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My Rent is So Cheap My Landlord is losing money!


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2012 Apr 19, 8:26am   26,584 views  60 comments

by BoomAndBustCycle   ➕follow (1)   💰tip   ignore  

I don't rent anymore..

But I see a lot of people constantly bragging about paying dirt cheap rent for a decade without any rent increases. Thought I'd make a thread for you to brag. And if you don't mind put down your AREA CODE, so everyone can find the amazing deals in your area on craigslist.

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41   bubblesitter   2012 Apr 21, 8:13am  

RentingForHalfTheCost says

If he doesn't respond in a few days then it is +1. :)

Haha. I'll leave up to AF Tony Manero to comment further. :)

42   soeren   2012 Apr 21, 6:08pm  

Heh, I got all of ya's beat(`cept maybe the guy in Mexico;) For 6 years, I got away with murder. Bought a cheap motorhome on ebay for $2k, paid $100 a month rent for the spot + electric. Water was free. Area code 631. Saved enough by living on the cheap, I was able to buy a winter getaway/future retirement home for cash.

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and in Dec of
2008, I had to relocate the MH on short notice(one of the risks of livin' cheap-but-illegal;), and have been paying $300 a month
+ elec at the new location - still dirt-cheap by Long Island standards. It works for me.

Due to the economy and jobs situtation, I will be staying put here until I'm ready to wrap things up, and then move to the place I bought, where my "rent"(property taxes) will be about $15 bucks a month, + utils.

PS: I wouldn't DREAM of retiring here on LI, even if someone gave a me a house for free - the property taxes here are absolutely insane - mid-high 4 figures for an old, small, crappy. house in a so-so neighborhood. low 5 figures for a nice house in a good neighborhood.

43   Michinaga   2012 Apr 21, 8:35pm  

soeren says

Area code 631.

Now I feel properly humiliated; I once lived on Long Island as a child (the area code then was 516), and when I saw this area code, I assumed that it must be another Long Island somewhere, just like those silly Californians who think that their "Long Beach" is the default despite the real one being on Long Island east of Rockaway. But in fact the town I lived in three decades ago is now part of 631.

The US and Canada need to radically realign their area codes at some point; it's now impossible to tell where anything is by looking at the phone number. The least they could do is have multiple-area-code cities use consecutive numbers instead of the orderless mishmash that seems to be the standard these days.

44   Katy Perry   2012 Apr 22, 1:45am  

4 of us (brothers) pay $1650 a month on a 2800sq ft house , with a three bay unattached garage. ( built 2002)
Murrieta CA.

rents been the same since 2007.

just bought 6 chickens
have a nice garden out back
we take care of the place

My part of the rent is $350

45   onegreatstarfish   2012 Apr 22, 1:50am  

I've been renting a house in the Irvington neighborhood of Portland Oregon (97212) for the last 3 years at about 1/2 of the going rate; and where the average selling price of a "fixer" is $350k and a rehab'd is over $500k. I lucked out and found an "old guard" landlord who's owned a half dozen houses in this neighborhood for the last 40 years, i.e. pre-gentrification. We're currently renting his 4 bdrm 2 bath house for $1000/mo, there was never any lease, deposit, key exchange, cleaning fee or anything. we have a verbal agreement to rent this house for another 2 years, without any rent increase......fingers crossed. I actually have found it better to lie or hide the fact that we have such an advantageous deal, a lot of my peers are paying this for studio/1bdrm apartments, i usually lie and tell people we pay $1900, which is still considered a screaming deal.

46   swebb   2012 Apr 22, 4:19am  

I have been renting a place for 2+ years now, 2+ bed 2 bath SFH, very nice area 4 miles form the center of Denver. House is sort of run down. $1500/month, landlord is paying $2600/month in mortgage. So he has been losing money. Intention originally was to "scrape" the place and build a high-end SFH (as is the norm in Denver, it seems) -- he's a developer. Lately he has decided to shift gears and put some money into the place and raise the rent.

Over the course of 6 months we will see our rent go from $1500-$2200. We will most likely be finding another place soon, maybe buy.

47   gromitmpl   2012 Apr 23, 2:48pm  

I rent a hugh 4 BR home in a nice neighborhood for $750/month. Its in Ohio ;-)

I am in IT. All of you who are in IT and who live in California should move outand live a little bit. Salaries are good out here. Not as good as in the bay area but proportionately better as the cost of living is much less. With the money you save you'll be able to vacation in California (and anywhere else in the world) all you want.

48   Rent4Ever   2012 Apr 24, 12:14am  

I pay 1300 a month to live in a 2 BR/1 BA 900 sq ft house with 100 feet of waterfront on a pristine lake in CT. The house is worth about 400k. Landlord bought two cottages on adjacent lots about 40-50 years ago and converted them to fulltime houses. Both have been long paid off by him and now he lives in one and rents the other one. He uses the rental income to cover the taxes on both.

I've been living in the house for 5 years and the rent has never been raised. I plan to stay in the house for as long as possible.

As a longtime renter I've learned that finding a good, stable, honest landlord is equally as important to finding a good place to live. Good tenants should ask very pointed questions of the landlord when they decide to rent.

49   bmwman91   2012 Apr 24, 2:54am  

Rent4Ever says

As a longtime renter I've learned that finding a good, stable, honest landlord is equally as important to finding a good place to live. Good tenants should ask very pointed questions of the landlord when they decide to rent.

Very good points. Once our lease on this apartment is up, we will be looking for a privately owned property to rent. I know of a few friends & family members that have houses & stuff for rent, so I could probably work a deal out. I don't mind yard work or house maintenance activities, and they know that I am anal-retentive about things being done right, so I'd hope that that could get me a small break on rent. It would be nice to rent a place for 5+ years with no rent increases (like Mr. edvard2). Given that any old-timers with rental properties are basically pulling pure profit, there isn't all that much incentive for them to crank rents versus find solid, long-term tenants. The trick is finding those properties!

50   Patrick   2012 Apr 24, 10:42am  

bmwman91 says

Given that any old-timers with rental properties are basically pulling pure profit, there isn't all that much incentive for them to crank rents versus find solid, long-term tenants. The trick is finding those properties!

Hmmm, maybe I could help with this.

It is at least theoretically possible to figure out who the landlord is for small properties, and how long they've owned it. If they've paid the property tax for 20 or 30 years, they're an old-timer.

Maybe another service to add to Patrick.net Premium.

51   bmwman91   2012 Apr 24, 11:04am  

Yeah, if you could connect us housing bears with reasonable landlords that want GOOD tenants...that would be pretty cool.

52   gromitmpl   2012 Apr 24, 11:23am  

I wonder what some of you define as a "reasonable" or "good" landlord. I am currently both a landlord and a tenant. I have been a landlord for 20 years in fact but am myself currently renting the house Iive in.

To me a the best tenant is someone who pays the rent, never calls me for anything and improves the house ;-)

53   Patrick   2012 Apr 24, 12:45pm  

The best landlord is similar: doesn't raise the rent, fixes things when they need it, but otherwise doesn't show up.

Interesting. I don't think there are any landlord rating services. Though there are many tenant investigation services, like this one:

http://www.tenantverification.com/?ref=472

54   Patrick   2012 Apr 24, 1:02pm  

E-man says

How would you know that these old-timers didn't HELOC the hell out of the property, and the property is on its way to foreclosure?

Aren't those HELOCs public record in theory?

55   Rent4Ever   2012 Apr 25, 12:58am  


The best landlord is similar: doesn't raise the rent, fixes things when they need it, but otherwise doesn't show up.

Interesting. I don't think there are any landlord rating services. Though there are many tenant investigation services, like this one:

http://www.tenantverification.com/?ref=472

Yes, and what's interesting is the vetting process that landlords put tenants through. Including credit checks, paystubs, references, etc...(which is completely understandable) However, as a longterm renter myself, when I move I plan on putting the landlord through a very similar vetting process. As a tenant that is renting longterm, I do not want to have my rents increased unreasonably, (So I'd like to speak with former tenants) I don't want the property to be sold and a new landlord to come in, and I certainly don't want to have a landlord that is in financial problems and possibly susceptible to foreclosure.

Pairing "good" tenants with "good" landlords is a service that is missing.

56   Patrick   2012 Apr 25, 9:19am  

You're right -- tenants should be able to rate their landlords!

It's awkward when you're living there, since the landlord still has some control, but once the tenant has moved, he'll probably be pretty honest and open.

So maybe I should have a "Former Tenants Rate Landlords" service. What do you think, just another forum, or is there some better way to do it?

57   curious2   2012 Apr 25, 9:24am  

[...]

58   Patrick   2012 Apr 25, 9:34am  

Kind of like the reason there are no comprehensive doctor review sites - fear of lawsuits.

But if you are stating fact, or just giving your opinion, I don't see what you could actually be sued for. That case in the link is about a complex that claims a rival complex was writing fraudulent reviews. The solution to that is to require the reviewer to post the exact address and period of time they rented there.

But that would give away your anonymity to the landlord. Would people still write reviews in that case? I'm guessing some tenants are angry enough that they would.

59   bmwman91   2012 Apr 25, 9:39am  

I have looked for an written reviews on a couple of apartment review sites. They were marginally helpful. All of the real ones were generally somewhere between negative and scathing. The positive ones were generally REALLY positive, to the point that I had to assume that the property manager wrote them. I assume that all of the real reviews were negative because the only people that take the time to write a review of an apartment are angry ones. That's why I was on there lol.

60   Patrick   2012 Apr 25, 9:48am  

I agree - positive reviews of anything are usually indistinguishable from advertising, and so not very useful unless you actually know and trust the person who wrote them.

Negative reviews are much more useful.

Maybe this would make a good Facebook app, where people put their real identity down. Or maybe I should require real names along with addresses to write a landlord review on Patrick.net? Would anyone do it?

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