It's Good To Be A Renter Right Now
Psssst. Have you heard? Rents are dropping. Take the case of the Pettyjohn sisters, who, out of desperation, rented a crappy, inconvenient two-bedroom in Bushwick last year for $1,700. Just recently, they were able to upgrade to a larger, more attractive place two stops closer to Manhattan on the L train for the same price….
Psssst. Have you heard? Rents are dropping. Take the case of the Pettyjohn sisters, who, out of desperation, rented a crappy, inconvenient two-bedroom in Bushwick last year for $1,700. Just recently, they were able to upgrade to a larger, more attractive place two stops closer to Manhattan on the L train for the same price. In Sunday’s Real Estate section, The Times chronicles this story and others like it while pointing out that the number landlords now willing to pay a broker to rent their apartments has gone up almost four-fold in the last year. Where will it stop? Anybody’s guess, though the chief economist for Halstead and Brown Harris Stevens says it’s unlikely the price trend will reverse until the city stops losing jobs.
Why Are These Renters Smiling? [NY Times]
Photo by mesmart
Landlord cost for rental units depend on many variables amount of monthly mortgage, efficiency of heating, age of units, size of building, etc… among them, are different for each owner. There is no hard and fast monthly number. Amount of monthly mortgage, age of units, size of building, etc… are among them.
I am certain that rents in Allentown are cheap but there are no jobs there. Besides, many civilian city workers make under 35K a year and are rquired to live within the five boroughs of NYC. So moving to Allentown or elsewhere would not really be an option for them. Moving would also not be an option for many low/middle income workers who provide us with many of the services that make living in NYC so great.
I had tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with a landlord to reduce the asking rent from 2500 to 2375 for May 1st in park slope (Union Street between 8 Ave & PPW) … it was a 2br/2bath the second br was smaller and the living/kitchen window was really small and got little light … the landlord came down to 2400 but would not go lower … all I wanted was another $25 lower per month … my wife thought I was crazy for negogiating so hard for an extra $25 per month but I knew we were in much a stronger position.
… thank god I was unsuccessful because Stuyvesant Town is giving 2 months free, electric & gas included and a 500 bonus if you sign within 24 hours of the first appointment. Since my job was within walking distance from Stuyvesant Town, I also saved on subway …
Renters would be crazy not to consider re-negotiate or move to Manhatten where landlords are so much more willing to reduce rent.
To all those who have offered civil discourse on this subject in the past: Thank you.
To all those who referred to me as a “bitter renter” or told me “your rent is due” over the past couple of years when I said I was going to rent and wait for prices to come down before buying: May you get bedbugs and termites.
P.S. Use to live in the lehigh valley, so I claim former resident rights for lol’ing at it. I seem to remember it got rated “300th best place to live!” out of the 300 biggest metropolitan areas in the US.
“But there are many other places, like Allentown PA (just an hour and a half by bus from Port Authority), where for $700/mo you can find a perfectly nice three bedroom apartment and you only need to spend one day looking for it!”
lol at Allentown.
What does affordable mean? It costs landlords in NYC about $500/mo per apartment, taking all costs, taxes, and misc. expenses into account, to run a building properly.
Of course you can’t find a decent family-size apartment for $1000/mo anywhere in NYC that I know of, at least not for rent on the open market.
But there are many other places, like Allentown PA (just an hour and a half by bus from Port Authority), where for $700/mo you can find a perfectly nice three bedroom apartment and you only need to spend one day looking for it!
I asked for a reduction in rent a few weeks ago. My lease is up in September so I am mid-lease. Landlord agreed to a 11% reduction and we will re-negotiate when the lease is up in September. i was somewhat surprised he went for the reduction, but it goes to show it is always worth asking.
People with Section 8 vouchers and people with low/middle incomes with families are still having a hard time finding affordable places to rent.
Funny, just a few months ago everybody on this site was claiming rents in Brooklyn wouldn’t fall because Brooklyn was so desirable.
It’s crazy how fast opinions change once hundreds of thousands of jobs are lost and the stock market tanks.
At least NYC will likely bounce back faster than the rest of the country. Though who knows when the bounce back will be . . . hopefully in a few years, but it could be much longer. Ironically, it will probably take a Republican to set things straight.
Every day our Obama led government is screwing things up more and more. Today he wants to run GM; tomorrow who the hell knows what nutty new socialist ideas “the great speaker” will come up with?