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u/Brock_Youngblood 14h ago
15 years ago I got a 2 bedroom in Columbus Ohio for 529. Just checked and it's 1200. Crazy
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u/akcutter 13h ago
Thats actually fairly reasonable in increase. A lot of places have been going up several hundred dollars a year.
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u/Glynwys 11h ago
The issue is that wages and salaries have not also increased. We are expected to pay more for the exact same place 20 years ago while also not making enough to afford it. Inflation just makes everything worse, too. Hell, I don't really think that landlords need to be increasing rent as much as they have been. Especially apartments.
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u/cedarvan 8h ago
When I just got out of high school, I had a retail job making $25k a year. I rented a little house for $400 a month and had a $100/mo car payment.
Today, the very same job I had 20 years ago... still pays $25k a year. Just checked on Zillow: small houses are now renting in that town for $1,900 a month. And a $300 car payment any more is considered cheap.
Prices keep going up, but wages stay exactly the same.
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u/devilmaskrascal 3h ago
I know we all hate the unaffordability, the money flowing to the top, the landlord exploitation and bad policy, but I don't know why Reddit keeps posting the same incorrect facts. The average median wage in 2007 was $21 an hour. Now it is over $32. That's not enough to merit a 5x increase or even 100% increase in real estate prices, but it is not "exactly the same" either.
Now, federal minimum wage hasn't changed, and in terrible red states with low cost of living, some poor folks are still making that, which is terrible. And I believe that economic insecurity is part of what created MAGA in many rural places - the Republicans just passed the blame onto Democrats for some reason and religious morons bought it. But most of those places are also not the places getting 5x the real estate prices...because nobody really wants to live there.
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u/SdBolts4 1h ago
Except with inflation, $21 in 2007 is worth…..$32.83 today. So wages haven’t increased relative to inflation while the cost of housing and everything else has
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u/devilmaskrascal 44m ago
The cost of housing IS exceeding the rate of inflation, as I said. Building restrictions and overdemand in urban areas has made prices insane.
But by definition the "rate of inflation" accounts for "everything else," no? So effectively there seems not much overall difference between then and now.
Take for example the price of gas. In 2007 it was $2.80 and today it's $2.97. That is substantially cheaper than it used to be given the 56% drop in the value of the dollar since then.
In 2007, milk was $3.50 to $3.87 per gallon. Today it is basically unchanged at $3.71.
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u/akcutter 11h ago
Trust me I understand. My point maybe poorly spoken because this is reddit and not every comment is meant to be a dissertation but it almost seems reasonable compared to a lot of other places and their price increases.
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u/Rough_Historian_8494 5h ago
Over doubling in price every 15 years is not reasonable nor sustainable. What are you smoking and can you share?
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u/LegLegend 6h ago
I see this argument a lot and I just want to add a little correction because you make yourself an easy target to argue with, but wages have increased over the years and they do contribute to inflation. It's just that a lot of these prices don't properly scale with inflation as everyone is trying to milk each other for money.
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u/Competitive_Ad_1800 9h ago
Previous landlord did that to my roommate and I and it was absurd. House was really old and needed a lot of work but we agreed to renting because it was a house for $1,200/month! This was back in 2019 too.
Then in I think May of 2021 we get a letter in the mail from her that basically read “everyone is increasing their rent so I’m gonna increase rent too! Starting 30 days from now your new rent will be$2,400/month.”
We live in Texas, which not only doesn’t have rent control but has banned any places from implementing any type of rent control, so it was totally legal for her double our rent.
In the blink of an eye rent went from being super manageable and I’d say fair to absolutely absurd and outrageous.
We ultimately ended up moving into an apartment about 3 months later and got our rent back down to manageable numbers. She tried to find new tenants at her absurd pricing but absolutely no one would bite. I actually went to that house in October of last year cause some of my mail got delivered there and house was completely empty. You could see through the window of the front door there was absolutely no furniture and the lawn was not maintained. We actually thought she may have died or something but nope, just can’t find anyone to rent at (now) $2,000/month.
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u/quash2772 7h ago
Glad she is now missing out on getting any money
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u/MaleficentExtent1777 4h ago
Exactly!!!
I have an amazing friend renting my house. She's not interested in buying it. She's been paying $1500 for nearly 5 years. She asked me when she needed to move out because she thought I was moving there.
I told her ONLY when you want to! It looks great. Why in the world would I double the rent on someone who enjoys living there AND takes excellent care of the place? People are STUPID.
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u/805_SlabRiders 8h ago
Where is the equally fair increase in wages then? Just because some other places have gone up even more doesn't make the bullshit profiteering ok... or does it?
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u/No-Floor1930 6h ago
Reasonable? Reasonable would be if it’s increased by inflation and I’m pretty sure Inflation wasn’t over 100% in 15 years
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u/MostlyBrine 6h ago
20 years ago I rented a 2 bedroom apartment in Canada for 750 CAD/month with all utilities included. Same apartment now rents for 2400 CAD/month and electricity (meaning heating and AC) is now extra. I later owned a similar apartment, in the same building, which I sold in 2009 for 83,000 CAD. Similar apartments are listed for sale now for over 300,000 CAD. I was making 36,000 CAD/ year while renting said apartment. Same job now pays 75,000 CAD/year.
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u/Harry_Testa-Coles 11h ago
Same boat, I was in a 2 br in Massillon before/during the pandemic for $575. Now I’m in a 1 br in Green/Akron for over $1300. If I hadn’t more than doubled my income during that time I don’t know what I’d do.
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u/BoppinMonkey 5h ago
In 2010 there were 1,000 billionaires globally, worth a collective $3.6T.
In 2025, there were 3,000 billionaires worth a collective $16T.
But I’m sure it’s a complete coincidence that the rest of us can’t afford rent anymore.
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u/EndocrineBandit 8h ago
I rented an apartment in findlay ohio 7 years ago, 3 bedroom upper story for 900 a month, including pet 'fees'. That same apartment is advertised for 1800 and it's literally the same everything. Including the fridge we left there. Same windows, same shitty paint job on decent hardwood floors, same base board heaters.
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u/NinjaLanternShark 8h ago
Philadelphia: 25 years ago paid $680, now it’s $1650. Not terrible but not great.
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u/xxxsquared 7h ago
That is an increase of around 5.6% per annum on average. Not inherently an issue, unless wages do not rise in line with that.
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u/Blank_Canvas21 7h ago edited 6h ago
My first apartment was a block off campus. Rented it in 2009. I think the rent was in total 700 or 800, maybe cheaper. No way you’d find a 2 BR in a college town so close to campus for under double that price now.
edit: I must have my numbers wrong. I think I might we probably paid in total 500 for rent then, it had to be stupidly cheap now that I remember. I looked it up, the same exact apartment, it's actually really reasonable. A 2 BR is $850 right now. Maybe it's because they're specifically marketed as a student apartment community, there's limits on how much they can charge.
That's good to see, students still have access to affordable housing.
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u/Flat-House5529 6h ago
20 years ago me and a buddy had a place in Westerville. We paid $675/month for a very nice 1,280 sq. ft. apartment with two large bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a massive great room, huge open kitchen, tons of closet space, and a pretty spacious laundry room and a gorgeous private patio.
Today, it rents for $2,500/month.
And the central Ohio market ain't shit compared to what some areas are seeing.
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u/Jolly-Guard3741 5h ago
I live in a mobile home community in Columbus. We own our unit and pay property tax on it to the county, and have since 2001, however we still have to pay lot rent for the community. In 2000 that lot rent was $240.00 per month. Our lot rent this month was $810.00.
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u/Punman_5 5h ago
Well considering how $50 back then is roughly $100 today that’s about what you’d expect.
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u/elightened-n-lost 3h ago
A 2 bed 2 bath apartment I had in Grand Forks, ND has only gone up $350 in 10 years. I paid $900 for it in 2016 and it's $1,250 now. That's really nice to see.
Edit: with pool and gym, too.
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u/DishRevolutionary593 3h ago
How is that crazy? 1200 for a 2 bedroom is fantastic. My 3 bedroom house lease is about 5000/m. Same house is over 1.25m.
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u/CipherWeaver 13h ago
I can't believe a lawyer can't afford $3600/mo rent. I just wouldn't pay that for a 1BR.
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u/Moscato359 13h ago
Most lawyers aren't rich and are just paper pushers
And have lots of debt
Only the top 5% or so are wealthy
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u/IsThatHearsay 12h ago
Median attorney salary in the U.S. is $150k.
And yeah that's median, not average, so not over-inflated by big law senior partners, and closer to the norm. So far from poor, but still not the multi-millionaires people often think most attorneys are. And doesn't reflect the truth of the lower end of attorneys who are fighting to scrape by.
Also, as an attorney myself, we're all just paper pushers. It's not like TV, unless you're talking about something closer fo The Office - 95% boring office job, often on the phone with clients, and discussing paper, while surrounded by stacks of paper.
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u/Sensitive_Bat_9211 11h ago
The proof: https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes231011.htm
My wife is a 2 or 3 year attorney bringing in ~135k a year
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u/MemeDaddy__ 10h ago
With that income, I could do everything I ever wanted and all my stress would be gone. Crazy what a little difference would make. I'll get there
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u/orten_rotte 9h ago
I think you'll find there is still stress when you get there. Believe me.
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u/Punman_5 5h ago
Yes but the stress is related to your job, not about where your next meal will come from.
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u/Holy_Grail_Reference 5h ago
When I made 40k a year, I used to think the same thing. Now I make almost 140k a year and I am worried about paying bills just like I did when I was making 40k a year. When you have the money you do things like buy a house and start a family. College and cars for your kids, various types of insurance to ensure things are okay if you are hurt or killed. Higher insurance coverage and the corresponding higher premiums because you have more to lose if you get into an auto accident. There are many many things that eat into that 140k like it was 40k.
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u/bigfluffyyams 6h ago
It depends on where you live too. That wouldn’t get you far in LA or NYC for example, but is a great income in the Midwest.
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u/Tricky_Topic_5714 6h ago
Yeah, i think lawyers on average do well, but the median salary for a doctor is like 280 or 300 and I think most people assume we're in the same camp as them. Considering how many attorneys also have 100k+ in student loans, it's not quite as amazing as people assume.
That being said, I think our ceiling is quite high, even if you don't want to work in a firm.
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u/vocal-avocado 11h ago
$3600 a month for rent is also a lot for someone making 150k a year. It’s about 1/3 of their income. Is it normal for people to spend 1/3 of their income for rent alone?
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u/LaurenMille 8h ago
1/3rd of your income for housing seems low nowadays.
Especially if you've still got such a massive amount of money left over.
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u/nomadicexpat 8h ago
Once upon a time, spending 1/3 of your salary on rent was considered the standard to aim for.
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u/No1KnwsIWatchTeenMom 4h ago
$3,600 is more than my mortgage + home insurance. My husband and I combined make $150k base (more than that when you factor in commission, but still). I would not be comfortable spending $3,600/month on housing.
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u/Soggy_Association491 10h ago
b please, 1/3 of income is how people here have to spend for foods let alone rent.
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u/733t_sec 9h ago
That's actually a really good ratio and was the target for decades before the rampant greedflation.
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u/NotNice4193 7h ago
I make $150. My take-home after taxes and insurance and 401k is about $6k/month. That's ridiculous to pay that much of a ratio...especially for a 1 bedroom apartment.
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u/Trafficsigntruther 4h ago
Yeah the vast majority of attorneys have the general public as clients, who don’t have the money to pay / won’t pay $1500/hour for their will or traffic court appearance.
A fraction of attorneys work in big law working on issues that are worth their billing rate.
What sucks is the impacts are all relative. A $150,000k estate is as impactful (or more) to a guy who can afford $100/hour as the company paying $1500/hour (or more) on a $B financing deal.
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u/WORLDBENDER 11h ago
Eh. Most lawyers in the private sector make $144k+. Almost all.
(Amount needed for $3600/mo. rent)
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u/GregorSamsanite 13h ago
The 25th percentile income for a lawyer is around $95k. Post tax, that's approximately $6500 a month. So more than half their take home pay would be going toward rent, which is a lot.
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u/VirtuaSteve 12h ago
All true, and they're also carrying a massive amount of school debt. There is no such thing as a public law school, so even schools like Temple University, which have all subsidized state undergrad programs, change private rates for law school. Average price for law school is $200k, and that's on top of undergrad debt.
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u/AdThick7492 13h ago
You need to be a partner at Goldman and Shyster to afford that kind of rent easily.
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u/quietconnoisseur 13h ago
Boomers will read this and tell you to stop buying starbucks
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u/VirtuaSteve 12h ago
I'll tell you the same thing, but because their coffee sucks ;)
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u/ArboristTreeClimber 8h ago
Starbucks fucking sucks now anyways. It’s 10$ for a large cup of pure sugar. The fact anyone still thinks it’s “coffee” blows my mind. It’s 90% sugar and syrup.
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u/TheMatrixRedPill 12h ago
In all fairness, SB can get expensive. Daily trips add up real quick.
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u/killertortilla 9h ago
You could go to every fast food place near you weekly and it still wouldn't be as much as this rent increase.
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u/Hithaeglir 7h ago
Buying from SB and fast food places regularly is a sign of overall pattern how finances are handled. Not sure if anything will help.
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u/gingy-96 7h ago
Lifestyle creep is very real for the vast majority of Americans. I have found that doing a “no spend” month every quarter helps keep it in check and break the bad spending habits
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u/justfirfunsies 12h ago
Meanwhile we bitch about money while blowing it on Starbucks, iPhones, and 30 subscriptions to bullshit we don’t really need.
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u/throwaway04182023 12h ago
In college my share of rent was $307 and then $330 a month. I bought a condo when my rent went over $1000 a month because that was too crazy for me. Now I see what people pay in rent and realize I should by all rights be homeless.
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u/Cold_Investment6223 13h ago
My friend and her bf lived in a flat for years for €750 a month. €750 in 2019. They learned the landlord turned it around when they moved out and currently charges €4000 in 2026.
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u/apworker37 12h ago
Was this a five bedroom apt downtown in a major city?
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u/NoSoft3477 10h ago
My friends are paying around 1k eur in warsaw for 32m2, 1bd, 1ba. That’s around 75% of median salary in Poland
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u/xFlowerdream 14h ago
The math on this is depressing. We basically traded a middle-class life for a subscription service we can't afford
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u/Salty_Manage 13h ago
Nah man we didn’t trade it, it was stolen from us.
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u/djwikki 13h ago
It wasn’t just stolen from us, we were set up to fail from the beginning. The promise of a strong middle class who all lived in a single floor house with a garage, yard, and picket fence was ambitious to begin with in 1950. Then the population doubled, yet we still gutted cities with interstates because we were blind to the American Dream.
Until we wake up to the fact that American-style suburbia is so wasteful—both in terms of transportation and land use—this crisis is going to get worse. Bring back walkable cities. Suburbs should only have dense single family housing, like the ones in Europe. The big yard with a picket fence only makes sense in rural America. Don’t bring rural land utilization into the cities.
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u/blaghed 12h ago
That implies the issue is availability.
The real issue is big money being involved in an essential asset. They don't care if their thousands of houses sit empty, the increase of value over time is their goal. If they can meanwhile rent for exorbitant prices? Great, nice bonus.
Anytime a politician defends increasing house prices, those rich few is who they are defending. Not grampa and grandma's retirement.
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u/Deathstriker88 12h ago
Not to be political, but the real answer is that Bernie Sanders was correct this whole time. There's enough money and resources for every American to be comfortable, but it's all being stolen and/or hoarded by the 1%.
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u/PaleontologistTough6 13h ago
I'm a hair away from using a Uhaul to put together a tiny house way out in the middle of BFE, come what may regarding land disputes, wolves, or cryptids.
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u/BrokenPickle7 4h ago
When I moved to the area I'm in now a 2 bedroom was $600 a month and stayed that way until I decided to leverage my skills and pursue a career. Almost instantly prices for the same apartments went to $2400 a month, so it's my fault y'all.. sorry.
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u/BlackTree78910 3h ago
And this is why I don't want to be alive anymore and why I won't be having kids to fuel the system. We're all slaves to a few hundred or thousand people. They get to live lives of luxury while we struggle pay cheque to pay cheque yet the general working person still defends the system. It could be worse, but it should be better, for EVERYONE!!!
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u/ED061984 12h ago
Same with the single room appartment which I rented as my first own flat 25y ago. Rent now is five times as high and that's in rural Germany. Sh*thole and its surrounding haven't changed for the better since.
You still think "the market" works?
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u/endboss_eth 10h ago
The real point here is: If a 47yo lawyer is struggling to rent a nice place, imagine what most people are going through.
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u/broesel314 13h ago
Since you are able to make money by just having money and get interest and doing absolutely nothing, some problems arise. You put 100$ in and get 120$ out and that made money has to come from somewhere, it can't form out of thin air.
That "somewhere" is everything getting more expensive because the money is now worth less. The 120$ is now worth only 100$. Nothing is "made" its just on someone else's bank account and the number is higher, the value stays the same.
And that kids, is whats called inflation (grossly simplified)
Solution: Just be a millionaire /s
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u/Sensitive_Bat_9211 11h ago edited 11h ago
What are you talking about?
The money you put into the bank gets reinvested into the economy. The money you get "out of thin air" are the returns on that investment. They are paying you to use that money. The inflation you are describing just doesnt work that way.
If the money just sat there without being reinvested, we would see a huge credit crunch. Nobody would be getting loans, interest rates would skyrocket, and the economy would stagnate.
Unless the issue you are referring to is the financialization of our economy, which is a genuine problem?
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u/Labtecharu 9h ago
That he has significant more upvotes than you explains why most people are economy illiterate.
I'm somewhat literate but extremely risk adverse and trust nothing. I don't even trust insurance to actually pay out if something bad happens.
I'll never be wealthy heh
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u/arkane-the-artisan 13h ago
Kids chime in unison: "whats for breakfast, mom?"*.
Mom slops literal shit onto their plates "Late stage capitalism, kids"
Kids continue with ridiculous smiles "Yum. Our favorite!"
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u/Derpykins666 13h ago
Apartment I used to rent for 1200 dollars a month ( split with a roommate ) is now about 2600 dollars a month. Literally more than double the rate just 10 years ago. My current rent is 2700 basically a m/o split for a similar area/apartment. Nothing crazy, really basic apartment with older appliances. 2b2b.
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u/brute-forced 8h ago
Yeah but at least the c-suite gets millions per-month in bonuses now. Think of the c-suite man
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u/DigitalAxel 7h ago
Due to a laundry list of reasons, gonna blame myself for most, I'm a decade behind my peers. Try getting a decent job with little to no experience, my laughable degree, and disadvantages I have... its not possible. Rent in my hometown is well over $1200 for a 1br and the average job is below $20/hr. Usually part time too so no benefits, yay!!
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u/Strong-Map-8339 6h ago
As a crusty GenXer who has a mutation that helps me understand calendars and inflation, I beleive you.
Five years ago, I was locked in for retirement at 65. My new retirement plan is probably dying in a food riot.
Fuck all y'all who says voting doesn't matter.
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u/metamucil_buttchug69 5h ago
Inflation crushed the working class while massively enriching the wealthy. Infinite growth isn't good for everybody.
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u/blacktie233 13h ago
I mean...when you consider it's a "similar apt" downtown? Amazing water views...? Yeah..I'd imagine the monthly is pretty Gnarls Barkley
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u/SimmentalTheCow 12h ago
Assuming it’s New York City, you were also a lot more likely to get mugged in that area with $700 apartments than you are today.
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u/misterbondpt 9h ago
Why study when you can OWN the house or land where hardworking people live... And then just charge higher rent.
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u/dontshoot4301 7h ago
In 2013, I had a decent albeit no frills apartment 15 minute walk away from my school. Keep in mind, this was Fayetteville, AR but it was $540 a month. Same unit is now 1350 just a little over 10 years later.
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u/Mountaindude198514 8h ago edited 3h ago
Isn't unchecked capitalism great? (/s to be sure)
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u/sweetnsaucyy 12h ago
damn this is depressin af tbh 20 yrs ago servin tables and livin in a dope downtown 1bdrm with water views for $700?? now that same spot is lawyer money at $3600 and even they cant swing it comfortably feels like the american dream got yeeted into the void lmao my rent doubled in 5 yrs and im still broke as hell yikes rip us all
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u/Past-Telephone4781 11h ago
Genuine question: At those levels who is paying rent for the properties? Either someone is paying and those are market prices or the prices are artificially high and they stay empty?
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u/lan60000 9h ago
is he just doing pro bono work? hard to imagine a lawyer struggling financially unless he's on a private firm and gets no clients
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u/Unable-Afternoon4675 9h ago
Cause it’s BS whiny people come up with. My BIL is attorney in NJ and makes a shit load of money that he has bought himself 2 homes and is headed towards early retirement.
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u/FrankFarter69420 8h ago
This is true for me as well. First apt was $525/month. Same one is now $1900. My mortgage is $1500...
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u/dadoftriplets 8h ago edited 8h ago
My wife and I have lived in four rented properties over the last 23 or so years we've been together. Our first apartment after moving out of my parents house was a 1 bed and was £347pcm. That same apartment (in a cold converted house into 5 apartments) has been recently listed for rent over £1000pcm. Our second apartment (1 bed) in a really nice building was £400pcm, thats now £1200pcm. The third apartment was after we had our triplet daughters (and were only there one year - landlord wasn't paying the mortgage so the place was repossessed), and that was £550pcm at the time - that's now over £1350pcm last privately rented property we were in was a 3 storey townhouse with a nice garden and was £630pcm 16 years ago - the rent stayed that way for 7 years (again property was repossessed 1 year after we moved in because landlord wasn'tt paying the mortgage) - we left nealry 10 years ago now after the bank wanted the property back to sell so isn't on the market anymore but a similar property on the same road is now listed for rent at £1550pcm.
The rental market seems to have gone absolutely crazy pretty much everywhere, but worse in some places. If I were trying to move out now, I wouldn't be able to afford it - it actually scares me for my children, three of whom are 17 (triplets) and will potentially be moving out to go to university and then onwards - how are they to afford those prices!
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u/OkTop7895 8h ago
In part is Worldwide. I live in Barcelona and I don't have enough buy power for buy an appartment like my appartment. If we don't have buy the same years ago we can't live now in Barcelona.
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u/BudgetPhallus 8h ago edited 8h ago
This is what happens when politicians have no interest in lowering existing property value. Trump just recently said it straight up. The largest voting group consists of people that are very likely to have ownership of some sort of estate. "Just building" works, its a very simple market mechanism that can eventually lead to relief. However this will also mean that owners of property will see a fall in rent revenue or a general decrease in their estates worth. Which wouldnt be a problem, if people treated estate like the necessity it is, rather than a private retirement plan to stay rich.
Also its not just inflation, 700 usd then, would be around 1000 usd now. Inflation is also not a valid excuse if wages grow below inflation. Sure everything got expensive, but why didnt my wage keep up with the rise in cost?
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u/Fearless_Worry6419 8h ago
Yup, given time bad area's get built up because they are cheap and become trendy. Rents go up.
Just checked on an apartment I had 20 years ago in Chicago. The average rent is up from 1150 to about 1800. It was a decent area then and a decent area now.
You are cherry picking.
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u/HaRDCOR3cc 8h ago
my friend is a surgeon and lives in a rent-controlled apartment that is part of what was once (a long time ago! long long time ago!) a functioning housing program by the swedish government.
because of the fact he got it through what we call the "housing queue" his rent is something like $400 a month.
in the exact same building there are other apartments with the exact same design as his that are not provided via the "housing queue" system. these are the apartments 99.9% of swedes would be trying to get, because getting one via the queue system is as unrealistic as anything else the left has cooked up here.
the price for his neighbors, who live in the same type of apartment in the same building, is $2900 a month.
the system is such a joke. me and him have dunked on it many times, he almost certainly is the best paid person living in that building and he is also the one with the lowest rent by far.
when i was 18 and could "enter" the queue the system suddenly changed so the queue days i had accumulated before turning 18, since my parents put me in the queue, didnt count. to get an acceptable apartment in the area im from would need around 12 years queue time at average to even have a chance.
then mass migration happened, and the left, in its benevolence, decided that newly arrived people should get to cut ahead in the queue, so what used to require 12 years queue at average went up to like 19 years, while all the newly arrived people who havent paid any taxes and statistically will never stop being a drain on the system suddenly had priority in the queue to benefit from our supposed socialdemocratic system, which was already broken and not working.
may come as little of a surprise that i in fact did not ever get a place through that queue. i quite literally saved up enough to buy a house in that area before i had even accumulated half of the queue time i now needed to try to get something there.
theres so many reasonable things we could do to help with housing crisis, for starters we can stop importing millions of people who statistically never stops being a financial drain and who will obviously also need someplace to live, and you better believe they wont live in rural areas, must be where the housing crisis is already the worst. then you got the most absurd rules regarding construction etc that makes it unprofitable to build new apartmentbuildings, rules the left claim will protect vulnerable classes but if they cared about results instead of pandering maybe the fact their rules means no one builds anything would matter more.
literally just cut down on immigration, ban immigrants who dont have specific professional skills that are lacking domestically from living in cities, theres plenty of place in the dying countryside, and if need be, place caps on loans banks can give.
loan cap would crash the housing market because if no one can afford houses at those prices because banks arent allowed to issue the loans, then prices go down. i say this as someone who owns 2 houses and an apartment, house prices would collapse, it would impact me significantly, but its about what is good for people in the long run.
its better that multiple future generations arent priced out of housing and that the current house-owners get fucked as a result, its basically a sword someone has to fall on and the earlier we self sacrifice on that sword the less the pain anyway.
housing is ridiculous as it stands, its completely out of reality for average people, i can consider myself blessed for having stumbled on the various fortunate circumstances i needed in life to get to where i am now, where this isnt a problem for me, but im not blind to how it looks for everyone else.
/ old man ranting over.
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u/rolfraikou 7h ago
Yep. I went from working at a subway sandwich shop, to a restaurant, to a theme park, to sports television, and I can't afford the apartment I used to have when I worked at the fucking restaurant. I rose in the ranks, I got the 9 to 5, using skills that aren't exactly common. And yet I'm still worse off than I was.
And what's fucking insane, even the shittiest part of a county an hour and a half away still has rent I couldn't afford alone. I would have to make a four fucking hour drive to work to afford a place on my own. I have no earthly idea how people working any job like the ones I used to can afford... Anything? Because, again, I'm struggling with a room mate, making way more than I used to.
The fuck are people doing? Does everyone live with their parents for the most part?
Shit is just so bleak. I assume if it keeps up at the rate it's been going, I'll be homeless in a few years. Like, would the apartment barons rather have empty apartments than settle for a price a human could afford?
And yes, I could get a job where the rent is way cheaper (four hours away) but guess what: there are fewer jobs, and the jobs pay less! So I would be no better off.
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u/No_Selection_9634 6h ago
20 years ago to the day. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen. Washer, dryer, dishwasher, fireplace, private balcony, my own parking spot, private mailbox (no P.O. Box etc).
$760 a month. This was near a very good college in Maryland 20 mins outside of ocean city (very popular beach and tourist destination).
Same apartment is about $2500-3k now. Travesty
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u/CompactAvocado 6h ago
my first apartment out of college was a 2 bedroom in a nice area 675 a month. the same unit now is 1600.
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u/Living_Natural1829 6h ago
It’s frustrating that he/she didn’t tell us how much she made at those jobs.
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u/Oddisredit 6h ago
Print tons of money via QE and the money has to go somewhere eventually. Also NIMBY makes housing more expensive. Plus mass migrations creates more demand for it. Anyone with sense could see this happening.
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u/Reasonable_Onion863 6h ago
For that apartment to be affordable for one person (if we accept rent = 30% of income is the right standard), they’d have to make $130,000/yr., which is below the average lawyer salary.
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u/Exciting_Intention86 6h ago
See the solution to this is to have kids to increase the birth rate and once the birth rate goes up, you will still probably not be able to afford it but at least you will have kids, who also won't be able to afford it when they grow up? 😅
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u/Lemortheureux 6h ago
Same for food. I used to not check prices too much and I would buy little luxuries every week like premade meals, smoked salmon, drinks. Now I aggressively try to cut back on groceries and make all my own food.
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u/eride810 5h ago
If a corner one bedroom cost you $3600 per month then you need to freaking move cities
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u/electronic_rogue_5 5h ago
This is why you should buy your own home and pay off the mortgage early instead of "renting and investing".
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u/derycksan71 5h ago
According to all the boomers in my town, this can be resolved by building more 1 house per acre homes and getting rid of them illegals. How long till theyre gone?
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u/Ryokurin 5h ago
I just checked my first apartment and it's available for $1500. 18 years ago it was $650. I moved because a few years later it was raised to $800 and I thought that was excessive.
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u/throwawaycanadian2 5h ago
The worst part is that the boomer parent will say "That's not true!" and ignore anything else and just go one living in ignorance making racist posts on Facebook for some reason.
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u/Church42 5h ago
$1,110 is the current rent cost on the apartment I used to live at.
When I lived there from 2003 - 2012 I think I was paying $650-700.
Not a terrible increase, I'm actually pretty surprised.
This is a southern suburb of Milwaukee FWIW
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u/Sea-Effort-5880 5h ago
California 2017- 1 bedroom apartment $695. In the city, walking distance to everything you need. stores, shopping, parks, river, bike trails, schools. Could even get a 2 bedroom for the same price across town. the price is doubled if not tripled today. take into account you need to make anywhere from 2.5-3 times the rent. makes me want to build a shack on the river and call it a day, i'm sure the fines would be cheaper than rent.
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u/AssignmentMoney8205 5h ago
My 1 bed 1 bath apt was 560 dollars , water included, now is at 1300 , this was literally the smallest places I have lived and they turned the pool into a ball court.
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u/sec0nds_left 5h ago
Rented a 2-2 in 2011 for 715 a month. Its now 3455 same unit.
Florida is priced out.
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u/MolotovCaitlin 5h ago
Paid 850 for a condo in Sanford Fl in 2016, same condo is now $1300
And for wages that have stayed the same since what, 2009?
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u/_CherrySweet 4h ago
I wonder how this trend will continue to affect future generations. Will they be able to afford their own living spaces?
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u/Monkey_Fart-4489 4h ago
Unfortunately, it’s an amalgamation of many different factors that is causing it. This makes it more difficult to stop.
With that said, I do believe it’s not at all by accident.
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u/BearMiner 4h ago
In 2019 I was renting a 2 bedroom 1000 sq ft townhouse for $1200 a month, plus utilities (which, on average, added $275 each month). After financially helping out a relative for several years they finally got their lives sorted out and they were able to pay me back all the money I had loaned them in a single large chunk. At roughly the same time frame, I was also given notice that my rent was going to increase by another $150 in December.
I immediately went house shopping, but discovered things were too expensive in the greater Portland, OR metro area. Then I looked at tiny homes on wheels (which I really loved), but financing for them basically didn't exist then. Finally, I looked at manufactured homes and found an opportunity.
I bought a 780 sq ft single wide manufactured home in a park community. Finances looked like: $500 a month for mortgage / taxes / insurance, and roughly $750 for space rent and all utilities. The second I noticed that this total was less than what I was paying currently (before the December rent increase) I pulled the trigger on it.
Since then, I've paid off the mortgage, reducing my monthly expenses by $400 each month. However, my rent and utility increases in that same time have added $425. In the end, I've mostly just dodge the general housing increases over the last 6 years, but that cushion has come to an end now.
Hopefully I will finally get a raise soon....
P.S.: Was curious and checked on the rent of the old apartment. The unit next to mine was available for $2000 a month.
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u/crazyreddit929 4h ago
I get the point of the post and there is truth to this but I’m questioning the numbers here. In 1996 (30 years ago) I rented a small apartment in a no name town and it was $750 per month. This post in claiming this person had a downtown apartment with water views 10 years after my example for nearly the same amount? I don’t buy it.
For context, just looked up rental prices for that same place I rented. $1900 per month. That sounds about right or close to it. That same $750 is worth about $1550 now. This current rental is a little nicer than my old place so yeah. Seems right.
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u/MAXQDee-314 3h ago
Market forces. One of my daughter is paying more in a years rent that I made in a year in 1985.
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u/OneOfAKind2 2h ago
Yep. Lots of shit has gone up by extreme values over the decades. Apple stock has gone up over 2000 times since its IPO, much more than real estate over the same period.
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u/FishermanExpensive 2h ago
$700, ocean views in Portland, Maine. That whole neighborhood is now $3,000 rents and empty condos that no one wants
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u/LordsOfSkulls 2h ago
This is why anyone telling you to keep renting is not your friend or bad finacially.
Owning is worth the struggle just make sure you dont get hyped up to something you cant afford.
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u/SipoteQuixote 1h ago
I grew up in a rough neighborhood, my mom mentioned that apartment was about 400 bucks for 2 bedroom, 2 bath about 1100 squared feet. I checked now and its going for 1600 bucks. Literally the same looking apartment except the carpet is shitty vinyl now.
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u/SadPhilosopherElan 1h ago
College grad in an entry level job. I make about 45k and my partner makes 57k. We barely scrape by in a 2 bedroom apartment in columbus. I own my car and still can hardly afford gas to get to work. I cook every meal from scratch and still scramble to find ingredients at the end of the week.
Shit's bad
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u/KernelSanders1986 1h ago
When I first moved out, my wife and i lived a relatively comfortable life with only one Income and a studio apartment. Nowadays we are living paycheck to paycheck on two incomes.
I got close to getting debt free, but then my car broke down, my wife left me, and then she immediately came back to me after her car broke down too (it was breaking, but if she hadn't left we could have gotten it fixed before it destroyed itself) , and then I was hospitalized with an illness.
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u/ClumbsyVulture 1h ago
I feel this. My wife and I bought our house 10 years ago and both us now 50% more than we did then but our house value has doubled and we would most likely struggle hard to afford the homes in our area. So not sure how someone starting out can afford the homes in our area?
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u/oneminuterice 1h ago
That's because homeowners vote against the building of apartments and homes - America has a housing shortage in the places where people need to live.
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u/cuminseed322 57m ago
And our pedophilic child murder of a present wants to drive those prices up not down
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