Poll of the Day > Is it worth it to move into this apartment?

(+) Yeah! (+)

So theres an apartment I cant afford with my own income. And I would need to use a grant to pay for the first several months of rent, so that I will have time to save up enough money to pay rent on my own.

The apartment is $700 and 30% of my income is $550 (the general rule of thumb is that an apartment is considered affordable if the rent isnt more than 30% of your income).

Is the apartment worth it? Is it a good idea to move here and just get a grant?

That rule of thumb is ancient and wrong, it's pretty common to spend half your income.
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*Bumping*

Where abouts do you live if I may ask, I help alot of people find cheap living conditions. Usually that involves roomates. $700 is very low for your own appartment most places, so that doesn't sound like a bad deal at all, but depending on the area you might be able to get something cheaper.

If you have not-aweful credit, you might be able to get a mobile home, even here there are some that are 30k or less. The lot rent for those is usually almost as high as the rent for that place your looking at, but often they are 2 bedroom mobile homes so if your willing to rent the other bedroom out (for something like $500 + 1/2 utilities/internet), you could end up paying almost nothing per month and owning where you live.

Renting a room though, if you can find a nice one with cool people, is often the best bet, even over having your own apartment. You still have just as much privacy (especially if you have your own bathroom as well), internet/utilities are usually included (or at least split), and you can find good ones even where I am for $400 (or if very lucky even less).

$400 rooms usually are due to a 3 bedroom (or more) that is split, 3 ways or more. This also makes the utilities/etc very small for each person. The place I lived before here was the College Glen Apartments in Olympia, it was $1100 a month for a 3 bedroom with 2 bathrooms (sadly I had to share with one other roomate). It was $400 a month for each of us AFTER utilities and internet.

I moved because of a job....sigh...that ended falling through. That was such a great setup.

Anyway $700 isn't bad, but you could find better if you look around, getting a 6 month lease though probably wouldn't be horrid as you can keep an eye out for a better deal and still have the flexibility to switch to it in the near future.

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Pretty much the San Jose area.

Jesus freaking A Christ, on a landmine...with tobasco sauce on top.

If you have a chance at a place for $700 in SJ or near it, take it, thank the gods, sacrifice your first yet to be born child and dance naked in the moonlight.

Seriously renting a room for that much in that area is fairly hard (possible but hard).

Renting your own apartment for that, that is freaking great even here, let alone in the bay area.

Hell man, if you don't take it, let me know and i'll try lol.

Seriously that is awesome, congrats.

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Havent been selected yet, but I had some thoughts like these. Will keep this topic active for maybe a week or so to get as many opinions as I can before I make a final decision (if Im even selected).

cool another topic where we can discuss how awful and parasitic landlords are

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If landlords are getting evicted cuz they can't evict people... why don't they live in their own building?


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700 in San Jose? I'd look at crime statistics for the particular neighborhood and the testimonies of people who've resided in the area. Consider what you're getting yourself into before making the decision.

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we need to see what it looks like first to make an actual judgement

is it a closet, is it a mansion, we don't know if the money is worth it

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*Bump*

It's never worth it to move into an apartment.

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Kyuubi4269 posted...

That rule of thumb is ancient and wrong, it's pretty common to spend half your income.

I wouldn't necessarily say "wrong" so much as "unrealistic." That's a good ideal to aim for, if you can manage it, but because of how aggressively the rental market has inflated relative to wages, you probably won't achieve that standard without either making quite a lot (way more than can reasonably be considered a minimum standard for renting) or settling for a shoebox.

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San Jose?! We're neighbors!
:D

wolfy42 posted...

if you don't take it, let me know and i'll try lol.

^This!

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Doesn't San Jose have the highest rent in not only the Bay area but all of Cali?

What are you getting for $700?

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EvilMegas posted...

It's never worth it to move into an apartment.

Are you one of those people that falsely think that you're just throwing money away if you're not buying?
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"Renting a car long term is better than owning one"

That's the argument you're making essentially.

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EvilMegas posted...

It's never worth it to move into an apartment.

i'm genuinely curious what your reasoning is for this

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Lokarin posted...

If landlords are getting evicted cuz they can't evict people... why don't they live in their own building?

no landlords should be getting evicted right now, no one should

money has already been allotted to make sure nobody gets evicted during this pandemic, its literally more than all the combined rental debt in the US

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Kanatteru posted...

i'm genuinely curious what your reasoning is for this

I 100% know it's impossible for everyone to buy/afford a house, especially now, but renting an apartment is just throwing money away long term.

If you have the means, it is always a better investment to own a home than rent an apartment.

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And again, I'm not saying it's dumb to rent an apartment or you should feel bad, it's just not a good investment for your future.

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EvilMegas posted...

"Renting a car long term is better than owning one"

That's the argument you're making essentially.

Not really, since the housing market in the last 10 years only have gone up to match inflation. Then there's the fact that the average home owner spends 30k on repairs in the first few years of owning a home. There are upsides to owning a home, but to flat out say that buying a home is better than renting is just flat out wrong.
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lihlih posted...

Not really, since the housing market in the last 10 years only have gone up to match inflation. Then there's the fact that the average home owner spends 30k on repairs in the first few years of owning a home. There are upsides to owning a home, but to flat out say that buying a home is better than renting is just flat out wrong.

Again, paying for an apartment if you have no other means or don't have the income is a okay bet short term, but it isn't a long term solution.

Yeah, you start out paying more for a home, but it obviously isn't the case for the entire time, and mortgages are way lower than renting costs. So a few years down the line it evens out

Especially for people with children.

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Seems like you'd be living on the razor's edge even after you settled into the right payment scheme.

Basically you'd be teetering. If anything went wrong that required a sudden large investment of money (like your car decides to up and die) you'd probably screw yourself.

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EvilMegas posted...

And again, I'm not saying it's dumb to rent an apartment or you should feel bad, it's just not a good investment for your future.

It is, however, generally a better idea than buying a house you can't afford to maintain and also a better idea than being homeless. There's a lot wrong with the rental market (mostly the fact that long-term renting is a thing and there's very little being done to curb the abject parasitism that is investment landlording), but as a stepping stone to ownership, renting makes sense. The problem is that rents have skyrocketed so much relative to wages that renting tends to preclude saving up enough capital to be able to transition into ownership.

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Solid Sonic posted...

Seems like you'd be living on the razor's edge even after you settled into the right payment scheme.

Basically you'd be teetering. If anything went wrong that required a sudden large investment of money (like your car decides to up and die) you'd probably screw yourself.

That is one concern for me.

*Bump*

*Bumping*

$700 Bucks for an Apt? Where are you?

You be lucky to move in someone's Closet for that here in NYC

EDIT: I saw San Jose...even still, that's cheap for that area/city from what I've read

You are supposed to be working three jobs and living in a house.

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*Bump*

You could make around $1,900/m here on min wage after taxes. Rent is anywhere from $1,200 to $1,500 for a two-bed.

$700 sounds cheap.

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*Bumping*

*Bump*

zebatov posted...

You could make around $1,900/m here on min wage after taxes. Rent is anywhere from $1,200 to $1,500 for a two-bed.

$700 sounds cheap.

Cheap, maybe, but you still have to weigh it against your financial situation and decide if you have enough wiggle room for the possibility of something going awry.

You still need to pay bills, for instance (and not just on the apartment - stuff like car insurance matters too).

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*Bumping*

*Bump*

*Bumping*

Who the fuck is spending $30k on maintaining a home lmao

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CoolSkittles posted...

The apartment is $700 and 30% of my income is $550 (the general rule of thumb is that an apartment is considered affordable if the rent isnt more than 30% of your income).

While 25-30% is ideal, I'm not sure how widely practiced that is these days with rising home prices, particularly given the moratoriums.

Plus $700 is relatively cheap for a lot of areas, and sounds suspiciously cheap for California.

lihlih posted...

Then there's the fact that the average home owner spends 30k on repairs in the first few years of owning a home.

Citation?


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FatalAccident posted...

Who the fuck is spending $30k on maintaining a home lmao

That only happens if the previous owners fucked the house up and it wasn't caught in an inspection.

So foreclosures usually.
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FatalAccident posted...

Who the fuck is spending $30k on maintaining a home lmao

Just the rich folks, tbh

*Bump*

Quit bumping, you look attention-starved.

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