You're making $9-13.00/hour...Can you live here? (Savannah, Wilmington Island: apartments, renter)

[pink caddy]

Yes, you can find a job in Savannah if you want to work. With tourism high on the list of opportunities it must be pretty easy to find a job in the service industry. And there are an awful lot of young ppl working in the service industry.

With that kind of income I wonder how it's possible to live in this city. Am I wrong? If so, how it is done? Typical budget? Where is the housing? I just don't know how it is done.

[ellie]

You'd have to have housemates or live at home. I think $15/hr is about the living wage.

[DanielAvery]

It can be done, though obviously you will need to be closer to the $13 end than the $9 end. You'll have to pinch a lot of pennies and forego some of the excess spending that most younger people refuse to, but I was never one to live outside my means anyway. Someone in this situation just has to be prepared to make some drastic choices sometimes.

I think the key (in my case) was looking really hard to find a good deal on housing. My first post-university apartment was in midtown and though I liked it, it was a dump by most estimations. But $525 a month (in 2005-6) was a deal, regardless, and no roommates! After some time in an overpriced (by my estimation--$720) apartment on the southside for a few years, I rented a small house in Gordonston for over a year. That switch alone saved me $100 a month. I made it work. Even took a couple of nice vacations by pinching those pennies even harder. I got tired of just "making it work," though, and moved to a better salary opportunity here in Florida. I was lucky to have no major health or financial disasters occur in my life during that time, and of course one bad relationship can be an "expensive" mistake in many ways, so those unforeseen dangers might make it less feasible for someone to make a life for themselves if they occur.

So you might not live at a prestigious (or very safe) address, and you might not be able to eat steak every night, but it is do-able.

[Newsboy]

ABOUT APARTMENT RENTAL RATES IN SAVANNAH:

I've been in the same 2BR apartment at Buccaneer Trace on Wilmington Island since 2009 -- a record for me! In 6 years, my rent has gone from $725 / month to the current $870 / month -- with no upgrades or improvements other than a paint job, new vinyl floors and a couple of "designer" light fixtures.

Just found out that my new lease will raise the rent to $980 -- AN INCREASE OF $110! I have never, ever in all my years of renting apartments faced THAT big a jump in rent. In fact, this is the ONLY place I've ever lived where the rent has gone up EVERY YEAR without exception. The manager has promised to try and negotiate my rate down with her bosses. But she also tells me I'm getting a good deal, because the ACTUAL GOING RATE for my old 2BR apartment is $1075 -- and people are playing it.

But that's only part of the story: last summer, the California-based owners of Buccaneer Trace replaced the aging tennis courts (another amenity lost) with two new buildings containing 20 luxury, loft-style 1-BRs units. They are tiny (744-844 square feet) yet listed at $1075 a month -- SAME AS THE OLD 2-BR UNITS THAT I'M IN! And yes, people are PAYING IT!

Once people willingly pay almost $1,100 a month for a 744-sf apartment on WILMINGTON ISLAND ... all hope is lost. I'm looking for a new place to live.

[pink caddy]

^^^^^NB.....who ARE these people "that are paying it"? Do they actual stay, pay on time, and last a year or two? I know the numbers you stated are correct, and that's my point. Are all these people in a position that they can pay more than a $1000/month on Willmington ?

[SavannahLife]

Public housing and WIC / EBT. A large portion of downtown residents live in public housing.

[pink caddy]

Originally Posted by SavannahLife

Public housing and WIC / EBT. A large portion of downtown residents live in public housing.

What is "large portion"? Hard to believe. Numbers please.

[ellie]

My mortgage is less than Newsboy's rent. In fact, I jumped to homeownership when the rents started rising in the Historic District back in the 90's.

Looks like he needs to buy a little place somewhere, if he can.

[SavannahLife]

yes, interestingly enough mortgages are usually cheaper than renting. You get more for less. Weird, I know! You just need to save for a downpayment is all. Remember, 20% down and you avoid PMI!

Pink I don't know the numbers but I am guessing there could be thousands or even tens of thousands of people in the metro area public housing, because they have Yamacraw, Frazier, Hitch Village which is expanding, that tower by Forsyth, and more. I am not going to comment one way or the other on their location or purpose. I just wanted to say one way people are able to afford living in a downtown is they get public housing sometimes along with other benefits. You asked how people can live downtown on said wages, and I found it interesting no one had mentioned public housing yet. Now me I would rather have housemates like ellie mentioned. Had some conflicts over the years but I liked living with other people, made me feel safer and simply just comfortable to have someone else to hang out with.

[KittyAtlanta]

Having been a renter and a homeowner, I prefer renting. So you buy a home, the neighborhood goes south and then you're stuck with an undesirable location (even though you might have a very nice house). That happened to me. If you are going to be a homeowner, you've got to set aside at least as much as your mortgage payment monthly for the upkeep. If you go into a condo, you've got mortgage, HOA fees and interior upkeep fees. It's pretty much a wash IMO. I'll never own again. After 2 years, my house is sitting vacant in a thug infested neighborhood. It's paid for, but I still have to keep up the taxes and yard, etc.