Rent prices in Colorado Springs (foreclosure, schools, landlords)

[Vision67]

Texas company plans to convert hotel in north Colorado Springs into apartments

https://gazette.com/business/texas-c...8c7e77586.html

"A north-side Colorado Springs hotel property would be transformed into apartments that would help fill a need for lower-cost housing, under a proposal by a Texas company.

Sandstone Investments, a Dallas real estate acquisitions and development company, has proposed converting the two-building Motel 6 and Studio 6 at Voyager Parkway and Razorback Road into 117 studio apartments, according to plans the company has filed with city officials. The property sits near Interstate 25 and Academy Boulevard."

"Perel said he hopes rents at the converted Motel 6/Studio 6 would go for $800 a month or less for units that will be about 350 square feet in size.

Those rents would be about $500 lower than the average first-quarter rent of nearly $1,334 a month in Colorado Springs, based on a recent University of Denver report on local apartment costs."

[wilberry]

they will end up being at least $ 1100-1200 for 350 Sq ft

[Sonic_Spork]

Originally Posted by wilberry

they will end up being at least $ 1100-1200 for 350 Sq ft

Maybe not.

There is actually precedent for this, in that near Fillmore and I-25 there is a former Holiday Inn that is converted to "apartments." But said "apartments" are obviously 1 room studios with a bath tacked on, that do not have an oven in the mini kitchen, but you can go use the "lounge" which does have one if you need to bake something. Or get a toaster oven, I guess. I know because I was helping my son search for cheap housing that he could afford. Those are $800/month.

We did not go with that option, though we went and looked. There was a homeless person lounging on the floor in the hallway using the free wifi with her phone, that the manager kicked out while we were actually on the tour. They have a pool, but I think you'd be a brave soul to swim in it. And I later heard that a friend of an acquaintance said, "oh yeah, that's where you can go to score drugs." So yeeahhh...

We ended up getting him into another "student" rental. Some of those don't actually require tenants to be enrolled in college. One such complex at least will rent to almost anybody, but the one he's going into does at least require people be an appropriate fit for the other tenants already in a subdivided house in terms of age and such.

And this is the part of these bigger picture social considerations that sucks. I recognize the basic fact that there are more minimum wage jobs than there are high schoolers to work them, there is a need for low wage employees in a given town, and they need to have somewhere to live. And having been poor at times, I certainly do not believe that every person who is struggling to get by is going to stay in that position forever, nor that they are all lowlifes who make poor life choices.

And it bothers me that a low income person who is decent, or a young family with small children, will have no choice but to live in a scummy place full of scummy people because the minute it becomes clean and safe, they double the price. But it's a circular problem, because the cheap housing also attracts the scummy people. Can't pretend it's not a thing, for drug deals, violence, noise and filth to be features of "affordable" housing. My leftie friends all want to say never to judge people who are addicted or in poverty, and I get that life is hard and most don't want to be where they're at, but come on. I've certainly been made to feel unsafe by sketchy neighbors when I was younger and living in poor areas.

Maybe the only solution is low tolerance policies and a strict security presence, lots of cameras and no slack on enforcement. I dunno.

'Cause I definitely think we need affordable housing, but I also definitely understand why some might not want it in their "backyard" as it were. If I at least recognize where a NIMBY is coming from, it's only because I've lived in extreme poverty and I know what it's like. But just pricing out the poor ain't the solution. That's how you end up with third world conditions with shack cities.

[mtngigi]

350 sq. ft., no stove, anyone off the street can come in to use free wifi ... $800? Does that even include utilities, water, anything? Some folks use a different dictionary than I do, if that's the definition of "affordable". I know, I know ... but it really wasn't all that long ago that you could find a somewhat decent rent in or near that price point. I've witnessed that in my own neighborhood.

"there is a need for low wage employees in a given town, and they need to have somewhere to live".
That's it in a nutshell.

I've lived at low income levels - when I lived and worked in the tourist town of Grand Lake on the western slope, rental cabins could be had for $250 a month. And the trade-off was that I was living in one of the most beautiful little mountain towns in Colorado. Now it's a little Aspen; all those cabins gone, replaced by real estate for those with deep pockets only. Businesses can't get the summer help they depend on, because there's nowhere for them to live.

Like most, I don't have any answers. But I do know that when I moved down here and worked jobs that weren't that much over minimum wage, I was able to get into decent rents. Wages, rents, and COL weren't so disparate.

[Sonic_Spork]

Originally Posted by mtngigi

350 sq. ft., no stove, anyone off the street can come in to use free wifi ... $800? Does that even include utilities, water, anything? Some folks use a different dictionary than I do, if that's the definition of "affordable". I know, I know ... but it really wasn't all that long ago that you could find a somewhat decent rent in or near that price point. I've witnessed that in my own neighborhood.

"there is a need for low wage employees in a given town, and they need to have somewhere to live".
That's it in a nutshell.

I've lived at low income levels - when I lived and worked in the tourist town of Grand Lake on the western slope, rental cabins could be had for $250 a month. And the trade-off was that I was living in one of the most beautiful little mountain towns in Colorado. Now it's a little Aspen; all those cabins gone, replaced by real estate for those with deep pockets only. Businesses can't get the summer help they depend on, because there's nowhere for them to live.

Like most, I don't have any answers. But I do know that when I moved down here and worked jobs that weren't that much over minimum wage, I was able to get into decent rents. Wages, rents, and COL weren't so disparate.

Yeah, I don't actually see it as "affordable" myself, but in this town it's on the low end of available rent.

So you can rent a room in somebody's house if you are very lucky to find it, for like $500.

This one PM company that is a god awful nightmare from hell to deal with, has a yellow Victorian that they rent "apartments" in for $400...but in fact they are bedrooms. There is one shared bathroom for six units and the place is falling apart.

You can live in some kind of "student housing" (which may or may not require you to be an actual student) for about $600. But that is all shared housing that leases by the bedroom. So like four or more bedroom apartment with each bedroom+bath being $600 and shared living room and kitchen areas. Or a house done out the same way where maybe two of the bedrooms share one bathroom.
(This is not dorms on campus, this is rental housing mostly around UCCS. Listings for "The Lodges" are a good example, they are on every rental listing site there is.)

But if you want your own actual apartment unit of some kind, even a converted hotel room, that is at least your own private unshared home? $800 or more is the cheapest you'll find it in this town. And no, it did not include utilities and the woman who took us on a tour said that the utilities were $200/month which makes NO sense to me. My utilities on a 4 bedroom townhouse are not that much.

But that's the market here. I don't even want to tell you what I'm about to pay on a place in the Phoenix area where I'm going in a couple of months. It's worse.

[wilberry]

" I don't even want to tell you what I'm about to pay on a place in the Phoenix area where I'm going in a couple of months. It's worse. "
Mr. Sonic, the only affordable place left to live with an average salary is FT Wayne Indiana. In the Phoenix metro, the rents and home prices are slowly getting beyond a person's reach. When a new apt complex advertises this way: CALL FOR PRICE, meaning they don't want bad reviews from potential residents posted online. because $1500 for 600-700sq ft is ridiculous !!
One good thing is all the remodeling upgrading gentrification of APTS. It is a 30 something single persons paradise.

[Sonic_Spork]

Originally Posted by wilberry

" I don't even want to tell you what I'm about to pay on a place in the Phoenix area where I'm going in a couple of months. It's worse. "
Mr. Sonic, the only affordable place left to live with an average salary is FT Wayne Indiana. In the Phoenix metro, the rents and home prices are slowly getting beyond a person's reach. When a new apt complex advertises this way: CALL FOR PRICE, meaning they don't want bad reviews from potential residents posted online. because $1500 for 600-700sq ft is ridiculous !!
One good thing is all the remodeling upgrading gentrification of APTS. It is a 30 something single persons paradise.

I'm not a Mr. Sonic, I'm a Mrs. Sonic, but yeah... I'm not really so worried about myself, it's gonna be a little tight but my husband and I can afford what we're about to pay, and the place I picked is nice enough that I feel like I'll justify the expense with the enjoyment we'll get from being there.

I do not have the option of moving to a lower cost of living area. I'm moving to be near a relative who needs us, and he cannot travel to live anywhere else. So it's off to Phoenix I go, like it or not.

But my young adult sons on the other hand... I feel for them. They are just getting started in life and the cost of housing is painful. However, if there's a bright side, it's that many jobs are now bumping up their pay scales out of desperation, and for one of my kids who is being an irresponsible 19 year old and losing one job after another, at least he is able to find a new one pretty easily. It frustrates me to watch him do this, but at least the job market is not so unforgiving as it was when I was that age.

I just wonder what will happen when the moratoriums end, whether it affects pricing... Guess we'll see.

[wilberry]

correction Mrs. Sonic there are some very nice areas in and around Phoenix, I hope you will have access to a pool. Good Luck.

[Vision67]

Apartment rents skyrocket to average of more than $1,400 a month in Colorado Springs

https://gazette.com/premium/apartmen...84a762034.html

"Colorado Springs apartment rents soared to an average of nearly $1,430 a month in the second quarter — another record high and the first time local rents have blown past the $1,400-a-month mark, an industry report shows.

With the latest increase, average apartment rents have spiked by nearly $164 a month, or almost 13%, since the start of 2021, according to a report by the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business and Colorado Economic and Management Associates, a Denver-area firm."

"Apartments built since 2010 averaged $1,728.08 a month and were the priciest in the area; newer units typically come with pools, fitness centers, dog runs and other amenities that drive up their rental costs. Apartments built during the 1970s were the least expensive, averaging $1,088.92 a month."

[TCHP]

Perhaps the real estate market is starting to cool. I've noticed a duplex for sale in my neighborhood has been on the market for two months now. Granted, they are asking $200k more than I think its worth, but it seems the market may agree with me, at least to a degree, on this one. Additionally, a rental house a couple blocks over has remained vacant for over a month now. Again, pricing may be over the top, I haven't checked, but people obviously have reached a threshold of paying for overpriced living arrangements.