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Why would someone making $2400/monthly after taxes rent a $1500/mo apartment on their own? I'm not sure they'd even qualify because most landlords require at le

Why would someone making $2400/monthly after taxes rent a $1500/mo apartment on their own? I'm not sure they'd even qualify because most landlords require at least 2-2.5x gross income. Renting a room with other housemates, or splitting rent on a 1-bedroom with a partner/SO is probably a better idea in that situation.

YeahSureWhyNot 7y ago
you dont think a human being with a full time job in the first world country deserves basic privacy of 1br apartment? why dont we triple the property taxes so that entire middle class cant afford living in a house and start living in dorms?
- aerovistae 7y ago
  Are you using flawed social policy to justify a bad decision? Yes, people do deserve that. but the system is messed up and that's the reality and it's going to take till long time to change that, like all societal shifts. In the meantime, you can't just make decisions as if you lived in a perfect world. Unless you like fucking yourself over.
  - YeahSureWhyNot 7y ago
    im not asking for advice how to save money. if you read the article its about not being able to build up net worth. I dont want to be living a pathetic life in shared apartments to build up net worth? what is that net worth good for if I didnt get a chance to afford a decent life? to take it to the grave with me?
- stickfigure 7y ago
  I hate to sound callous but... no? Why would everyone be entitled to live in a 1bd apartment in the middle of the most expensive cities in the US? From a strict supply/demand question, there are vastly more people in the country that might want a 1bd in SF than there are 1bd apartments. If not by price, how else are you going to allocate them?
  - Falkon1313 7y ago
    Someone working a full-time job should be able to support at least themselves, if not a family. If you contribute half your waking life to supporting society, and in a role that society has determined is needed enough to employ you at, then what society gives you in exchange should be at the very least enough to support yourself. It's just a basic standard of a decent society. That doesn't imply that "everyone should be entitled to whatever they want" in the negative way you're thinking of.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - stickfigure 7y ago
      Not long ago I lived in Morehead, Kentucky while my wife finished up nursing school. We lived in a cute 2bd house walking distance from downtown for $425/mo. Our grocery bills were $120/week and included meat/fish, fresh veggies, and wine for every meal. We did a lot of hiking and rock climbing. I learned to play the banjo. It's not a booming economy but they have the same minimum wage jobs that they have everywhere else. If you are content with that (and I say this without judgement - many people get their life's meaning outside of work) then there are plenty of places in the US where you can have a comfortable life. Just not expensive cities.
      - YeahSureWhyNot 7y ago
        I lived in Connecticut in a 2br/2bath condo, large living room and kitchen downstairs and 2 large bedrooms upstairs, all for $900/mo. I miss it a lot
  - hiram112 7y ago
    I don't think $1500 is what it now costs to live in the middle of some cool city, but basically that's what it costs to live deep in suburbia in any city with a lot of jobs. It's not just SF or NYC, but pretty much all major metros in the top 20 or so. In DC, I might pay $2500 to live in a decent 1BR in a hip part of the downtown area. Or I could pay $1500 to live 40 miles away with a 90 minute commute and $5 in tolls, each way, in some new developer community. There is no $1k 1BR apartment anywhere in the metro, unless I'm sharing a room off Craigslist or living with illegals or college kids in a house share. For a late 30s, single professional with a decent salary in the US, not only is it kind of depressing that buying a home is nearly impossible nowadays in the same cities where a our parents easily afforded it with similar jobs but also a few kids, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to even assume my own private tiny apartment.
- jogjayr 7y ago
  > you dont think a human being with a full time job in the first world country deserves basic privacy of 1br apartment? That's an entirely different question, and I don't know the answer to it. I do know $18/hr isn't enough to pay for that in NY though. It would be great if wages would go up or rent, become cheaper so it could happen. More generally, I see nothing wrong in a single person, with no children, needing to share a house for a few years until they establish themselves financially. There are many people with far higher pay than $18/hr who live with roommates, or parents, until they have enough saved up to buy and move out. I've done it myself. And I think historically speaking (I could be wrong about this), people have always lived with family or rented a room (even shared a room) until they got married - Western society has only changed in that regard in the past 50-60 years.
StanislavPetrov 7y ago
Because card board boxes are very cold in the winter.

YeahSureWhyNot 7y ago

you dont think a human being with a full time job in the first world country deserves basic privacy of 1br apartment? why dont we triple the property taxes so that entire middle class cant afford living in a house and start living in dorms?

aerovistae 7y ago
Are you using flawed social policy to justify a bad decision? Yes, people do deserve that. but the system is messed up and that's the reality and it's going to take till long time to change that, like all societal shifts. In the meantime, you can't just make decisions as if you lived in a perfect world. Unless you like fucking yourself over.
- YeahSureWhyNot 7y ago
  im not asking for advice how to save money. if you read the article its about not being able to build up net worth. I dont want to be living a pathetic life in shared apartments to build up net worth? what is that net worth good for if I didnt get a chance to afford a decent life? to take it to the grave with me?
stickfigure 7y ago
I hate to sound callous but... no? Why would everyone be entitled to live in a 1bd apartment in the middle of the most expensive cities in the US? From a strict supply/demand question, there are vastly more people in the country that might want a 1bd in SF than there are 1bd apartments. If not by price, how else are you going to allocate them?
- Falkon1313 7y ago
  Someone working a full-time job should be able to support at least themselves, if not a family. If you contribute half your waking life to supporting society, and in a role that society has determined is needed enough to employ you at, then what society gives you in exchange should be at the very least enough to support yourself. It's just a basic standard of a decent society. That doesn't imply that "everyone should be entitled to whatever they want" in the negative way you're thinking of.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - stickfigure 7y ago
    Not long ago I lived in Morehead, Kentucky while my wife finished up nursing school. We lived in a cute 2bd house walking distance from downtown for $425/mo. Our grocery bills were $120/week and included meat/fish, fresh veggies, and wine for every meal. We did a lot of hiking and rock climbing. I learned to play the banjo. It's not a booming economy but they have the same minimum wage jobs that they have everywhere else. If you are content with that (and I say this without judgement - many people get their life's meaning outside of work) then there are plenty of places in the US where you can have a comfortable life. Just not expensive cities.
    - YeahSureWhyNot 7y ago
      I lived in Connecticut in a 2br/2bath condo, large living room and kitchen downstairs and 2 large bedrooms upstairs, all for $900/mo. I miss it a lot
- hiram112 7y ago
  I don't think $1500 is what it now costs to live in the middle of some cool city, but basically that's what it costs to live deep in suburbia in any city with a lot of jobs. It's not just SF or NYC, but pretty much all major metros in the top 20 or so. In DC, I might pay $2500 to live in a decent 1BR in a hip part of the downtown area. Or I could pay $1500 to live 40 miles away with a 90 minute commute and $5 in tolls, each way, in some new developer community. There is no $1k 1BR apartment anywhere in the metro, unless I'm sharing a room off Craigslist or living with illegals or college kids in a house share. For a late 30s, single professional with a decent salary in the US, not only is it kind of depressing that buying a home is nearly impossible nowadays in the same cities where a our parents easily afforded it with similar jobs but also a few kids, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to even assume my own private tiny apartment.
jogjayr 7y ago
> you dont think a human being with a full time job in the first world country deserves basic privacy of 1br apartment? That's an entirely different question, and I don't know the answer to it. I do know $18/hr isn't enough to pay for that in NY though. It would be great if wages would go up or rent, become cheaper so it could happen. More generally, I see nothing wrong in a single person, with no children, needing to share a house for a few years until they establish themselves financially. There are many people with far higher pay than $18/hr who live with roommates, or parents, until they have enough saved up to buy and move out. I've done it myself. And I think historically speaking (I could be wrong about this), people have always lived with family or rented a room (even shared a room) until they got married - Western society has only changed in that regard in the past 50-60 years.

StanislavPetrov 7y ago

Because card board boxes are very cold in the winter.