. There are reasons landlords don't rent directly.
My dad was always one of those "old fashioned" landlords. His theory was he would not raise the rent as long as you did not bother him too much and did your part to maintain the rental. That worked up until about 20 years ago. Unfortunately so many people are untrustworthy and destroy property. They can tell you anything and still end up being the worst tenant. Recently he had a vacancy and was so excited as while he was at his property a man drove up and asked about the unit. He sounded perfect until my sister did some research and found out he had two lengthy evictions and several judgments against him. My dad now signed with a PM agency as he does not need the headaches of screening tenants himself. There are reasons landlords don't rent directly.
Yeah, I know. But as one of the good tenants... It sure was nice to have someone actually APPRECIATE that. Because I took great care of the place, paid my rent promptly each month, and was friendly with the landlord and his family, and a good quiet neighbor, there were just no problems ever for us. And my landlord sure didn't want to run us out of there, so he didn't increase the rent. I've had two private landlord situations like that. One was five years, and the other was three years, both were grateful to have good tenants and neither raised the rent. And they showed up to fix things when necessary, but appreciated when I didn't need to bug them all the time. It was great.
Every time I have ever had a property management company, they have raised the rent at every lease expiration and renewal. And they don't always do that great a job screening tenants, or take excellent care of a property, though I understand it would be a hassle for an owner to do. When I first moved here I rented from a PM company. I don't want to name names, but owners were a Russian couple (obvious from their names) and had dogs in the office. Anyone who knows...will know. Anyway, we arranged the whole thing from out of state and had all funds paid and paperwork done a month in advance. We had a five day drive to get from there to here, and I didn't want to arrive with no home to go to. Well when we arrived, they tried to delay us in the office and give me the runaround (sit down, don't you want some coffee?) and I found out, that they had not bothered to inspect the home or enter it, it had been vacant for several months, and it was winter and the heat was off and the water was on. You know what that means. Burst plumbing, and a fallen ceiling. They had discovered this 3 days prior to our arrival and were hustling to get it fixed. Found out furthermore that the previous tenants had spooked off in the middle of the night leaving all of their stuff (and pets) behind. Their dogs had chewed up the cable and electrical lines on the outside of the house. There were mouse droppings in the cabinets when we got there. And someone had disconnected the dryer vent and redirected a bathroom fan to use that exterior vent opening, and just dangled the dryer hose into the utility closet right by the furnace, where incidentally was also a small gas leak that had been previously marked by the utility. Also when we arrived, the garbage disposal and dishwasher didn't work and was all backed up, and once we tried to run water into the sink, it began to stink of whatever was rotting in there. It took them a week to fix that. I took meticulous notes of every issue upon move in, and had two copies, got both signed by me and one of the owners, kept one and gave them the other. Upon move out, they said they didn't have their copy, so I kindly made a copy of the one I still had, to give to them. I cleaned the place far better than it was before I moved in, and they still charged me a $120 "cleaning fee" out of my (supposedly fully refundable) deposit. But given the aggravations I had already experienced, I let it go.
There were other issues, but those were some of the most outrageous.
I actually felt very tempted to use public property records, find the owner, and let him know the condition of his property and how it was being kept. It was bad enough as a tenant, but if I were paying someone to manage my property, and this was their idea of doing so, I'd be angry.
I'm moving this from where I put it in the wrong thread...
I'm hoping to rent a house sometime in September. Wish me luck...I'm gonna need it. I've been checking listings daily, but it's still a bit soon, and I haven't seen anything perfect yet. I am aware that my perfect house might not work out, I have factors I'm flexible on...but man, the market just has not looked very friendly at all.
I wish so bad I could just find a nice private owner to rent to us, but I really doubt that's gonna happen. It's all PM companies now, which means they treat applicants like groveling peasants and hike up the rent every year. I miss having a private owner for a landlord. My last one was so cool.
Anyhow. Prices are just one reason the market is tough right now, and it's not just the buy/sell market. The rental market is pretty brutal at the moment, too.
(Yeah. You all know this.)
You should check Craigslist. We found the house we currently live in on Craigslist, and we rent directly from the owner. However, I have had many positive experiences with property managers in the past as well.
Rent probably should go up about $50-75 per year for most houses in the Springs. Realistically, that probably means it goes up $100-150 every two years, but that is what should be expected even if property values go up just 6% per year -- which they've been beating the last few years.
"Record high rents are helping to drive record sale prices for Colorado Springs-area apartments.
New York City-based Rivendell Global Real Estate paid $44.5 million this month for the 194-unit Commons at Briargate - a record price of $229,000 per unit for a Springs-area apartment property, according to the Denver office of ARA Newmark.
The national brokerage represented the seller, a partnership that included California-based residential developer Lyon Living and Barings Real Estate Advisers, part of a North Carolina financial services firm."
"Average Springs-area rents soared to a little more than $1,140 a month in the second quarter of 2017 - the ninth consecutive quarterly record, according to the Colorado Division of Housing and Apartment Association of Southern Colorado.
"That's something that's obviously very attractive to buyers," McKenna said."
I'm a bit surprised at that price because there are quite a few new apartment buildings under construction. I still think they will overshoot the market within one year.
Now I wonder what happens to all the people who cant keep up with the rent increases ? How do they survive when nearly 50 % of there income is spent on rent ?
The average semi-skilled wages in Colorado will never keep up with the economy except maybe in Pueblo. So where are all the semi-skilled wage workers going to live ? or are they moving away to other more affordable places ? even if a person is skilled and makes about 50 K a yr , pays taxes at the higher single rate , contributes about 6, 7 % to a 401 K their take home pay will be around 24-2500 a month and almost 45 % of that is spent on rent. How is this a good place to live ?
Now I wonder what happens to all the people who cant keep up with the rent increases ? How do they survive when nearly 50 % of there income is spent on rent ?
The average semi-skilled wages in Colorado will never keep up with the economy except maybe in Pueblo. So where are all the semi-skilled wage workers going to live ? or are they moving away to other more affordable places ? even if a person is skilled and makes about 50 K a yr , pays taxes at the higher single rate , contributes about 6, 7 % to a 401 K their take home pay will be around 24-2500 a month and almost 45 % of that is spent on rent. How is this a good place to live ?
This is a good point. Large metros have had this problem for a long time. It is tough to get by on one $50k salary in a lot of places. It isn't uncommon to see people have roommates. There are still place in COS where you can live for $1k per month, which is more like 40% of take home pay.
Spending 40% or even 45% of take home pay on housing isn't too crazy. That leaves $1400 or so per month for other expenses, which is manageable.
I agree that it is an issue, though. Many people don't make $50k per year. Where are those who make $30k per year going to live? That is a tough question, but it is one that exists in all sorts of desirable metros across the US.
People end up doubling up - they have to find roommates, move in with relatives, and so on. There are a number of people who live in their vehicles or in motels with a group of people, in campgrounds, and so on - they are technically homeless.
Now I wonder what happens to all the people who cant keep up with the rent increases ? How do they survive when nearly 50 % of there income is spent on rent ?
The average semi-skilled wages in Colorado will never keep up with the economy except maybe in Pueblo. So where are all the semi-skilled wage workers going to live ? or are they moving away to other more affordable places ? even if a person is skilled and makes about 50 K a yr , pays taxes at the higher single rate , contributes about 6, 7 % to a 401 K their take home pay will be around 24-2500 a month and almost 45 % of that is spent on rent. How is this a good place to live ?
This happened to us in Denver. Actually, until our new house in the springs is finished in October we're stuck in Denver paying over $1600 a month for an apartment in Englewood of all places.
Our solution was to move to the Springs where we could still give our kids a semi normal middle class life on one income. I suppose that's the cycle. Just move or make more money. The mortgage on our house last year was $1100 with everything & our new house will be under $1500 still. That seems pretty affordable, especially if both of us were working & childcare in the springs is cheaper than Denver. But, I've met others there who pay $700/month for their house and couldn't fathom paying more.
One day, even Pueblo may be out of reach...who knows?
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Apartment rents driving record sales price
