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How do you pay rent?
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My landlord uses a property management "company" to collect rent checks.
My only interaction with the property management lady is paying rent. She requires the rent to be paid with personal checks, which she then forwards to the homeowner who takes them to his bank to deposit. I mail one every month around the 20th such that it arrives well before the due date at the first of the next month. However 4 of the last 16 months she has claimed the checks never arrived, and that she "knows our city has a terrible post office". Each time I've sent a replacement check and everything has been fine, and the missing ones never seem to turn up. Now she is requesting me to drop off the paper checks in a mailbox at her business instead of mailing them so they don't get "lost".
Given the 25% loss rate, I am pretty sure the property management lady is losing the checks and not the post office. It seems unreasonable to ask me to drive across town to deliver a paper check each month, and I prefer to avoid the expense and hassle of sending them via certified mail (almost as annoying as driving to the management lady's office). But maybe I'm just crazy. I've never been on a lease anywhere else and used to just pay cash under the table, and I don't know how real rental operations handle things. I've been here for 5 years and this lost check problem just started last year.
Does everyone in the 21st century pay rent by hand delivering a personal check, or are there any other options I could suggest as an alternative? This seems like something that could be solved with an ACH transfer, some online payment solution, or the company just managing to organize the office and not lose their mail. What have been y'alls experiences with various ways to pay rent?
Top Comment: I switched from writing personal checks to having my bank (Citibank) mail a check to my landlord through their "bill payment" system. My landlord is/was awful at depositing checks in a timely manner, but when Citibank sends it they take the money from my checking account right away. Plus I'd imagine if the check was lost it would be up to the bank to cancel it and issue a new one in this case.
“Renting is dead money”- But what if your rent is cheaper than the interest you’d be paying on a mortgage? : HousingUK
Main Post: “Renting is dead money”- But what if your rent is cheaper than the interest you’d be paying on a mortgage? : HousingUK
I'm short on rent and need hundreds of dollars in a matter of days. What are ways that I can earn as much money as I can before my first job gives me a paycheck?
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I'm short on rent and need hundreds of dollars in two days. What are ways that I can earn as much money as I can before my first paycheck? I have around 100 dollars but need around 800.
Top Comment: First of all, in advance - like, before rent is due - contact your landlord and let them know you have a new job and are behind on pay cycles and ask if they can accept a late payment. The sooner the better there. Second: If you have a car and can drive I highly recommend Uber Eats (or a similar app like DoorDash or GrubHub). If you put the time in you'll make some money. I'd never do it as a full time gig but it's awesome for making a couple extra bucks here and there. And as others have mentioned you could sell stuff for cash (Craigslist or FB Marketplace). But the best solution is to be upfront with whoever you rent from. Nicely explain the situation, give them a date you'll have the money and see if they can work with you.
Is anyone else bothered by the fact that paying rent does virtually nothing for you to advance you financially??
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Atleast with a mortgage you are actually paying for the house. But with rent it’s just endless money that will ultimately amount to nothing in the end. It’s a place to sleep at night but other than that it’s not the best way to save money. I don’t understand why the cost of living in this country is so freaking high. Then we are expected to still pay for all these other kinds of bills and then have our credit ruined because we didn’t pay them because we were trying just to keep a roof over our head. Literally 100% of my income is rent and I am falling behind on every single other credit card or loan etc which actually amounts to something. Is my only option to become homeless so I can pay off debt??? What a twisted word that we live in. I know everyone is just gonna tell me that it’s my fault but I already know I’m a failure.
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Serious question: how the fuck are most people paying rent?
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I feel like I am fortunate enough to have a job that pays me enough to afford these ridiculous prices. That said, I truly cannot fathom how some people are even able to afford rent based on the average pay I see posted for even the most highly skilled jobs. Do people just have like 3 roommates? 3 jobs? Do people just not pay rent? Are they just saddled with mass amounts of debt? And somehow the economy hasn’t completely collapsed (yet). Like how does anyone have money to spend on anything at all? It’s absolutely fucking ridiculous and it makes me seriously sick to my stomach when I look at salaries for job postings vs. rent rates for apartment listings. Something needs to be done about the housing crisis fucking yesterday. Not soon, not before the next election cycle, FUCKING NOW.
Top Comment: Two income household, living in a house that is habitable but has issues like cracks in the foundation, offering to mow the yard for $100/mo break on rent. if it were just me, by myself? I'd be screwed. Either i'd need roommates or have to find an efficiency in a dodgy part of town.
How much do you pay for rent?
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The general rule to afford housing you must make at least 3x Monthly Rent. I want to see if this is something everyone follow and still make ends meet.
Top Comment: $1300 now at 127k previously $1500 at 60k. Convinced my landlord to cut my rent during COVID and it’s stuck. So grateful as I can focus on debt payoff.
How Much Should I Spend For Rent?
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Hello!
To start off, I've (F26) been thinking about moving out lately. I've been living with my parents to save money ever since I graduated college. I'm getting fed up and want my own space because I think it'll benefit my mental health. With that in mind, I'm not sure how much I should be spending per month on rent. I've looked through the internet and have seen suggestions, but my situation is different.
I have a remote job that I make 50k a year at with the chances of small commission bonuses, monthly I make around $2600. I do have a retirement plan I'm funding. I thankfully don't have any student debt as i was lucky to get a large FAFSA grant and able to pay my way through school for the rest the FAFSA didn't cover. On top of that, I have a brand new 2021 car that I've fully paid off now.
So I have reliable transportation, no financial debt, and a low car insurance payment ($200 every 6 months). I'm on a family phone plan because it's cheaper for all of us. With this information, I was wondering if anyone has suggestions of what my max monthly rent could be. Where I live it's hard to get anything at 1k a month.
Again, I don't want to sound like I'm just flexing because I've been very lucky financially. I just want help and suggestions please
Edit: I do have a savings account with 3 months of emergency funds saved up at the moment
Top Comment: You’re about to get a lot of questions regarding saving. Do you have at least 3months of bills saved up?
How are people affording rent?
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I’m 22f and work full time making $20/hr but am not anywhere close to affording to live on my own. Rent for an apartment is anywhere from $1000-1300 before utilities and other bills and I’m not sure how I’m ever supposed to be able to live independently. I feel like I make pretty decent money but how is everyone else doing it??
Update: to answer your questions, I have a car payment of $260 (my best bet was to get a car payment because I’ve had 4 other cars that had so many issues I was spending more money to fix them than I am on my car payment), my car insurance, student loan debt, and credit card debt (mistakes from me being 18). I want to go back to school for a career but I don’t have time while working full time and can’t afford to go part time. I did live with my boyfriend but it was better for us to live separately for the time being and i don’t have anyone in my life that I could rent a place with! Living with my dad is not ideal or convenient because I have to drive 45 minutes to work. This is a GOAL I am trying to work towards not an expectation for this exact moment so please keep the hateful comments to yourself. I also plan on getting together an actual budget.
Top Comment: You either need to be in a relationship or have roommates that's pretty much how anyone is getting by.
What is your rent and how much is your salary? (No judgement here)
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Inspired by the recent affordability questions and assumptions I'm curious what y'all are doing?
Just comment your monthly rent and your salary / hourly rate.
Include notable details like DINK, parents subsidizing you, etc. No judgement here whether your sugar daddy is covering your or you are grinding 80% of your income on rent or have piles of debt on min wage. Curious how common/realistic the 30% of income rule is around here.
Edit: Since this type of polling is oft skewed to higher earners comfortable sharing their situation, here's the census data: Time period '17-21median household income at $70K and median rent at $1600.
Update: in the next day or so I'll pull all the answers here and summarize the data and share back to yalls.
Top Comment: $1,200; $42k
How realistic is rent being ~30% of your income these days? What about when working from home?
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Also, is that net or gross income?
My rent is most likely increasing by $200/m soon, which will be 53% of my net income, 41% gross. I work from home so I’m trying to decide how to view this effect on my budget considering I have low costs in other areas.
I live near a big west coast city and I love where I live because it was the best bang for the buck. Most other housing is priced similar. I save a lot of money on gas and insurance by not driving to work. Love my job and will likely get a raise a few months after the rent increase. Currently I make $56,000/y. All my loved ones are around here too so I feel kind of stuck, though ultimately I’ll be able to pay all my bills no problem, and have a little left over, but not nearly as much as I’d like for savings and fun, which is why I’m not sure I can technically “afford” housing around here.
Top Comment: 30%? I wish. I'm at 50%. I've started the process to work full time and go to school full time in hopes to better my situation
Why is renting considered a waste of money?
Main Post: Why is renting considered a waste of money?
Top Comment: Two words: inflation and amortization. Even if rent is cheaper in the short term, once you've owned for ten years, rent will have gone up by 50%, but your mortgage probably only went up 10% for tax and insurance. Another ten years, rent continues to go up, mortgage is fairly flat. Thirty years, your house is now paid off, and rent is so high you can't even wrap your head around it. You go, "when I was your age the movies cost a dollar!" And your grandkids say, sure grandpa, let's get you to bed.