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Permalink Like Dislike 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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San Jose, CA
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eclipxe says
Is this right across from North Park by any chance?
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San Jose, CA
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RentingForHalfTheCost says
Why such a big jump in rent and home size? Did you get marry and had kid(s)?
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San Jose, CA
E-man says
Yep!
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Here's my housing history in the Bay Area:
Summer 1980 - 3 of us summer interns split a cheap 3 bedroom apartment within short bicycling distance of IBM for $350/mo. The place was clean but definitely low end. Places that we as college students considered nice were $400+ (that's total not per person).
Summer 1981 - all of us got nice raises and vowed to live in a really nice apartment building this time around, with a plan to spend as much as $450/mo. At the time IBM paid living expenses for summer hires for like 5 days or something while you were looking. By the end of our paid time, we had figured out that the rental market had absolutely gone through the roof in our year absence. We hated to break the bank because we were all frugal but we ended up moving in as the very first tenants ever into a complex in San Jose known as "The Woods". Our 3 bedroom/2ba apt cost us (total) $650/mo, but it was nice and it was eerily cool being the only tenants yet in a new complex for hundreds. The manager couple was pretty nice and let us slide in a few days early, taking sympathy with our plight.
Summer 1982 - summer intern at HP, split half a town house in Sunnyvale with a permanent HP employee for total of $750.
Summer 1983 - summer intern/coop at HP labs in Palo Alto, 4 of us found a 3 br/2ba apartment in Palo Alto off of Los Robles for what I think was $950/mo
Summer 1984 - housing was in desperate short supply, and my other friends already had their situations all settled. A permanent employee at HP labs had an ex-wife looking to share half a small house on Harvard St for $675 each. It killed my budget, but I didn't have any other choices. It was nice to be able to walk to the labs.
Out of area 1985
1986 - finished grad school at went to work for HP in Cupertino. I liked the Palo Alto area but hated to pay for it. My starting engineering salary with an MS from a well respected school and lots of summer experience was $37K. I wanted to live as cheaply as humanly possible to save cash to be done with landlords. I found an absolutely tiny 2Br/1Ba duplex unit in Palo Alto on Alma St S of Oregon. A high school friend was going to grad school at Stanford, so we split the $615/mo rent. It was so noisy and so hard to pull out onto Alma in the morning that I hated the place. After a year, we got a $15/mo rent increase. I was tired of living there anyway, but used the opportunity to pull the plug.
1987 - Moved in with my brother and his wife in the small 3/2 Santa Clara house that they had just purchased for $174K.
1989 - buy the cheapest condo in all of Palo Alto. The Oregon Green complex was built in the early 70's when the units were sold for under $30k apiece. 2Br/1Ba, they had just built the sound wall in front on 101 in front of it which helped but still pretty loud. Listed for $103K, it had sat for 3 months till 3 of us put offers in at the same time. I revised my offer to $108K and my agent pressed to accept before the others had a chance to counter. Buyer took it but later tried to back out when it was clear the PA market was heating up again. 6 months later, my manager bought the same size unit at a better spot in the complex for $157K. He later sold that same unit in 1995 for $112K when the market dipped. Timing is everything.
1999 - bought a small Eichler (1080 sq ft 3/2) in PA listed for $525K. The place was badly in need or remodelling but the low entry price had a lot of interest. The seller accepts my $515K offer. rent out my PA condo for $1350/mo.
2001 - remodel my Palo Alto Eichler dumping in $200K on it with a plan of staying long term. Nice remodel, love the place, subzero fridge, top of the line, redo the radiant heat with new copper, new baths, paint, etc. Finally sell the condo (which I had fixed up with a $30K kitchen in 91) for $315K in Sept 2001. We were in contract without contingencies when 9/11 hit and were a little nervous about the buyer backing out. I see that at the peak, similar units sold for $400K in 2007, but the most recent sales in the complex for 2Br's were for $357K (yes, this is PA not EPA).
2004 - married now, my family is getting too large for our Eichler and my wife and I have been looking every weekend in Palo Alto/ Los Altos Hills for something that we like. No luck until we find a large home set on 7.5 acres in the hills of another peninsula town nearby. The schools turn out to be great we love it here. But the drive up our windy road does wear on me.
We list our nicely remodeled 3/2 1084sq ft house for $920K in 2004. We sell for $997K with 3 offers to an attorney/SW engineer couple. They later do a major remodel to add another 1000 sq ft
Currently looking for a house ideally 4Br/3Ba 2700sq ft on half an acre or so, but inventory is so low. My own house will move slower since its further up the hills. When I sell it, I expect that it will sell for 5-8% less than I paid for it if I put it on today. We shall see.
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San Jose, CA
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bmwman91 says
Beemer man,
I'm a big fan of your posts. I always enjoy reading them. You're reasonable and practical compared to other posters on this forum. It's ironic that housing are still expensive 6 years after the peak.
The rental market now is not as hot compared to the late 90's to early 2000's, but it's still pretty hot. We had a couple of 2/1 condos that recently became available. We raised the rent by $200 and $250 for each, and both were rented immediately. I was getting about 6 calls and 2 emails inquiry per hour. Had to take them of Craigslist after 2 hours of posting.
Crazy.......
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When I saw this thread I knew I had to comment as that has happened to me.
I have lived in the same apartment for the last 11 years no rent increase ever. 1 bed 1 bath 550 sq feet most expensive zip code in Boise, ID 83712 and I pay 350.00 a month.
You guys in California must be dying. I can’t imagine paying the kind of money you guys are shelling out.
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San Jose, CA
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mbodell says
Wow. Didn't know a 1/1 in Santa Clara can rent for $1,700. Thought it was more like $1,250 to $1,300. No wonder why investors were happily paying $133k-$137k at the steps. Hmm......
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I live south of the border, in a small 2bdrm house.
My rent is $270/month.
Water is $1.50/month.
Electricity is $5/month.
Gas is $10/month.
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savethepopulation says
How much is your wage?
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Belmont, CA
ducsingle5313 says
Same here. No amount of salary can fix the cost of living issues here. Its RSUs, lottery, massive bonus or get away from this place.
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Pleasanton, CA
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E-man says
Bingo. Also sold the weekend home so all the toys are now under one roof. :)
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Mick Russom says
Mick, what's taking you so long to leave? Why wait 2-3 years, go now. If you have lived in CA your entire life like I have you know that the BA and Southern CA coastal areas, as well as CA in general have always been very high cost of living areas. If you're a transplant and came here from somewhere else you surely had to know it was a very high cost of living state. It's not going to get less expensive just because you want it to.... Be happy and leave now.
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Mick Russom says
Massive insider stock trading of employer stock...
Stanley Ng Arrested In His Cupertino Home, Charged With Insider Trading
Ng, a former Marvell Technology accountant, allegedly passed on corporate secrets to Winifred Jiau and an 'investment club.'
http://cupertino.patch.com/articles/stanley-ng-arrested-in-his-cupertino-home-charged-with-insider-trading
Stanley Ng was arrested in his Cupertino home Wednesday charged by federal prosecutors for insider trading of corporate secrets to hedge fund traders.
Ng, a former accountant at Santa Clara-based Marvell Technology Group “was charged with one count of conspiring to commit securities fraud,” according to the New York Times.
“Stanley Ng and his co-conspirators traded inside information as casually as some people trade baseball cards,” Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for Manhattan, said in a statement. “Like so many others recently, he will now be held to account in a court of law.”
Ng, 42, was hired in 2002 to be Marvell’s “manager responsible for ensuring federal securities laws were followed when crimes were committed,” as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Out on a $50,000 bail, Ng’s arrest is part of a larger federal crackdown on insider trading that has, since August 2009, yielded 52 charges against people accused of insider trading, 48 of which resulted in guilty pleas or jury convictions.
Ng, who faces up to five years in prison if convicted, is scheduled to appear in a Manhattan court Aug. 26.
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savethepopulation says
How many times have you been kidnapped so far this year?
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Former Apple supplier exec indicted for insider trading
February 4, 2011
Shimoon leaked info on iPhone, iPad
http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/02/04/shimoon.leaked.info.on.iphone.ipad/
Walter Shimoon -- formerly a senior director of business development at Apple supplier Flextronics -- has been indicted along with five others on insider trading charges, says the Associated Press. Shimoon was initially caught through a federal sweep aimed at expert networking firms, in particular Primary Global Research. Such companies charge a price for getting investors in touch with analysts and other experts.
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Pleasanton, CA
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lurking says
Nope it won't. However, it will get less expensive when all the non-paying, and underwater home owners are forced into foreclosure. We don't need hope, simple economics are on our side. Booyah!
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Pleasanton, CA
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bubblesitter says
If he doesn't respond in a few days then it is +1. :)
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RentingForHalfTheCost says
Haha. I'll leave up to AF Tony Manero to comment further. :)
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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.
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soeren says
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.
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Murrieta, CA
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
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Portland, OR
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.
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Denver, CO
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.
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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.
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Scottsdale, AZ
robertoaribas's website
holy tomatoes, I wish I had a rental market like that! I get MAX 3 or 4 calls a week on my listings, which I update on craigslist, mls, and they feed via postlets onto hotpads, zillow, etc...
I rent at market rate, and my homes are generally in better shape, but Phoenix vacancies have just come under 10%, so it is still a bit of work to keep things rented...
If vacancies dropped under 5%, I'd be happy as a duck, like IWOG!
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robertoaribas says
I guess this is the difference between what we are talking about with respect to different regions across the U.S. My partner & I recently had a vacancy in one of our condo units. We increased the rent $200/month and only posted on Craigslist. To be honest, I thought my partner was crazy for increasing the rent that much, and maybe no one will call & we would have to drop the rent price.
Guess what? We got 9 phone calls & 3 emails inquiries within 1.5 hours posting on Craigslist. We had to delete the ad almost immediately to make the phone calls go away. I was wrong. I should have listened to my partner & increased the rent by $300 instead of $200.
The good thing came out of this was that we recently acquired another unit nearby & rented it to one of the original applicants for the same price. This individual was ecstatic.
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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.
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Mountain View, CA
bmwman91's website
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Rent4Ever says
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!
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46 male
Menlo Park, CA
bmwman91 says
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.
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Mountain View, CA
bmwman91's website
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Yeah, if you could connect us housing bears with reasonable landlords that want GOOD tenants...that would be pretty cool.
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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 ;-)
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46 male
Menlo Park, CA
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
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San Jose, CA
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Patrick says
Patrick,
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? Could that explain why they are renting it cheap? But hey, at least you will get cash for key. :)
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46 male
Menlo Park, CA
E-man says
Aren't those HELOCs public record in theory?
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Patrick says
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.
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46 male
Menlo Park, CA
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?
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Patrick says
There are a few examples out there:
http://landlordratings.org/
http://ratemylandlord.com/landlords/
There can be risks also:
http://fredbernstein.com/articles/display.asp?id=98
An issue is, how to achieve a critical mass regarding specific landlords or buildings. A way to combine the data from multiple sites, and mash up with a map, might turn the current scattered reports into useful information.
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46 male
Menlo Park, CA
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.
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Mountain View, CA
bmwman91's website
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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.
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46 male
Menlo Park, CA
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?