whoreticultureIs it better to rent a cheap/shitty place, or rent something suitable that you struggle to afford?
My situation:
current place: ($1530) -1:15 drive from work
- small building, linear studio apartment shape, maybe 30x9 feet? small kitchen/bath
- rural, 20 min drive from city, hour walk to nearest town
- finished interior, but mice/rat problem
- landlord kinda weirdly tracking my movements, she doesn’t want me working from home too many ways a week
cheaper place: ($600) -50 min from work -standalone MIL in a shared house, bath/kitchen in main house, 9x9 feet
- more suburban, roads might be too dangerous to be walkable but if not, maybe 15 min walk to town -unfinished interior… no idea if there is a mice/rat problem but the kitchen area is separate.
- got along well with potential housemates
I make $3780/mo after taxes, budget now feels tight, but not sure if the extra $1000 a month would be worth a smaller/unfinished space. I feel it might be worth it because I could save/invest extra money, or use extra money to make the rental nicer.
I’m failing to see what’s wrong with the cheaper place.
It’s moving from my own place to a shared space, and I have to go outside to another building to use the kitchen or bathroom.
OK. Yeah. Those are sacrifices. Shorter commute and no pests? Huge upgrades though. It sounds worth it, unless you really really value your privacy.
Commute of fifty minutes? The max for me.
And I feel something like pests would be a great reason to spend more on housing. But in this case spend less.
Definite market failure there are not more housing options at more price points in more locations and quality.
Heard - unfortunately no pests isn’t a guarantee, it’s more of an unknown. The floorboards are unfinished and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something.
Yeah the housing market here is rough. Only found this cheap place through contacts.
cabbageI don't think unfinished floorboards necessarily makes rodents so much more welcome.
I'd say go for the cheaper one. You save 50 minutes every day, you probably don't have to deal with rats any more, you can invest $1000 per month for savings, and you get rid of your creepy landlady. Flatmates might be a blessing and they might be a curse, but a good first impression is a start.
I’m definitely leaning this way. Messaged the shared house to let them know my interest, it’s still up to them but I’ll see!
And tbh I need to trust my instincts more. Got a weird vibe from the landlady from the start. So maybe it’s a good sign for the potential housemates 😅
Also finding it through contracts is a good sign.
If it's not 100% cozy, remember you could spend $500 per month making it cozier and you'd still be in the green.
Good luck!
unless you really really value your privacy.
OP’s privacy is currently being violated by the landlord keeping an eye on how many days they work from home. (wtf?)
It’s not a market failure, it’s a deliberate constraint on supply by local governments, in most cases. It’s local government interfering with the market.
Developers would LOVE to build more housing. Not that I’m any fan of developers, but they’re not the cause of the supply shortage here.
No one is making low cost housing. Yes sure making more houses might stop the bleeding on cost.
But no developer is like “yeah I want to build some affordable housing. Something those stuck in the slums aspire to”.
They make the shit with the best margins.
I think it’s both. There is a lot of NIMBYism and local homeowners like to vote against affordable housing. And of course, the homeowners are all old and retired and have time to harass city councils.
The Ramen Dutchman3×3m (which is a bed, the space for the door to open, and maybe a wardrobe but probably not), potential rat problem, can’t go anywhere else than work.
I played around with the floorplan, could fit a loft twin bed and a desk underneath, a tiny couch and tv. I do think there would be room for a dresser. Not much else storage space in the room though, but perhaps in the shared house.