patrick.net

Littleworried,

A 20-30% hike sounds extremely high, even for CA. I've seen lots of move-in specials in my neck of the woods (L.A.), while rents --though high for what you get-- seem to be tracking inflation (5-6%).

*Sniff*, *sniff*, do I smell troll?

Hater.

Littleworried,

Sorry if I mis-read you. Your comment about possibly making a mistake by not buying coupled with the 30% hike raised a red flag for me. That's par for standard troll operating procedure :-)

Anyway, that really sucks --I'm very sorry. It sounds like the building got flipped recently and the new owner is trying to cover the monthly nut --or they're just getting greedy. I'd definitely start looking elsewhere --no need to pay for someone else's greed/flip. Can't give you much specific advice about apt. hunting in Santa Clara, but for that money you ought to be able to find something a little bigger.

I am a little worried about this rent hike. No apartments are offering specials and I see rents about 20% higher compared to this time last year. My apartment complex in santa clara is asking long term renters like me to vacate. They are gonna renovate the apartment just a little bit and are gonna jack up rent by almost 30%! At this rate, instead of home prices going down, rents might creep up to match home prices. May be I made a mistake not buying. sigh

Go fuck yourself troll.

X, I didn't recognize the IP --is this CuriousCat/Boomtime?

Dear New Maggot Troll,

tinyurl.com/lcf58

Perhaps you should pull your fucking realtwhore head out of your ass and sniff a non shit smell, there are over 1300 apts in the glorious bay area for under 1000. Or better yet, buy in now before you're priced out forever.

Asshole.

Does it matter HARM? Same tired fucking bullshit, RENTS GOING UP, THRU THE ROOF. HOUSING IS GREAT, I CAN BUY A BWM FOR WHAT MY HOUSE "EARNS" EACH MONTH.

Fuck them all.

I am looking for some kind of rational explanation to this phenomena and see if I am missing anything

Your Mothers crack habit is dependent on the DEA's inforcement policies?

Man, it's been so long since we've had a trolls around on a regular basis my Troll-dar is rusty.

Not sure if you guys are aware of this, the mortgage rate on 30-year fixed is dropping. Someone must be turning on the tap (where did M3 number go)?

I have a friend who is hunting for homes, she is sort of sitting on the fence but actively looking and comparing in the market. She just told me that the long-term mortgage rate has been dropping since about a couple of weeks ago, originally she could only get 6.7%, now she could lock in 6.3% or so. One-year ARM rate is also declining.

http://tinyurl.com/npdxx

Looks like some financial forces out there are trying to make the housing bubble last much longer.

I rent near Cisco for a 2-bedroom apartment and after the last 7-month lease was up in July, the rent went up by 7.5%. So I too have a hard time believing a 20% or 30% increase.

HARM,

You know, before I picked a CA college over Bryn Mawr out of sheer pique, I always had a strong prejudice against CA precisely because of the glamourous image of the CA lifestyle (I'm a pessimist and an introvert, so a lot of happy tanned beach people really didn't appeal to me).

However, your last set of pictures are from SoCal. NorCal does seem a bit better on the traffic and attractiveness front. Lots of fun can still be had on a limited income (anything above 30K a year), if you're single and plan carefully and don't go drinking every night. The problem comes when people start wanting to do ridiculous things like having kids or own their own decent size house or keeping up with the HELOCed Joneses.

private affluence and public squalor -- maybe all the money that could've improved public spaces and increased wages went to the movie stars and charismatic CEOs...

I'm not worried about rent increases; The rents are already high and I'm sure they will try to raise them, but that doesn't mean I have to stay and help them pay for their overpriced mortgages. There are plenty of good places to live elsewhere and the rents are 1/4 of what they are here (I'm in NY). For example, you can get a 2 bedroom 1000sf apartment like this in N.C. Not a bad place to chill for a year or two when most of these homedebtors hang themselves. One thing that is great about renting, you can always move anywhere, anytime. If you don't like the rent increase, don't get mad, do what I am going to do; move!

I think the rental prices will go down as the employment market sours. The low end will get squeezed and move in with friends/family/FBs who need to rent out a room to make ends meet. This increase in low end supply may be enough to stablize most housing prices, except at the high end (those clever housing bears with family and money).

I'm actually hoping the increased rents will drive my boyfriend's upstairs neighbors away. These people are raising 2 pre school kids (and I can definitely hear them when I stay over) in a small 1 bdrm apartment intended for single people or a couple at the very most. I hope that means any rent increase will drive them to seek cheaper housing, maybe by stupidly driving out another 20 miles to do so.

(FAB, if you drop by, feel free to take that example and run with it.)

"California Past (pre-Prop. 13, SMUG/NIMBY, illegal flood):"

I remember Prop 13 but don't know what "SMUG/NIMBY" are--any one care to fill me in? [I now live in "Hot"lanta--can't wait to get the F outta here and get back out West...]

First, great thread topic.

Second, I live in a prime place in Crapertino and my rent is not going up. Also, apartment complexes are notorious for raising rents. I find it better to deal with a private owner. My friend who rents a condo in Mountain View (and is on month-to-month) had a $40 rent increase several months ago - $40, that's it. This is for a nice one bedroom condo in MV - rent $1100. Maybe she and I have just been lucky with our rent? I don't know.

I wouldn't feel safe renting from a private owner unless they've owned the place for 10 or more years and really want to hold onto it til they die (anyone here knowledgable about CA commercial property sales taxes?). Otherwise there's just way too much risk of getting kicked out at some point with no predictability. To me, the higher likelihood of this hassle is worth at least a 10% discount.

Apartment living does suck in some respect, it's almost uniformly cheap materials, zero insulation, and iffy neighbors. Maybe private party rentals would be superior for these things.

My parents' lousy ex-neighbors (sketchy subletting, loud music, not mowing their laws) are selling their place. Funny how the exact same model as my parents' former Loudoun County house suddenly grew by about 1,000 sq ft. I guess they decided to consider their roughly finished basement rec room in the total square footage.

Anyone else notice this trend of including basement sq footage in the house? Do these people just think buyers won't notice and feel hostile when they see a much smaller place than anticipated? Or that the square footage for new construction is recorded with the county and a cinch to verify?

Apartment living does suck in some respect, it’s almost uniformly cheap materials, zero insulation, and iffy neighbors.

Apartment living does suck if you plan to live in one your whole life. You can get bad neighbors, but you also can get bad neighbors when you own. At least if your renting, you can move away from them...If you buy, you buy them too! Not to mention that they also bring your property values down; which makes it even more harder to get rid of them.

I say the best thing to do is to explore different areas. You don't have to find the cheapest place around (my example), but something that is affordable and will make sense for the next year or two. Save up some money and when these FB's are begging you to take their house from them, you can make your kill!

Worst time to buy (aside from the obvious sliding prices), is just before a recession; and I'm sure we will have one. This is the time when good neigborhoods turn to bad ones and vice-versa. People change when they are really hurting for money and I don't want a neigbor who is excessively needy if you know what I mean.

Fact of the matter is that rents will rise if they haven't already. People will do anything they can to hold on to their property (like increase rents), but accepting their increases is as bad (or worse) as giving in and buying because of it. If you stay after they raise your rent 20% or more, you are actually helping the RE industry at your own expense. If enough renters are smart enough and leave the area, the crash will be more severe.

Just my 2 cents...

BTW, the house is priced about 60K below last year's peak but it's sold "as is." I can't imagine how badly the owners/tenants messed up the place! The place is only 7 years old and a former model home by a quality builder. My parents' home sold last year with zero comments on inspection.

Allah,

I wasn't advocating buying, I was laying the pros and cons of renting from an apartment complex v. renting from a private party.

I'm pretty sure my boyfriend could rent a nicer apartment with better neighbors for about 200 bucks more a month. But he claims to be indifferent to noise and the current one has much less noise than his previous apartment and doesn't allow for pets. So the current one would be okay if someone without running children with shoes.

I wasn't being very neighborly when I was there either. I was running the washing machine and dishwasher at 3 AM in the morning. But they started it.

Otherwise there’s just way too much risk of getting kicked out at some point with no predictability.

You should be able to get a lease for a year or two. If you have to stay longer, you shouldn't have to worry as long as you have a good job and some money stashed away. I'm sure when this recession hits, there are going to be alot of renters that fall behind on their rent and people who are good with the rent will be gold. None wants to lose a good tennent when they are very hard to find.

allah,

I agree with all you've said except for a tiny wrinkle. If I rented from a flipper, there's a good chance I'll be forced out (by their foreclosure) no matter how good the terms are. Indeed, even some longer termed investors may want to lock in the current sale price rather than risk a price drop.

You don't have to worry about me buying any time soon. :) My standards call for owning only if renting is 20-30% more expensive than owning (including PITI and maintenance) with a 30 yr fixed mortgage, and then only if I plan to own the property for a long while.

Astrid, I agree, you do have a higher chance of being kicked out if you rent from a private owner. I have a good relationship with the owner of our place, and we sign a new lease every 12 months. Allah makes a good point in saying that no one wants to lose a good tenant when they are hard to find. Owners who own one or a few places have more skin in the game and are more likely to be flexible when it comes to rents. However, there is the chance that they will cash out.

I'll take the other side on CA.

I've lived in quite a few parts of the country, most in the "flyover" regions. I was born in Indiana, mostly raised in Southern Ohio, worked in Chicago, lived in Phoenix, NYC, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Clearwater, and Colorado Springs, as well as Frankfurt Germany and for a shorter time in a small town in Provence France.

California is no utopia and has plenty of problems. But most of the concerns leveled here at CA are equal or worse in other parts of the country. If you want to see a bifurcated society try NE Indiana. If you want to see the hollowing out of the middle class try south suburban Chicago. If you want to see superfund cleanup sites every 3 blocks try NE Ohio. If you want to see intractable social mobility try anywhere in western Europe.

For those of us who can choose where to live -- which itself is a freedom so often taken for granted -- where we ultimately find happiness says as much about ourselves as it does about those places.

If I rented from a flipper, there’s a good chance I’ll be forced out (by their foreclosure) no matter how good the terms are. Indeed, even some longer termed investors may want to lock in the current sale price rather than risk a price drop.

Well, like I said, alot of things change when there is a recession. People consolidate; they pack up and move in with their parents to share with their friends. Parents move in with there children. I believe there is going to be major vacancies in the near future. If you don't want to believe me, then listen to Peter Schiff. Yes, this housing bubble will be followed by a rent bubble. Anyone who is a good paying renter will be able to name their price. People forget what happens when there is a recession, a little research will help remind you of what happens.

A little bit off the topic. Just saw this.

Open MLS Initiative Just Getting Started, Says NAR Nemesis Barry
http://tinyurl.com/lwt29

I tend to lean towards things that are "open" because they usually mean fairer market. But why in this case is there such little support for open MLS?