Are people in your area having a tough time finding housing?

[LuvOrlando]

I'm in Massachusetts and the number of people I read about on Nextdoor who are desperately trying to find housing is unbelievable. Most people are in the $1000 a month range and it seems a solid number are section 8 and they are offering a lot too. I am still on my old PA Nextdoor and this is rarely mentioned but then again, there are way more homes in the $1000 a month realm in PA, here homes seem to run a million on average which is a few times higher that in PA. Now I am curious if this is an isolated Massachusetts thing or is this more common in other areas too?

Weird thing is there is zero rent control here so landlords can demand whatever they want even if a facility is almost empty, NYC was always expensive but they had rent rules plus going to one of the boroughs and adding some commute time always worked.

 

[lanejudy]

Affordable housing has been a problem here for years. There simply isn't enough, and way more applicants than available units.

 

[citruscurtis]

Housing supply is in relationship to lifestyle... housing here in Yuma is cheap and available and we keep waiting for fire folks from California to come over... but who wants to live in 105-118 from May to November 1st... being retired I can watch TV and read all day

 

[DoryGirl1963]

Yes, we live in central Florida & it's virtually impossible to find affordable housing to purchase or rent .

 

[citruscurtis]

Yes, we live in central Florida & it's virtually impossible to find affordable housing to purchase or rent .

... which makes sense.. retirement baby boomers have cash and assets and no student loans... and afraid of debt... once baby boomers disappear and their children waste away those inheritance.. market will settle down... and who knows when that will happen...so this homeless/assets poor generation will have to get on the Oregon trail philosophy and move to a culture and lifestyle less desirable.. and that is sad... but it's been done many times in history

 

[neverlandsky]

It's rough. Plenty of homes for sale. However, don't want the $3K per month mortgage payment and wiping out majority of savings to do so. Renting is way below that. Plenty of rentals available in good areas. However, rentals have upped their income requirements from 2x-2.5x to 3x-3.5x monthly income. Lots of roommate & multigenerational households now.

I do agree with the Oregon trail philosophy; we're looking to relocate because we simply can't justify paying the asking prices on the basics needed to live life as we're becoming LA 2.0.

 

[NYCgrrl]

To the best of my knowledge, there are only two major cities on the Eastern seaboard that still have rent controlled units: Boston and NYC.
The way the program is administered in NYC creates enemies of landlords and tenants and I hope it’s better in your neck of the woods @LuvOrlando.

One of my home attendant just rented a one bedroom unit for $3000.00 @ month which had me picking my jaw off the floor. Now she has a voucher for about $2700.00 mthly but that’s only good for five years. Her prior home was destroyed in a fire so she has no furnishings but the city gave her an air mattress to sleep on . I’m so glad I harangued youngest son into buying a co-op here when prices were less.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Affordable housing definitely is a problem in south Jersey. We retired here and had bought in 1998. We are members of St Vincent de Paul society and do work with people who have trouble paying rent especially during the winter months.

 

[nancipants]

Yes, we live in central Florida & it's virtually impossible to find affordable housing to purchase or rent .

And yet they've built at least ten unaffordable apartment complexes within 15 minutes of my house within the last few years.

 

[mommyk8]

Yes and landlords around here have not been renewing leases, renovating and then charging hundreds more.

 

[Christine]

Yes and landlords around here have not been renewing leases, renovating and then charging hundreds more.

And yet these units don't sit empty either which means there are also lots of people who can afford the insane prices.

 

[mjkacmom]

My kids spend $2000+ a month for their one bedrooms. Median home sales in my town were $630,000 last month, that would be about $17,000 a year in property taxes. Folks in Nextdoor are getting ads for rooms being rented out for $1400 a month, no kitchen access, shared bathroom, no parking.

 

[tvguy]

My daughter lived at home until she was 28 to save up a down payment to buy half a duplex. She has a lot of my mother in her, she thought renting was an absolute waste of money. She bought half a duplex.....got first time home buyer mortgage sponsored by the state, so her down payment was only $12,500 . She bought in a development of identical duplexes. Her payment was $1,100 a month. The RENT for that duplex was $2,000. Co-workers wondered how she could afford the payment until they found out they all were paying more in rent.
The big issue here right now is the City is approving projects with a certain number of "affordable" units......and somehow the plans get amended during construction and when the project is complete, the affordable units have been amended out entirely.
The other issue here is projects are being approved with NO parking. But THAT is a whole other issue.

 

[barkley]

Yes and landlords around here have not been renewing leases, renovating and then charging hundreds more.

I recently was watching a house flipping show and the flippers decided to keep the house as a rental and, get this-in the area they were in (not big city, nothing with huge draw for renters) the newish trend was to meet or slightly undercut the average rent and let potential tenants get in a bidding war for what they would pay. they ended up with a lease for over $500 more per month than the area average .

Median home sales in my town were $630,000 last month, that would be about $17,000 a year in property taxes.

I will never come to grips with how much you folks pay in property taxes, just boggles my mind. my neighbor's house is valued for tax purposes (a couple hundred thousand less than they paid for it last year) at $734,000 but the property taxes here on that only run a little over $6000 per year.

 

[bcwife76]

I recently was watching a house flipping show and the flippers decided to keep the house as a rental and, get this-in the area they were in (not big city, nothing with huge draw for renters) the newish trend was to meet or slightly undercut the average rent and let potential tenants get in a bidding war for what they would pay. they ended up with a lease for over $500 more per month than the area average .


I will never come to grips with how much you folks pay in property taxes, just boggles my mind. my neighbor's house is valued for tax purposes (a couple hundred thousand less than they paid for it last year) at $734,000 but the property taxes here on that only run a little over $6000 per year.

Property taxes definitely vary all over. I'm in Canada, 45 minutes outside of Vancouver. Detached houses on my street are around $1.3mil (believe me when I say 13 years ago we didn't pay anywhere CLOSE to that !!!) and our property taxes that are due this July 2...$5500 Canadian.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I only keep up with real estate prices in two areas. (South Florida & certain areas of Western North Carolina). My area of WNC has limited housing available. I constantly see people looking for rent under $1500 & having no luck. They're getting creative & trying to find a place to park an old RV, but that's not working either. I really don't know how anyone who lives & works there affords those prices, without help. Incomes simply aren't high enough.

South Florida isn't much better. Incomes are better, but housing is as high or higher. It's not uncommon for people to rent a room or share a home with multiple families in order to get into the $1,100 to $1,500 range per person or family. Many communities, including mine, don't allow that though.

Neither of these locations would approach $1,000 for rent in a non-shared living space, unless they are Section 8. We do have a housing problem, but we also have an income vs. cost of living problem. This is definitely true in the South.

 

[barkley]

a friend posted on FB the other day a rent receipt from his first apartment back in '85 (gotta love going through old file cabinets ). it was a very small shared 1 bedroom-HIS share was $325 so $650 a month 40 years ago. I remember paying $700 for a small one bedroom apartment ('no laundry facilities or parking' read the ad) in '89 in the same region. I was curious to see what those small 1 bedroom (500'ish sq feet) no amenities to speak of places rent for these days ...can't touch them for under $2300 but mid to high 2's are more common then I dug a little deeper and looked at the studio apartments that several friends opted for back in the day (and still frequently shared with a roommate). not sure how much they were paying back then but today you can get an 'expansive 300-350 square feet of open concept living/1 tenant maximum occupancy dream studio' all for only $1800 to $2200 per month

 

[china mom]

My area suffers from a lack of lower cost rentals. They built an income based apartment complex two years ago and it rented out fully and had a wait list before construction was complete.

People post on FB quite often looking for a rental but thier price range is usually much lower than prevailing rents.

There are currently 65 homes for sale in my zip code with prices ranging from $300K to $2M with the majority of the houses falling in the $400-600 range.

 

[China Expat]

It's hard to find two bedrooms in a house or apartment rental for less than $2200-2500 where I live in So Cal. I paid $105,000 for my home in 1987, and you can;t find anything less than $900k now. And this is inland!

 

[mistysue]

Affordable is difficult. If a young adult, while making $15/hour, wants to buy a $250,000 home she in theory could. She would just have no way to pay for it and nobody in their right mind would offer that loan. Rent of ANYTHING starts around $1,500/month, plus whatever utilities. There's a local condo cluster that you can buy for a little under $200K but they have $500/month HOA fees that basically include nothing. (does not cover property tax or anything like utilities, so in the end would likely cost more than the non-HOA house)