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The other overlooked signal is for most Americans housing is their #1 expense. Rent is spiked, buying costs twice as much as it did before. This is so essential

The other overlooked signal is for most Americans housing is their #1 expense. Rent is spiked, buying costs twice as much as it did before. This is so essential to the average person’s finances that it overshadows every other stat about employment and consumer prices.

skyyler 3y ago
I can't afford rent anymore in the bay area so my choices are find a job somewhere else or live in my car. Wondering if living in my car in the bay area would be better than living in an apartment in Iowa.
- burningChrome 3y ago
  >> Wondering if living in my car in the bay area would be better than living in an apartment in Iowa. The cost of living in Iowa is in the top 5 lowest cost of living states in the entire country. You could probably find a 900sq ft apartment with underground, heated parking in Iowa for the cost of your apartment in the bay area.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    The monetary cost of living in Iowa. The opportunity cost, however, will vary greatly person to person.
  - skyyler 3y ago
    Yes, but then I would have to work a job local to me in Iowa. I haven't found remote work willing to deal with that yet.
  - GenerocUsername 3y ago
    Lol. Bay area folks thinking a 900sw ft apartment is big. You could have a 2000 sq ft apartment in Iowa for the cost of a 500sqft bay area apartment
fzeroracer 3y ago
This is really one of the core 'hidden' costs. Apartments are almost universally owned by some large real estate developer like Greystar and they all share the same pricing scheme. When I lived in Austin during COVID my rent spiked by around 40%, despite nothing else changing. The area wasn't being built up, it was nowhere near the core of Austin. So apartment prices are way above what they actually should be, and companies will gladly hold onto empty apartments in order to artificially raise prices according to their internal pricing algorithm. This in turn has massive downstream effects for how close people can live to work, how much money is spent on gas or maintenance and general earnings. There's also the rising cost of food, the gutting and destruction of local businesses (see: Bartell's Drugs) and so forth.

skyyler 3y ago

I can't afford rent anymore in the bay area so my choices are find a job somewhere else or live in my car. Wondering if living in my car in the bay area would be better than living in an apartment in Iowa.

burningChrome 3y ago
>> Wondering if living in my car in the bay area would be better than living in an apartment in Iowa. The cost of living in Iowa is in the top 5 lowest cost of living states in the entire country. You could probably find a 900sq ft apartment with underground, heated parking in Iowa for the cost of your apartment in the bay area.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  The monetary cost of living in Iowa. The opportunity cost, however, will vary greatly person to person.
- skyyler 3y ago
  Yes, but then I would have to work a job local to me in Iowa. I haven't found remote work willing to deal with that yet.
- GenerocUsername 3y ago
  Lol. Bay area folks thinking a 900sw ft apartment is big. You could have a 2000 sq ft apartment in Iowa for the cost of a 500sqft bay area apartment

fzeroracer 3y ago

This is really one of the core 'hidden' costs. Apartments are almost universally owned by some large real estate developer like Greystar and they all share the same pricing scheme. When I lived in Austin during COVID my rent spiked by around 40%, despite nothing else changing. The area wasn't being built up, it was nowhere near the core of Austin. So apartment prices are way above what they actually should be, and companies will gladly hold onto empty apartments in order to artificially raise prices according to their internal pricing algorithm. This in turn has massive downstream effects for how close people can live to work, how much money is spent on gas or maintenance and general earnings. There's also the rising cost of food, the gutting and destruction of local businesses (see: Bartell's Drugs) and so forth.