Do some poor people, who were, perhaps, raised in poverty, not understand what it takes to live fairly comfortably?
A couple of years ago we were considering renting out our house, to move. It is the second house I’ve owned in my life.
My mortgage was $890—$960 a month. I’ve been here 15 years, so it has varied over the years.
When I threw out some feelers I got some interest. I said the rent would be $1,000 per month. One girl just ripped me a new one. She was snarling about how rich people are all just trying to get richer on the backs of the poor people, and why don’t we rent at a price poor people can afford!
When I said that A) I wasn’t rich and B) that was the cost of my mortgage she basically told me I was full of shit and I was just trying to rip poor people off.
When I asked her what she would consider fair she said, $500 – $600 a month, “max.”
I said, well who would be responsible for the other $400 – $500?
She said it was my house, it was my responsibility, and I needed to give poor people a break.
So I backed out.
What is your take on that discussion?
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It sounds like she wanted to guilt you into renting to her at a price that she could afford, not taking into consideration it was a house she could not afford. You have to make your mortgage payment and most landlords are not able to rent their property and make up the difference that a renter can’t pay. I would not have felt bad at all.
Oh, I didn’t feel bad, I was just a little confused as to how it seemed like she couldn’t understand what I was saying! That’s why I threw in the “possibly raised in poverty” thing. I wasn’t raised in poverty. I became impoverished for a time, as an adult, and I certainly wouldn’t have argued from that stance.
Maybe she didn’t know what a mortgage was. Maybe she didn’t understand insurance, all of that.
That mortgage payment sounds incredibly high for where you live. I can understand why she was taken aback by the rent. We rent a four bedroom home for $575. I don’t think Kansas and Western Illinois are that different, are they? Do you live in a pricey neighborhood?
The express tickets to the land of terminal poverty have “The World Owes Me Everything” printed on both sides of them.
My husband just had to have a big house because he
grew up in a big one with 6 other siblings. So he built
his big house and now struggles every month to pay
the $2177.88 mortgage due in West Tennessee.
Our house in on 47 acres of land but beside the point.
He’s a smart man but I guess he has such a low self
confidence that he makes up for it with his “look at me”
things. I have struggled with this for 30 years….he’s
not going to change and it is a little late for me to change.
I love him I guess.
^^No guessing about it…I’d recognize that kind of love anywhere.
Entitlement mentality, that’s what it was. Backing out was the thing to do as you would probably never see a dime in rent.
If she’s anything like me, she’s been searching high and low for some place with affordable rent that doesn’t require 4 months worth of rent to move in and will probably just take your nonrefundable application fee and not call back anyway.
Looking for a home when you’re not made of money is incredibly frustrating.
I think you’ll find that people who have very little money know exactly how much it costs to live. Down to the penny.
I wouldn’t make a judgment on one person;s stance. I do agree though, some people have no idea how much a mortgage is because they have never had one. In that way, they are poor because they have no asset as you do. There is always someone richer and someone poorer so it is purely subjective?
The rent should/would be whatever the market is paying for that house. Generally, it doesn’t matter what your mortgage is. All over southeast Florida rents don’t cover mortgages and all other related costs for the house if the mortgage is 80% of the purchase price. In fact, where I live it doesn’t cover it for annual unfurnished rentals. If I rented my place I would make money per month (probably $200) but I put 60% down payment.
What I just wrote doesn’t have an effect on the fact that the woman was being rude and ridiculous. If she thinks your rent is too high, she can certainly say so as feedback, she can offer a lower amount if she wanted to rent, but my guess is telling you off and saying your a horrible rich person is uncalled for.
I do think some poor people don’t know what it costs for certain things and I think people who have always had a comfortable living don’t know what it’s like to be poor.
Edit: I’m pretty disgusted by housing prices and rental prices in many parts of the country. I think they are inflated for many years now, with a few years in there when prices dipped during the huge economic downturn. I think housing, wages, and healthcare are the big three problems in America regarding finances. College tuition is close behind at number 4.
Yeah, I would’ve told her 1. I don’t run my own social program and 2. She was more than welcomed to look somewhere else or ask her mama for that rent break.
I owned a home for 18 years. My mortgage was always much lower than any rent I ever paid.
You can’t really price the house above what the market will bear. If the average in your area is $500–600 then yeah, you might be overpricing the property, regardless of what the mortgage runs you.
I.agree with @seek . I’ve been trying to move for a year now. The house I share costs $1,050 a month. We have 5 people splitting that though. But it floods often,and I’ve lost pretty much everything. All other comparable housing is about $400 more a month…
It was probably just misdirected anger,and frustration.
That being said, that doesn’t sound like someone I’d want to rent to…
You have to make some money as the landlord, if nothing else for repairs and maintenance.
Price it how you want it. If it’s so far out of what is reasonable in your area, you’ll know when months go by and nobody rents it. As for this woman, there are crazy, angry people everywhere. Luckily she won’t be your tenant.
The woman is nuts. You can’t even rent a studio apt in CA. for $500—$600 a month unless you find an extremely rare situation available. Asking for $40.00—$110.00 above your mortgage payment is not, even remotely, trying to gauge somebody.
There’s a huge difference between CA and Kansas, Coloma. You can’t compare the two. My father shakes his head when my sister complains about her rent in Studio City. She pays $2400 a month for a tiny two bedroom apartment, then asks for help when she falls on hard times. No one is forcing her to live in Studio City. She can easily move to somewhere more affordable but won’t.
@jonsblond Of course, I am aware of that, but, in general, it is rare to find anyplace, anywhere,these days that rents for $400–500-600 a month. Even in some remote part of Kentucky. I saw a trailer for $375.00 and a 1 bedroom apt. in London Ky. for $400.00 but it’s the middle of nowhere Kentucky. Rents are competitive everywhere these days and sure, some huge metropolis like S.F. or L.A. or NYC is going to be outrageous because of the shortage and competition and high taxes. Rents are just outrageous in most places, period.
Eh, I pay just a shade over $600/month on my place and I’m hardly in the middle of nowhere (outskirts of Chicagoland).
I wonder what she would say if she saw what the rent / mortgage prices were around me (Central London by the river). The only reason I can afford to live where I do is because it was basically a demilitarized zone when I moved in 20 plus years ago.
You can find $600 rent all over the Midwest.
Yes, Strauss. Good homes too. Our 4 bedroom runs $575 per month. It would be $550, but we have pets. Our landlord charges an extra $25 per month for pets. It’s a cute home with lots of space on a nice lot.
I’m sorry Dutchess, I didn’t answer your question. You did mention “to live very comfortably.” I’m sure some people don’t understand and the woman in your example was very rude. You should get paid for what your home is worth. I was just making the point that it is possible to find a good home for an affordable price. You have to be willing to move or look in areas that fit your budget.
A 2000 sqft house in the southeast will be in excess of $1500 a month. A crummy studio apartment in a bad part of town or out in the sticks will be $600 a month.
I pay $600 a month north of Tampa, FL for about 550 ft^2 and I don’t even have drinkable water coming out of the faucets, and it’s only that low because I’ve lived here for four years.
If I want to move anywhere, I’m looking at $900 per month or more for 2 bedrooms. First, last, security, pet deposit, application fee. So… we buy water by the gallon.
@jonsblond I’d say the house you’re renting is paid off. Or maybe someone inherited it. In that case, people can charge what ever they want.
If this house was paid off I would seriously consider renting at a substantially lower amount specifically to help, say, a single mom with three kids. It’s 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, fireplace, 1800s sq feet, large corner lot, fenced. It’s a pretty cool house.
I just couldn’t understand her continued insulting and accusations after I explained why I couldn’t rent it for $400 or $500 a month.
Ok. I know what my mortgage payament was. Average homes here are $104,000 (I googled it.)
We refinanced it last year. We’re down to $40,000 and the mortgage is down to $621.
The property I live on now in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern CA. sold for $840,000 in 2006 to the currant owners that I rent my pool cottage from and is now estimated to be worth $734,058. Rent estimate for this home and property is $3,200 a month according to Zillow.com
Actually you don’t have to be raised in poverty to think that way. I knew several people who were raised with good income that also had no appreciation for how much anything cost and were cheap as hell. They were so use to getting anything they wanted that they thought they never deserved to pay full price for anything.
There is that too @Pandora. I think my saving grace is that although my Dad made a very comfortable living for us, as an upper level Boeing manager, both he, and my mom, were raised in pretty extreme poverty. I don’t know that they consciously passed on the importance of conserving….well,my Mom did….but I don’t think I could have made it through my lean years without whatever it was they passed on to me.
My mom was so damn cheap! Always! My first Girl Scout camping trip. I needed a sleeping bag. Instead she made me a bedroll, out of blankets and sheets. Most miserably 3 nights ever.
After that she did get a sleeping bag….as soon as she found one at a garage sale.
I have friends (a husband and wife) that are frugal to where they go out to eat, and instead of ordering something they really would like off the entree menu, for say $16, they order something they really don’t care for off the appetizer menu because it’s only $10. Meanwhile, another advantage of ordering off the entree menu is you get bread, salad, soup, whatever in addition to being able to eat what you really wanted. It just makes no sense.
But if all they want is a salad or a bowl of soup, it’s fine. I often eat nothing but a salad off of the appetizer menu. Why order all kinds of extra food, for more money, that you aren’t going to eat?
McDonald’s drives me crazy! Whenever I pick my 5 year old pre-schooler up from school we drive through McD’s for chicken nuggets, hash browns, apple slices (her choice. Thanks Mrs. Obama) and a pink milk shake.
So I can get a 6 piece chicken McNugget for $2.99, and another 6 pieces for $3.00! Wull…geez.
@Dutchess_III: I’m saying off the appetizer menu they will order someting like mozzarella sticks when they really wanted steak but they don’t want to pay the six bucks (despite all the extra food including the steak which they really wanted).
Median home price here is $165,000
Median home value here is 497k.
Yeah, there’s what a home is “worth” – then there’s what the market will bear. The house I’m renting has changed ownership since I’ve lived in it. Old landlord was trying to sell it for years.
It was “worth” $110k. He got no bites. He dropped the price to $95k. No bites. Then $90k. No bites. Eventually he ended up settling for $75k for the property.
@Darth_Algar: Where I live, there are average size houses, and then there are huge farms (“horse country” where daughters of people like Bloomberg come to ride), and then there are celebs like David Letterman in this hood, too.
Houses around here sell quick but you don’t see a lot of people trying to ask more than they will get.
Well the thing is that folks might try to get the value the property is appraised at, but sometimes the market just won’t bear that. At a different time this house might have sold for $110 (maybe even a bit more) quickly, with no problem.
Well, selling a house that is paid off does allow some leeway for asking prices. It allows leeway for rental prices, too.
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