Poll of the Day > Would you choose to live in an apartment like this?

(+) Yeah! (+)

If you were offered an apartment and it cost more than 30% of your income and you needed a grant to pay rent for those first months that youd be living there in order to be financially stable, would you choose to move in?

what?

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It's a better deal than most people

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30% of income is pretty normal for housing, no?
For me that's 3k/mo, which seems a little high when it comes to luxury apartments.

I have no idea what "a grant" is.

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30% is not bad at all

most people are more like 50% or more sometimes

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CoolSkittles posted...

Would you choose to live in an apartment

No.
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I mean, I pay $600 a month now to rent a room (with it's own bathroom), and I pretty much have the whole downstairs to myself (share the kitchen upstairs). Before this I rented a room at the College Glen Apartments in Lacey WA, total rent was $1100 a month, it was a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom, so even with utilities/internet we all payed only $400 a month. Shared kitchen/living room, but honestly I never used the living room at all, and rarely used the kitchen, so it didn't matter.

So would I pay $1200+ a month for a 1 bedroom? Hell freaking no. MAYBE if I was young enough to still be dating or something, but at this point in my life even $600 is kinda a waste (but I live on the water, have total privacy etc so it's totally worth it).

Spending so little means I only have about $900 total in expenses a month including car insurance/cell phone and food (Which are my only expenses outside of rent. Utilities/internet are included in the $600).

Min wage is 13.50 here, but most jobs pay at least 15 (and my current one pays 16.75), which means I only need to work about 15-16 hours a week to keep up with my expenses. I would NOT work more hours just to rent a 1 bedroom apartment under any circumstances. I might do it to be more centrally located, but there are other rooms to rent etc that are the same price i'm paying now, or less (like the one at college glen) so I wouldn't do that either.

ONLY if I was making 80k+ a year would I even consider renting an apartment at this point as it's just throwing money away, and even if you do make 80k+ due to taxes etc, it's STILL a huge waste.

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I keep on forgetting people are more like wofly than they are like me.

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I already pay almost 50% and I still probably save a grand every month

Without subsidy my rent is 60% of my income

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Judgmenl posted...

I keep on forgetting people are more like wofly than they are like me.

lotsa different kinds of people

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Mead posted...

lotsa different kinds of people

Yea I kinda feel bad for all of the people on here who are working at or under minimum wage, especially when they're in their 30s and 40s. But I also have a good friend who does this as well, and is a pretty smart guy enjoying life.

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Judgmenl posted...

I keep on forgetting people are more like wofly than they are like me.

I haven't always been that way. When I was married I usually lived in the best places because it made my wife happy. Back before we bought a home we lived at the South Shore Beach and Tennis Club apartments in Alameda CA. Not only are those luxury apartments with a view of the water (in the Bay Area...only way you can get a view is renting), but they were right on the beach as well (they freaking raised the rent by 10% a year which was the max).

After selling my home though, there was no reason to pay $1000+ a month rent, especially because I at least PLANNED on traveling along (damn you covid), and didn't wanna pay large amounts for somewhere I wasn't using.

Meanwhile now I rent this room/basement, but I'm the only one living in the house, it's on the water as well (Steamboat Island Washington), with a beautiful view of the water. You couldn't rent the home for $4000 a month (it has 5 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, 4 bathrooms, 3 stories, large garage etc), so it's a really great deal (only prob is it's 30 mins to civilization from here, and lots of deer at night which makes driving dangerous).

But yeah renting rooms just makes sense, means I don't need to work much to keep up with my expenses, and traveling isn't such a waste of money.

If I rented an apartment, it wouldn't be nearly this nice, would cost more etc. I would totally buy a mobile home first before renting an apartment since i'd probably make money over the time i lived there (even with the high taxes when you sell properties in WA and the 6% for realtors fees).

I'm still considering moving up to Forks WA where they have 10k mobile homes and the lot rent is only 220$/month (Which includes water and sewage). Those mobile homes will DEF go up in value over the years, and you are paying like 100$ a year in taxes only. Lot rent + utilities and internet would be $300 or so a month, so significantly less then i'm currently paying, and when/if I did ever sell it, i'd probably make at least 10k profit (maybe more) which would mostly pay for the lot rent/utilites I had spent along the way.

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I could never do something like this. I'd never be able to live in a mobile home or an RV or something like that. It feels like it's way under me, and I'm nothing special. My parents taught me to be better than that and not to undervalue myself like that.

Then again I'm 31, and still living with my parents. Why spend money when I don't have to? I have it lucky. When I have to finally make that decision, I plan on moving to NY or Boston and living by myself in a walkable city, but never in a situation like that. I'd love to live in a nice furnished flat with enough space to set up a lab and continue to do remote work, and transition to being an influencer when I get older (thinking like in my 50s). By then I'd hopefully have $1-$2m saved up and be less worried about social media ruining my life.

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Would you choose to live in an apartment

No, I'd have to be forced. Possibly as a stipulation in an eccentric relative's will where I stand to inherit tens of millions of dollars.

FatalAccident posted...

what?

Yeah, I didn't understand half of what they were trying to say.

Judgmenl posted...

I could never do something like this. I'd never be able to live in a mobile home or an RV or something like that. It feels like it's way under me, and I'm nothing special.

I like the concept of things like tiny homes and unconventional living, but I'm too used to having space for storage even if I don't use much space on a day-to-day basis.

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Zeus posted...

I like the concept of things like tiny homes and unconventional living, but I'm too used to having space for storage even if I don't use much space on a day-to-day basis.

Exactly. I'd be all for one of those tiny homes, but I want to live somewhere walkable so you have to make sacrifices. I don't ever see myself living in those block-style apartment complexes with people on all sides of you. As it is right now, I have a single neighbor below me who never makes any noise.

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Also society is set up right now assuming if you have money, you have a family, which I think is going to change as the millennial generation gets older. No real desire to have a family and I need room / privacy, but not enough to need a house. Lived in a house for a decade and saw where that went when you didn't properly maintain it. Probably couldn't maintain a home by myself.

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