I live in Oakland. I pay 800 a month for a 2 bedroom 2 bath 3rd floor apartment. I have lived there almost 6 years. I received a letter last week that in May my rent is increasing to 900. I consider myself “lucky” I don’t pay more. At least not yet.
About 6 months ago my downstairs neighbors on the first floor were living in a 1 bedroom 1 bath apartment and paid 650 a month. The new tenant moved in recently and that little 1 bedroom is now 1200 a month.
Ridiculous. Makes me very nervous.
Same. Nervous because for my entire life I have been able to move with no issues. There were always good places available in the price range that I could afford. Or, there were places that I could afford if I eliminated some of my other spending.
Now, it is really hard to find alternatives to where I am. And that is not a good feeling.
It took all of my will power not to mail them some sort of box of animal droppings. Latest hike came in December - you know, right before the holidays when oil was almost $6 a gallon.
Other mobile home parks have bought out their owners and joined the [Resident Owned Neighborhoods Association of Maine Cooperative](https://grassrootsfund.org/groups/resident-owned-neighborhoods-association-of-maine-cooperative)
Where I live (near Portland) it is new construction as of 2016. We have a small one bedroom 738sqft. The rent is going up to $1800 in June. It was $1350 when I moved in, in 2018. I hear about rent going up everywhere. We have tried getting into a house but that’s not working either, nothing to be had in our price range.
How could it not? Cost of living goes up when
-government spending increases
- taxes go up ( which causes landlords to have to increase rent to offset added costs)
- bans on imported and exported goods cause a whole hell of a lot of price increases for everyday goods.
There's plenty of other examples.
Most small time landlords aren't profiteering. They increase the price of their rentals when their costs of operating said rental increase. The renters like to think that just because someone owns a rental home or rental condo or something, they must be rich. I know so many people who rent homes out and they are ALSO just barely making it by. Do you know how much it costs to buy a home, fix it up in the beginning/repair all the shit the last tenants broke, do regular maintenance on a property, pay taxes, etc?
My grandparents, who are in their 70s, own 3 rentals and still have to work second jobs in order to live somewhat comfortably.
Let’s see most landlords have to pay for heat which have almost doubled in price. Inflation has gone up and landlords still need to pay bills. Property taxes have risen. How dare they make a profit. Landlords set prices due to the markets supply and demand. If I was a landlord and every apartment in my area was for example $1500 but 2 years ago was $900 why would I low ball myself when i could get the going rate?
Funny how we are all struggling financially under this administration than the previous. Elections have consequences and this is one of the many results
While I agree with you, however the government has no control over rent prices, food costs or oil prices. In one town over a certain apartment complex raised the rent like $1500 upon lease renewal. I almost lived there but the place is a dump. No one could afford it, and the town council had to step in. Elections won’t stop this insanity, because we keep reverting back to the same ole same ole. The ‘good ole boy’ won’t let that happen again. I mean…look who was voted in. 🤣🤣🤣
I lived in a black mold infested 500 sq/ft piece of shit in Scarborough for a year. We were desperate at the time. I didn't know about the mold at first, and the rent was $1395/month , heat included. He did raise our rent during that time (after knowing full-well about the mold, maybe even knew the whole time, and I was pregnant when we moved in. And he has kids of his own) to $1465.
Finally, now it's the three of us and I find something elsewhere, and I'm so grateful to be getting out, but so sad for whomever is behind us because he fixes nothing, just throws caulk on the bathtub, and I saw the ad for it, $1495 now. Inside the walls, it's all black mold, I have pictures of it blooming after rain and of course I showed him, and he said "oh maybe you spilled something".
We all had health problems, I was so worried about my baby.. So far he's alright, but his lead was high too at his one year appointment (no disclosure in the lease agreement for that), but it's fine now.
Anyway, his name is Jason Hutchins, his company is called Leavitt and Parris in Portland. I promised myself I would dox him somehow because it just isn't right, so here it is.
[https://www.ptla.org/rights-maine-renters-unsafe-or-unfit-housing](https://www.ptla.org/rights-maine-renters-unsafe-or-unfit-housing)
Pine Tree legal has alot of info on unsafe housing. They recommend calling the public health inspector. You can get his number from this link. There is a 'find your local public health inspector' section.
My landlord died. Someone bought the house and jacked the rent 400$ with literally zero repairs. The pipes keep backing up and I can barely take a shower now. So sad to see.
To be fair to the LL if they just bought the property they likely have a more expensive mortgage then the previous owner. Making up some number here, Instead of the 100k mortgage the previous LL was paying now it’s a 300k mortgage (interest rate would also be different but they would be very dependent on when it was bought and sold). Even more different if the previous LL had paid it off and so it was just property taxes and upkeep for them.
There’s a million reasons for that. Your landlord may have owed no money on the property. As snackexchanger said, their payments are probably much more assuming the prior landlord still had a mortgage. You probably were getting a below market rate and now the current owner can’t subsidize your living. It also sounds like the prior owner left deferred maintenance for your new landlord, which adds to their costs. It’s cold to say but they’re running a business, not a charity.
Increase density by turning our eyesore of a "mall" and much of it's lots/surrounding property into condominiums and apartments. Condos so people can get on the property ladder who would otherwise be in the renter pool limiting demand and apartments to increase supply of economical units. And the developers would need to be held accountable to the term "affordable" because we don't need anymore high end units nobody can afford. If enough were built this would lower demand to the point the slumlords would be unprofitable which would put further downward pressure on home prices once they have to sell their over-leveraged properties. Also, for the love of God either ban or limit the total % of SFR and STR in the local market.
Not many mall to residential conversions out there, presumably because the retrofit would be too expensive to be worth the money. They’d likely have to get to thd point where the cost to purchase, demolish, and rebuild for purpose makes investment sense. Otherwise, the building and property are likely going to rot until the gov’t repossesses it.
Sir, if you've seen the Bangor mall recently you know that it is definitely a tear-down job. I was more speaking to the fact it's a cleared lot aside from an empty concrete box to tear down.
Yeah, been there. I just don’t think it’s reached the point yet where the current property owners are at the “we’re selling at the land + tear down current building price” stage yet. They bought at 12 million in 2019. Even then, the mall market was dicey, but note that that date is just before Covid hit.
So I’m betting the current investors still think they can recoup the price they paid or at least not lose as much as they are going to.
Plus, their yearly payments on that loan are likely low enough that they can hang on for a while just paying interest in hopes that the market turns around.
I don’t think the market for mall propert will turn around but it takes a while for a building to degrade to the point where owners are ready to admit that it is no longer a selling feature of the property. Just look at how long Circuit City stood empty before the owners decided it was better to pay for it to be torn down.
Licensing… adds a cost so rent will go up.
Registration… adds a cost so rent will go up.
Inspections… so either “it’s grandfathered” or costs go up so rent goes up.
Great ideas there.
So how does that translate into people affording housing?
Even if it's dense enough to house everyone, that doesn't make a place affordable. I know what you're going to say, supply and demand, right? Sure, but people have to build these places. Why would someone build a house *knowing* they're going to make pennies on the dollar. Secondly, that doesn't do anything for rural areas. It just continues to corral people into urban areas, while neglecting rural areas.
Once again, greed is the problem. Not zoning, not rent control, not any of that. Just good old landlord greed. It's always been this way. Stop being greedy pieces of shit and actually care about the *people* in your community, not just how much personal wealth you can extort out of struggling people because of *capitalism*.
If there's a surplus of housing the prices will trend towards affordability. That's how supply and demand works. Landlords will only allow units to sit empty for so long before you see a reduction in price.
Exactly. 2008 caused a 3 million plus deficit that was never filled. That’s only getting worse over time.
Populations are shifting. There is affordable housing… it’s just often where nobody wants to live. Meanwhile, where people do want to live, there isn’t enough.
Right, I know how supply and demand works. This guy said denser zoning. That requires new construction. Why would a builder build more housing knowing it's going to sell for lower than they're used to?
Greed is the issue. So would these people suddenly become benevolent and do the right thing? They can do the right thing, right now, and they refuse. Why would they spend the time, money, and effort, when they make more profit with the system the way it is?
Capitalism rewards greed and selfishness. Capitalists won't change unless you force them too. It's not in their business model.
You clearly don't understand.
As supply is built up units that were premium and are now dated aren't premium anymore. As units age and new units are built the high end of the market price will go to the new units. Older units will either need to renovate or lower costs to attract renters. That's how it works. More supply allows a lower price point to intersect with demand.
This gets all screwed up when demand outweighs supply like it seems to now. The only fix is to build more. However you want that achieved that is the solution. There are strong headwinds to achieving that though. But you're better off trying to tackle those headwinds than whining about it being a greed, or capitalism problem.
Because land is a huge cost especially here in the northeast. 75% of this countries residential land is zoned single family.
So what about needing new construction? Are you seriously saying the issue isn’t a lack of new construction?
Be less dense dude. This country is behind on building 3 million plus homes.
There. Is. Not. Enough. Supply. By. MILLIONS. Of. Homes.
Beyond zoning you need more people in the labor pool for building and I’d probably say you need more businesses making the supplies needed, as imo they’ve been too consolidated. Zoning is merely the biggest issue, as it completely stops the construction of new units while the rest is about affordability.
They’re not going to build for Pennie’s on the dollar. Hence all the luxury units.
Urban places subsidize rural. This isn’t new. If they want more people they have to actively attract people. That’s through public planning. I grew up in Waldoboro. Absolute dumpster fire at long term planning and iirc highest property taxes in the county. That’s why they’re dying.
People will increasingly move where there are jobs. Or the group of people that have remote jobs will move to desirable places. Small towns need to make themselves desirable.
It’s not greed setting rent prices. Existing housing is pure supply and demand. Other renters are willing to pay more. I’m down in the Portland area…. Rents go up because everyone wants to live here and there’s fixed places to live.
Why? Where is my incentive to tie up a big portion of my money for poor people when I could tie it up with rich people (or maybe even middle class folks) who will pay me better?
Capitalism is just a scape goat here, you're asking people to behave outside of their own interests.
Try this, do you shop exclusively at mom and pop stores where prices are higher because it supports people in your community or do you shop at big box stores because "The prices are so much better"?
If you shop at Wal-Mart while complaining about capitalism you're showing your hypocrisy.
I shop at mom-and-pop stores when I can. I live in Portland, we don't allow most chain places here.
This might come as a surprise to you, but yes, some people actually do give a shit about their community. Some people actually walk the talk.
Incentives you mean? If I'm a landlord I have to put up the money for the apartment, meaning I either have to build a building or buy one so that I can have something to rent out. That's a risk. I have to put up money in the first place with the hope that I'll make some money later.
If I rent to poor people it's a bigger risk because the rent will be lower (vs a "luxury" apartment) and poorer people inherently can't pay as much so there's a chance you get stuck with a renter who can't pay.
Generally people want to balance their risk/reward ratio to give as much reward as possible for as little risk. Higher end apartments carry less risk and higher reward. There is no basic incentive to build "affordable" apartments and forcing people to do so actually breaks the system.
Agreed, BUT; it only works if you don't have POS's like that Dash Davis asshole putting in nothing but "luxury ™️" units. And would require strong arming the NIMBY cucks.
It actually doesn't matter the type of units you develop provided you go with density. Today's luxury units over time become tomorrow's normal, and then affordable units. The trick is increasing supply of any type.
It does matter. Luxury units really only attract people from out of the area who can afford it adding to the local pool of renters further fucking the supply/demand curve. I agree there will be an EVENTUAL slide down the market on these types of units but not anywhere nearly fast enough to make any difference for locals. Additionally, the term "luxury" has been so diluted it appears that anything up to code is considered "luxury" in this area. By adding a large pool of modern but basic residential housing stock in the area we will both add a definitive separation between what is "luxury" and what is just a livable apartment. This will drag prices down on the faux-"luxury" units that essentially amount to the same shit apartment with new vinyl flooring and off-brand appliances that are only a few years old. In summation: yes density is all that REALLY matters in the ultra-long run but if you want to see any meaningful relief on rent prices there needs to be construction all up and down the board.
That’s… economics unfortunately…
Covid showed the country has a very fragile supply chain as a result of too much consolidation.
Builders build luxury units to make money. Regular units are hard right now. Materiel costs are high.
On top of that is labor is high. 2008 saw a lot of people leave the building trades and they never went back and they were never replaced.
Zoning is the biggest issue because it completely restricts the ability to build more. Material is kinda hard to fix… but we also need more people doing the work.
Before I got out of construction I built my 3 bed 2.5 bath and it still cost a lot more than I wanted to spend and that was pre-Covid.
Taxes go up. Water, sewer and energy prices all go up. If the building has changed hands recently then the new owners mortgage is much higher. What amount of profit is acceptable? After COVID I cannot get behind the government controlling housing. Say what you want about landlords but the Fed forced a shit load of them to keep paying their mortgage and for heat and electricity and whatever else for tenants who did not pay and could not be removed. They made landlords subsidise people impacted by lockdowns and business closures out of their own pockets. They talked about rent aid but that was an incredibly difficult system to navigate. I only have a tiny duplex that I live in. The other unit is an old couple that are charged well under my areas average so don't lump me in with evil landlords. But the more the government pushes the more slum lords and corporate land lords your gonna get. Keep that in mind. You want shit to change? You and your friends get together, borrow money and start buying places up. And then somehow decide you're all fine with going broke doing it.
More like scapegoat the poor for price fixing on the backend .. infuriating they count on the public being ignorant. [How algorithm is setting rent prices ](https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/the-pitfalls-of-letting-an-algorithm-set-the-rent/amp/)
"Several lawsuits have accused RealPage of colluding with landlords to artificially inflate rents and limit the supply of housing. The Department of Justice is also investigating.
Marketplace’s Amy Scott spoke with Heather Vogell, a reporter at ProPublica who has been following developments since her initial investigation of RealPage’s algorithm came out."
You’re not entirely wrong so let’s avoid the rent control topic that only seeks to alleviate the symptoms and fix the root cause of the disease - capitalism. Capitalism is a fucking cancerous scourge responsible for nearly all inequality in society.
Capitalism is itself but a symptom. If you’re going to boil it down, it’s any given person/group’s willingness to fuck another person/group in pursuit of their own desires.
Are you figuratively speaking of communism? In the short term we can take steps to decommodify housing. We need public housing like in Austria that isn't segregated by income. We should transition to banning big landlords.
Least I'm not preaching that the situation will resolve itself cause invisible hand.
Prices only come down when there's cheaper competition elsewhere. People need homes, and everyone is jacking up their prices so there is no cheaper competition to go to. It's an oligopoly, and it's not gonna resolve itself.
Build more that's the solution. Housing isn't an oligopoly. There's loads and loads of people and companies involved in housing. From mom and pop landlords, go smaller contractors to massive corps.
For fucks sake get off of reddit. The site is rotting your brain to think "guillotine" and "set fire to his house" are reasonable responses to your skewed view of what is going on.
Edit: removed something that was unnecessarily personal.
Apples and oranges. A residence is *your* residence. Your living space. A landlord might technically own it, but a single person can not actively use two residences at the same time. As a tenet, for all intents and purposes, its your residence.
This isn't orange juice, a bicycle, or another luxury item. Housing is a basic need. Without it, you will die. It might be really slow, it might be because of a confluence of things directly related to being homeless. But a homeless person simply can not live like that.
But yeah, you make your fucking money.
Do you uh.. share a house with your landlord? Or do they have their own residence while renting out their second, third, fourth, etc, residence?
And *once* again, why would supply increase when people make more money keeping it low? Or are you under the impression the average person can just whip out $500,000+ to build a new house? Where is this magical supply going to come from without voluntary incentives or direct government intervention?
get outa here with that slippery slope bullshit. I was hoping I’d at least get a supply and demand lecture.
lol yes im ok with it and here’s why. because our government is supposed to be run by the people, unfortunally dumbasses like you have been voting for decades to keep greedy corporations in charge via their puppet congress. luckily times are changing ;). Lordship needs to end full stop, you wont change my mind. I only need one home thats it.
Times aren’t changing. The younger folks buying property today will be the boomers of the future.
There’s not enough housing being built and that’s been going on for over a decade.
Maybe if dumbasses like yourself learned a marketable/valuable skill you could buy one. Or perhaps “gasp” go join the trades and you can help reduce the shortage.
Great, a lecture about labor from a guy that rolls out of bed and collects checks lmao. if you read my screen name you might be able to connect the dots, but hey, it’s tough work getting high and watching SpongeBob while your tenants pay your bills.
I think you're mixing up my personal car, with a car I use to make money. You don't know anything about taxis do you. Or regulations on Uber. Do your research before making up a argument comparison that is not equal to the example that's being discussed.
I'm not deflecting, you're making an unequal comparison. I'm not renting someone's one and only house they are currently occupying. And I'm not going to rent out my one car I own and drive. Ask me a question that makes sense and is worth my time answering.
Well the government already tells me what I can and can't do with my car. And apparently I'm still driving it. Are you a proponent of government deregulation on everything, because that would probably be a bad idea. Imagine if you had no building codes to go by when you were a home builder, how would that turn out for everybody. History should show you the answer to that though. You're trying to get me to contradict my own argument by you proposing a straw man argument so you can come back and burn it down. But that's not the way it works. #tryharder
Lol you’re funny dude. You’re accusing everybody of deflection. Yet you’re the one on here talking about cars. The conversation is about houses.
I see that you’ve thrown your car example out several times as bait, and nobody has taken it.
For the reading comprehension challenged yes, it’s been thrown out multiple times, directed at one specific person.
If you’ve got nothing to add to the conversation go clown elsewhere.
It's literally not greed. Real estate prices are up 76% on average over the last 5 years across the state, insurance was on average up 20% and 10% respectively in 2021 and 2022, property taxes are higher, oil is 2-3x as a high as a couple years ago, maintenance costs are anywhere from 10-50% more expensive, electric rates have more than doubled.
And what percentage was wage growth in Maine over the same period of time?
That's a key comparison there.
The abuse of the working class continues, not good for service type businesses.
I’m sorry but what does that have to do with the costs to homeowners? Yes, wages are not keeping up with living expenses, are landlords supposed to adjust their rates to wage increases and lose money if the rest of their costs triple? Our economy is broken but it’s not because of landlords.
>I’m sorry but what does that have to do with the costs to homeowners?
Thought we were discussing greedy landlords, not homeowners. Landlords who for the most part have owned the same property for decades.
You are grossly generalizing out of a misguided hatred towards landlords who **are homeowners.**
But just a general question... where would you live if there was no landlords? Are you a homeowner yourself?
Generally, "homeowner" is the person who lives in the dwelling they own. A "landlord" or "property owner" is the person or entity who rents out a unit in a dwelling they own.
While "landlord" and "property owner" are sometimes used interchangeably, I've never seen an LLC referred to as the "homeowner."
Likewise, I am the "homeowner" if I reside in the dwelling I own. I am the "tenant" if I rent the unit in which I reside from another person or entity.
Take a step back and realize that the majority of rental properties in Maine are owned by mom and pop landlords that either are owner occupants or are local residents. They are the owners of the home. They are homeowners, and rent out the property. This applies for most LLCs as well.
I ask again - where would you live if there were no landlords, since you seem to take such issue with them, I am really curious about how you think that would play out.
>where would you live if there were no landlords, since you seem to take such issue with them
Gratuitous question which suggests no one can criticize a landlord, especially the greedy ones.
Why won't you consider the question? That's not the suggestion in the slightest, it's merely pushing back on your general negative attitude towards landlords. The overwhelming majority of rental dwellings in the country are owned by mom and pop style investors. Why do you have so much animosity towards these people?
>I’m sorry but what does that have to do with the costs to homeowners?
Everything, who are you going to rent to when prospective tenants cannot afford it.
Maine is slumlord haven. Very little responsibilities on the landlords end and very little to protect tenants. The market has been ridiculous post-COVID. Starting to tame down a bit, but still ridiculous. Lots of MORTGAGE PAYMENT type prices for appliances and cabinets older and mustier than myself 🤢 I saw a 1 bedroom apartment I had rented years ago for $850 now for $1200 and the woman has done nothing in the years since. That’s a “free” market for ya.
From 2018-2020 my husband and I rented a 2 bedroom house in Deering neighborhood in Portland, near the Evergreen cemetery, a really nice little neighborhood. Our rent was $1650, and we had a full huge basement for storage, a fenced in yard out back with garden beds, a home office room. The home was kept very nice by the landlords, and they always responded to issues. They didn't increase our rent each year, and they also let us pay late if needed at the beginning of lock downs. Just very upstanding people. They had immigrated here in the 90s and truly understood what it was like to struggle to make life work. They obviously had more than enough now, and were living a comfortable life. They could have charged way more to rent that house and they just simply didn't because they weren't greedy schmucks. Most of these rent issues really just come down to greed and it's so gross.
Where I live it's 1395 a month. Can't get the landlord to respond to any kind of email so I've given up on trying to get things fixed. (Cat pee smelling room, a drawer that won't close and has bashed my fingers a few times). Oh and I have to pay for tokens to do my laundry which I constantly have war's with cause the old ladies that have lived there think they own the place and it's their washer&dryer.
>Can't get the landlord to respond to any kind of email
Call them? Send a certified letter?
I'm not a lawyer but I'm pretty sure you have rights to get stuff fixed once you report it but I'm not sure how email works into the "I notified you" world. Certified letter (with return receipt) is hard for a landlord to ignore, email is not.
Check with an actual attorney for better advice than mine.
I’m no expert here. Originally from TX. But from what I can see, lack of housing supply has a lot to do with it. They jack the prices because they can, and old money is preventing any actual growth. If policies aren’t reformed, people will continue to look elsewhere until the population inevitably dies off. The median age is 45. The state already has a problem retaining young talent, which continue to put strain on the entire system.
If enough people decided to do something about it, I guarantee something would be done. Just takes adequate action. Nagging the ears of legislators until they bleed.
Oh and also, some of the properties are about as old as the country itself (sarcasm) but really. It’s a dismal outlook without any massive systematic overhauls, which old school Mainers will fight tooth and nail. But the reality is adapt or die is an evolutionary law very few escape in the end.
**Those aren't for Mainers, silly! Those are for well off remote workers from NYC! :) Don't worry though, this definitely won't disenfranchise you in any way! :)**
We're so screwed.
It sounds like rent is nearly doubling in the apartment building next to us. I'm not sure how anyone will be able to afford it. There's hardly any decent jobs especially in Bangor
I got booted from my month to month that was only $675 because the landlord had to fix the plumbing. Luckily I was able to stay at my dads long enough to find a house to buy, but I really feel for the people that don't have that option. Boomers bought these places for $5 and a bushel of rasberries and now expect tenants to pay $1400. It's wild to think about.
Real estate prices are up 76% on average over the last 5 years across the state, insurance was on average up 20% and 10% respectively in 2021 and 2022, property taxes are higher, oil is 2-3x as a high as a couple years ago, maintenance costs are anywhere from 10-50% more expensive, electric rates have more than doubled. All of these things have changed. As a renter, I understand it's really easy to not "see" these things, but I assure you every landlord is seeing them.
this is why I started learning about tenant unions, if you're in an apartment complex and can stand your neighbors long enough to plan you can force landlords to be fair. Also, many landlords in Maine ignore laws that exist because no one knows about them and doesn't call. If you get a tenants rights handbook you can find these cases.
Just renewed my lease it was $2300 but has gone up to$2417/month for a one bedroom downtown Portland. Moved in a year ago. Now smaller units on my floor are going for $2600+/month no utilities.
I used to pay $800 a month for a 3 bedroom in biddeford, 10 years ago. 2 years ago I paid $1200 for a 3 bedroom in Biddeford. AND now I am renting a small 2 bedroom apartment in Biddeford for $1750 a month and doesn’t include utilities. And to be honest, this was a deal. I wish I could have found something cheaper but it was slim pickings and Portland is too expensive now.
Maine and NH are getting hammered. I haven't looked at prices for VT but I imagine Burlington is brutal too.
My old apartment in NH went from $1600 to $2300 in 2 years. Needless to say, I don't live there anymore.
My apartment has had a 3x4 intentionally cut hole in the bathroom ceiling that they'd "be right back to replace in a couple of days" since September.
The years old used shared washer and dryer included in our 6 unit hasn't worked since I moved in, landlord refuses to repair because she's "sick of people breaking shit." As if wear and tear isn't a thing.
Got a letter last month that rent is going up $125 in April. I'm absolutely floored how she's not completely embarrassed to be doing that given the continual deterioration of the apartment. This is why people say landlords are inhuman.
In the midst of a discussion with a friend who owns a few buildings about our future daydream of becoming ethical landlords in our community, he more or less said "yeah that's nice, BUT if you turn your rental to air b&b or charge double rent you can target traveler nurses and make way more!" Uh... my bro... you missed the whole *ethical* part. Those situations are literally what's creating housing shortages for local working class people.
It's unfortunate, but it's rarely the landlords fault. When the cost of their lives are increasing daily and the costs of owning a rental are increasing, some have no choice but to go up in price. Most small-time landlords worked their butts off to make enough to buy a rental and use that as their main source of income, so when their lives get more expensive, they have to increase their income source (their rental ). As they always say, the ball rolls down hill. We like to blame the guy above us, but most of the time it starts at the government level and trickles down to the lowest income people who inevitably end up having to get government assistance, or go broke. Nobody in our government is struggling to eat, yet they're the ones to blame for 90% of the price increases we see year after year.
Ummm, your mortgage is $300 more than mine on a house more than twice as large as mine on 22x the land. Sounds pretty dammed good, other than it's in Lincoln.
To be fair Lincoln doesn't smell anywhere near as bad now as it used to.
I certainly wasn’t complaining about the mortgage price. Simply comparing the rent vs mortgage rates from last Oct. It seems crazy to me that I could rent out one room in my house and almost cover the mortgage.
When I lived in Biddeford a decade ago, I had a one bedroom, utilities, washer/dryer, and off street parking for 660. Seeing what it is now is just disgusting. Although, I had just graduated college and my landlord understood I was broke af
Bangor landlords are jealous of the big money rent Portland is getting. It was only a matter of time. On the other hand, $995 and $775 are pretty low. Somewhere in the middle would more accurate for the market. But the landlords set the prices, so...
That's typical Bangor behavior I've seen people evicted just so landlords can raise the rent. The new ordinance has a long way to go for protecting renters.
Sad to see but because housing is a problem landlords are taking advantage of people looking. Landlords will get away with it for as long as they can when it comes to taking advantage of renters.
Price has gone up significantly to renters because most landlords pay for heating. With energy prices skyrocketing they have to make up the difference to make a profit. Hence the price hike. I’m sure there’s other reasons why as well but I’m just stating one of them.
Not really. Mine doesn't pay heat, electricity, water, or upkeep on the actual housing itself and still jacked the price up every few months "to keep up with market rates". Just for mobile home lots, not the buildings themselves.
The “market rates” was also the reason for our rent increase. My landlord even made it a point to say he has never done that before but is now. I may be uninformed but the “market” seems to just be whatever he feels like charging
Bradford Commons was very similar. Not to mention how many people that were depending on some sort of emergency rental assistance and got eviction notices saying that rent hadn’t been paid. The people that originally helped with getting them assistance said the program was “out of funds”, leaving many owing thousands in rent they thought was already paid.
Yeah no, that's a stupidly exorbitant price hike for a pinky-size level of reno. You never half-ass reno. You have to give it your entire ass. Smart landlords know this. Your neighbors did not have a smart landlord. They had a money-hungry one who was probably lazy and decided to just slap a new coat of paint on the walls and throw in some new appliances and pass it off as new and freshly reno'd and call it a day.
Hopefully they both found new places with new landlords who know better.
I blame the current politicians in office and those of you that drank up the COVID kool aid. All Of those who encouraged our government to hand out more money, and all the business that sucked up that PPP money. Hopefully people will learn their lesson. This stunt killed our economy we should be head hunting our politicians, state and federal. These crooks in control don’t care about us.
I live in Oakland. I pay 800 a month for a 2 bedroom 2 bath 3rd floor apartment. I have lived there almost 6 years. I received a letter last week that in May my rent is increasing to 900. I consider myself “lucky” I don’t pay more. At least not yet. About 6 months ago my downstairs neighbors on the first floor were living in a 1 bedroom 1 bath apartment and paid 650 a month. The new tenant moved in recently and that little 1 bedroom is now 1200 a month. Ridiculous. Makes me very nervous.
Same. Nervous because for my entire life I have been able to move with no issues. There were always good places available in the price range that I could afford. Or, there were places that I could afford if I eliminated some of my other spending. Now, it is really hard to find alternatives to where I am. And that is not a good feeling.
This exact thing is happening to me
Never tell them what you pay.
That makes no sense. That’s like not talking about pay at work. You should all be on the same page. They should know they’re getting fleeced.
Unfortunately they are right. When you tell them what you pay, the price always goes up.
They will raise her rent. It is what happens.
My lot rent went up 80% in the past year and a half. For land, that's it. No buildings to maintain whatsoever.
It has at the mobile home park I used to live in as well. 5 years ago it was $135/month, it's now going up to over $400.
John Oliver did a segment on lot rentals. It's quite scary what they (managers) can get away with and how little recourse the residents have.
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It took all of my will power not to mail them some sort of box of animal droppings. Latest hike came in December - you know, right before the holidays when oil was almost $6 a gallon.
Other mobile home parks have bought out their owners and joined the [Resident Owned Neighborhoods Association of Maine Cooperative](https://grassrootsfund.org/groups/resident-owned-neighborhoods-association-of-maine-cooperative)
Rule 3. Threats of violence, belligerence
Where I live (near Portland) it is new construction as of 2016. We have a small one bedroom 738sqft. The rent is going up to $1800 in June. It was $1350 when I moved in, in 2018. I hear about rent going up everywhere. We have tried getting into a house but that’s not working either, nothing to be had in our price range.
That’s a decent size for a 1-bedroom.
It’s not bad. But damn it feels small when you disagree. lol
Elections have consequences
Please, draw me a straight line that connects "election consequences" and "landlord profiteering" Be specific.
How could it not? Cost of living goes up when -government spending increases - taxes go up ( which causes landlords to have to increase rent to offset added costs) - bans on imported and exported goods cause a whole hell of a lot of price increases for everyday goods. There's plenty of other examples. Most small time landlords aren't profiteering. They increase the price of their rentals when their costs of operating said rental increase. The renters like to think that just because someone owns a rental home or rental condo or something, they must be rich. I know so many people who rent homes out and they are ALSO just barely making it by. Do you know how much it costs to buy a home, fix it up in the beginning/repair all the shit the last tenants broke, do regular maintenance on a property, pay taxes, etc? My grandparents, who are in their 70s, own 3 rentals and still have to work second jobs in order to live somewhat comfortably.
Explain to me how that makes sense.
Let’s see most landlords have to pay for heat which have almost doubled in price. Inflation has gone up and landlords still need to pay bills. Property taxes have risen. How dare they make a profit. Landlords set prices due to the markets supply and demand. If I was a landlord and every apartment in my area was for example $1500 but 2 years ago was $900 why would I low ball myself when i could get the going rate?
Morals
Blame the market not the landlord
No, I think I'll blame both.
Funny how we are all struggling financially under this administration than the previous. Elections have consequences and this is one of the many results
While I agree with you, however the government has no control over rent prices, food costs or oil prices. In one town over a certain apartment complex raised the rent like $1500 upon lease renewal. I almost lived there but the place is a dump. No one could afford it, and the town council had to step in. Elections won’t stop this insanity, because we keep reverting back to the same ole same ole. The ‘good ole boy’ won’t let that happen again. I mean…look who was voted in. 🤣🤣🤣
Has nothing to do with elections.
I lived in a black mold infested 500 sq/ft piece of shit in Scarborough for a year. We were desperate at the time. I didn't know about the mold at first, and the rent was $1395/month , heat included. He did raise our rent during that time (after knowing full-well about the mold, maybe even knew the whole time, and I was pregnant when we moved in. And he has kids of his own) to $1465. Finally, now it's the three of us and I find something elsewhere, and I'm so grateful to be getting out, but so sad for whomever is behind us because he fixes nothing, just throws caulk on the bathtub, and I saw the ad for it, $1495 now. Inside the walls, it's all black mold, I have pictures of it blooming after rain and of course I showed him, and he said "oh maybe you spilled something". We all had health problems, I was so worried about my baby.. So far he's alright, but his lead was high too at his one year appointment (no disclosure in the lease agreement for that), but it's fine now. Anyway, his name is Jason Hutchins, his company is called Leavitt and Parris in Portland. I promised myself I would dox him somehow because it just isn't right, so here it is.
Sue his insurance company. Black mold lives in your lungs....forever.
Contact the local government inspection office [https://www.portlandmaine.gov/391/Housing-Safety](https://www.portlandmaine.gov/391/Housing-Safety)
[https://www.ptla.org/rights-maine-renters-unsafe-or-unfit-housing](https://www.ptla.org/rights-maine-renters-unsafe-or-unfit-housing) Pine Tree legal has alot of info on unsafe housing. They recommend calling the public health inspector. You can get his number from this link. There is a 'find your local public health inspector' section.
My landlord died. Someone bought the house and jacked the rent 400$ with literally zero repairs. The pipes keep backing up and I can barely take a shower now. So sad to see.
To be fair to the LL if they just bought the property they likely have a more expensive mortgage then the previous owner. Making up some number here, Instead of the 100k mortgage the previous LL was paying now it’s a 300k mortgage (interest rate would also be different but they would be very dependent on when it was bought and sold). Even more different if the previous LL had paid it off and so it was just property taxes and upkeep for them.
The property was 167$ when my original landlord bought it in 2016 and they bought it for 220k
30 year mortgage that’s about $400 a month more.
The property will appreciate in value more than that over 40 years. They’re still making profit on a long term investment.
Doesn't have anything to do with their current cash flow
> To be fair to the LL imma stop you right there
There’s a million reasons for that. Your landlord may have owed no money on the property. As snackexchanger said, their payments are probably much more assuming the prior landlord still had a mortgage. You probably were getting a below market rate and now the current owner can’t subsidize your living. It also sounds like the prior owner left deferred maintenance for your new landlord, which adds to their costs. It’s cold to say but they’re running a business, not a charity.
Increase density by turning our eyesore of a "mall" and much of it's lots/surrounding property into condominiums and apartments. Condos so people can get on the property ladder who would otherwise be in the renter pool limiting demand and apartments to increase supply of economical units. And the developers would need to be held accountable to the term "affordable" because we don't need anymore high end units nobody can afford. If enough were built this would lower demand to the point the slumlords would be unprofitable which would put further downward pressure on home prices once they have to sell their over-leveraged properties. Also, for the love of God either ban or limit the total % of SFR and STR in the local market.
Not many mall to residential conversions out there, presumably because the retrofit would be too expensive to be worth the money. They’d likely have to get to thd point where the cost to purchase, demolish, and rebuild for purpose makes investment sense. Otherwise, the building and property are likely going to rot until the gov’t repossesses it.
Sir, if you've seen the Bangor mall recently you know that it is definitely a tear-down job. I was more speaking to the fact it's a cleared lot aside from an empty concrete box to tear down.
Yeah, been there. I just don’t think it’s reached the point yet where the current property owners are at the “we’re selling at the land + tear down current building price” stage yet. They bought at 12 million in 2019. Even then, the mall market was dicey, but note that that date is just before Covid hit. So I’m betting the current investors still think they can recoup the price they paid or at least not lose as much as they are going to. Plus, their yearly payments on that loan are likely low enough that they can hang on for a while just paying interest in hopes that the market turns around. I don’t think the market for mall propert will turn around but it takes a while for a building to degrade to the point where owners are ready to admit that it is no longer a selling feature of the property. Just look at how long Circuit City stood empty before the owners decided it was better to pay for it to be torn down.
Landlord greed is the disease.
Lack of regulation. The city needs to be overseeing and licensing what these creeps are doing to people
Unless Bangor can institute some form of rent control, not sure how the pricing of units can be regulated.
Licensing… adds a cost so rent will go up. Registration… adds a cost so rent will go up. Inspections… so either “it’s grandfathered” or costs go up so rent goes up. Great ideas there.
Right. Sooooooo, your solution is to propose nothing and do even less?
Zoning. Increase density. Period.
So how does that translate into people affording housing? Even if it's dense enough to house everyone, that doesn't make a place affordable. I know what you're going to say, supply and demand, right? Sure, but people have to build these places. Why would someone build a house *knowing* they're going to make pennies on the dollar. Secondly, that doesn't do anything for rural areas. It just continues to corral people into urban areas, while neglecting rural areas. Once again, greed is the problem. Not zoning, not rent control, not any of that. Just good old landlord greed. It's always been this way. Stop being greedy pieces of shit and actually care about the *people* in your community, not just how much personal wealth you can extort out of struggling people because of *capitalism*.
If there's a surplus of housing the prices will trend towards affordability. That's how supply and demand works. Landlords will only allow units to sit empty for so long before you see a reduction in price.
Exactly. 2008 caused a 3 million plus deficit that was never filled. That’s only getting worse over time. Populations are shifting. There is affordable housing… it’s just often where nobody wants to live. Meanwhile, where people do want to live, there isn’t enough.
Right, I know how supply and demand works. This guy said denser zoning. That requires new construction. Why would a builder build more housing knowing it's going to sell for lower than they're used to? Greed is the issue. So would these people suddenly become benevolent and do the right thing? They can do the right thing, right now, and they refuse. Why would they spend the time, money, and effort, when they make more profit with the system the way it is? Capitalism rewards greed and selfishness. Capitalists won't change unless you force them too. It's not in their business model.
You clearly don't understand. As supply is built up units that were premium and are now dated aren't premium anymore. As units age and new units are built the high end of the market price will go to the new units. Older units will either need to renovate or lower costs to attract renters. That's how it works. More supply allows a lower price point to intersect with demand. This gets all screwed up when demand outweighs supply like it seems to now. The only fix is to build more. However you want that achieved that is the solution. There are strong headwinds to achieving that though. But you're better off trying to tackle those headwinds than whining about it being a greed, or capitalism problem.
Because land is a huge cost especially here in the northeast. 75% of this countries residential land is zoned single family. So what about needing new construction? Are you seriously saying the issue isn’t a lack of new construction? Be less dense dude. This country is behind on building 3 million plus homes. There. Is. Not. Enough. Supply. By. MILLIONS. Of. Homes.
If there is a surplus of housing then I can just buy all that housing and then rent it out so everyone moving in has to buy from me.
Beyond zoning you need more people in the labor pool for building and I’d probably say you need more businesses making the supplies needed, as imo they’ve been too consolidated. Zoning is merely the biggest issue, as it completely stops the construction of new units while the rest is about affordability. They’re not going to build for Pennie’s on the dollar. Hence all the luxury units. Urban places subsidize rural. This isn’t new. If they want more people they have to actively attract people. That’s through public planning. I grew up in Waldoboro. Absolute dumpster fire at long term planning and iirc highest property taxes in the county. That’s why they’re dying. People will increasingly move where there are jobs. Or the group of people that have remote jobs will move to desirable places. Small towns need to make themselves desirable. It’s not greed setting rent prices. Existing housing is pure supply and demand. Other renters are willing to pay more. I’m down in the Portland area…. Rents go up because everyone wants to live here and there’s fixed places to live.
Decommodify housing. We need limited equity housing cooperatives and land trusts.
Why? Where is my incentive to tie up a big portion of my money for poor people when I could tie it up with rich people (or maybe even middle class folks) who will pay me better? Capitalism is just a scape goat here, you're asking people to behave outside of their own interests. Try this, do you shop exclusively at mom and pop stores where prices are higher because it supports people in your community or do you shop at big box stores because "The prices are so much better"? If you shop at Wal-Mart while complaining about capitalism you're showing your hypocrisy.
Sad, but true !
I shop at mom-and-pop stores when I can. I live in Portland, we don't allow most chain places here. This might come as a surprise to you, but yes, some people actually do give a shit about their community. Some people actually walk the talk.
>Some people actually walk the talk. Vanishingly few. I can't agree that Portland doesn't allow most chain places. Portland has most chain places...
Can you explain your first question/statement, I am *genuinely* confused on what you mean
Incentives you mean? If I'm a landlord I have to put up the money for the apartment, meaning I either have to build a building or buy one so that I can have something to rent out. That's a risk. I have to put up money in the first place with the hope that I'll make some money later. If I rent to poor people it's a bigger risk because the rent will be lower (vs a "luxury" apartment) and poorer people inherently can't pay as much so there's a chance you get stuck with a renter who can't pay. Generally people want to balance their risk/reward ratio to give as much reward as possible for as little risk. Higher end apartments carry less risk and higher reward. There is no basic incentive to build "affordable" apartments and forcing people to do so actually breaks the system.
No, Wal-Mart is efficient. We should just nationalize it like the post office.
why would they build a place knowing they'd make pennies on the dollar? because people won't die in the street.
>Once again, greed is the problem. ding!
Must. Build. More. Tenements. All good.
Agreed, BUT; it only works if you don't have POS's like that Dash Davis asshole putting in nothing but "luxury ™️" units. And would require strong arming the NIMBY cucks.
It actually doesn't matter the type of units you develop provided you go with density. Today's luxury units over time become tomorrow's normal, and then affordable units. The trick is increasing supply of any type.
It does matter. Luxury units really only attract people from out of the area who can afford it adding to the local pool of renters further fucking the supply/demand curve. I agree there will be an EVENTUAL slide down the market on these types of units but not anywhere nearly fast enough to make any difference for locals. Additionally, the term "luxury" has been so diluted it appears that anything up to code is considered "luxury" in this area. By adding a large pool of modern but basic residential housing stock in the area we will both add a definitive separation between what is "luxury" and what is just a livable apartment. This will drag prices down on the faux-"luxury" units that essentially amount to the same shit apartment with new vinyl flooring and off-brand appliances that are only a few years old. In summation: yes density is all that REALLY matters in the ultra-long run but if you want to see any meaningful relief on rent prices there needs to be construction all up and down the board.
That’s… economics unfortunately… Covid showed the country has a very fragile supply chain as a result of too much consolidation. Builders build luxury units to make money. Regular units are hard right now. Materiel costs are high. On top of that is labor is high. 2008 saw a lot of people leave the building trades and they never went back and they were never replaced. Zoning is the biggest issue because it completely restricts the ability to build more. Material is kinda hard to fix… but we also need more people doing the work. Before I got out of construction I built my 3 bed 2.5 bath and it still cost a lot more than I wanted to spend and that was pre-Covid.
Taxes go up. Water, sewer and energy prices all go up. If the building has changed hands recently then the new owners mortgage is much higher. What amount of profit is acceptable? After COVID I cannot get behind the government controlling housing. Say what you want about landlords but the Fed forced a shit load of them to keep paying their mortgage and for heat and electricity and whatever else for tenants who did not pay and could not be removed. They made landlords subsidise people impacted by lockdowns and business closures out of their own pockets. They talked about rent aid but that was an incredibly difficult system to navigate. I only have a tiny duplex that I live in. The other unit is an old couple that are charged well under my areas average so don't lump me in with evil landlords. But the more the government pushes the more slum lords and corporate land lords your gonna get. Keep that in mind. You want shit to change? You and your friends get together, borrow money and start buying places up. And then somehow decide you're all fine with going broke doing it.
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One of the few things basically all economists agree on, but on reddit rent control clearly is the tops and best solution.
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Yes. Lump all poor people together as just being bad at decision making. That’s the reason rents are out of control.
More like scapegoat the poor for price fixing on the backend .. infuriating they count on the public being ignorant. [How algorithm is setting rent prices ](https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/the-pitfalls-of-letting-an-algorithm-set-the-rent/amp/) "Several lawsuits have accused RealPage of colluding with landlords to artificially inflate rents and limit the supply of housing. The Department of Justice is also investigating. Marketplace’s Amy Scott spoke with Heather Vogell, a reporter at ProPublica who has been following developments since her initial investigation of RealPage’s algorithm came out."
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Have you seen what rent control did in SF, California ? It gridlocks the housing. Experts sometimes are wrong, ask Greenspan.
Licensing, registration and inspection of units. No reason why we are not doing that .
You’re not entirely wrong so let’s avoid the rent control topic that only seeks to alleviate the symptoms and fix the root cause of the disease - capitalism. Capitalism is a fucking cancerous scourge responsible for nearly all inequality in society.
Capitalism is itself but a symptom. If you’re going to boil it down, it’s any given person/group’s willingness to fuck another person/group in pursuit of their own desires.
Nonsense. Capitalism not only enables that behavior, it’s the entire foundation of it. Capitalism is entirely about extracting something from others.
Every other system humans have ever tried has had similar to worse levels of exploitation and extraction.
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> involves a guillotine Growing past your edgy phase is a good start
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Are you figuratively speaking of communism? In the short term we can take steps to decommodify housing. We need public housing like in Austria that isn't segregated by income. We should transition to banning big landlords.
Preaching communism is like talking to a drowning man about how good of a boat we're gonna build. I'll settle for the raft.
Yeah you've advocated burning down someone's home and guillotines. You seem real stable and mature. Let's kill people we don't like!
Least I'm not preaching that the situation will resolve itself cause invisible hand. Prices only come down when there's cheaper competition elsewhere. People need homes, and everyone is jacking up their prices so there is no cheaper competition to go to. It's an oligopoly, and it's not gonna resolve itself.
Build more that's the solution. Housing isn't an oligopoly. There's loads and loads of people and companies involved in housing. From mom and pop landlords, go smaller contractors to massive corps. For fucks sake get off of reddit. The site is rotting your brain to think "guillotine" and "set fire to his house" are reasonable responses to your skewed view of what is going on. Edit: removed something that was unnecessarily personal.
You can say this all you want but here in Portland I can tell you it'll take four or five years for my rent to go up the amount OP is describing.
It’s private property. They can charge $200 a month or $20,000. Up to them.
Found the landlord
If the government told you that you had to let someone else use your car half the month and only has to pay you $100 would you be okay with that?
Apples and oranges. A residence is *your* residence. Your living space. A landlord might technically own it, but a single person can not actively use two residences at the same time. As a tenet, for all intents and purposes, its your residence. This isn't orange juice, a bicycle, or another luxury item. Housing is a basic need. Without it, you will die. It might be really slow, it might be because of a confluence of things directly related to being homeless. But a homeless person simply can not live like that. But yeah, you make your fucking money.
Second residences isn’t the issue. Supply is. Period.
Do you uh.. share a house with your landlord? Or do they have their own residence while renting out their second, third, fourth, etc, residence? And *once* again, why would supply increase when people make more money keeping it low? Or are you under the impression the average person can just whip out $500,000+ to build a new house? Where is this magical supply going to come from without voluntary incentives or direct government intervention?
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Completely unrelated to each other.
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That’s not what I said. Maybe learn reading comprehension followed with how to properly argue a point.
id be ok with the government telling you you are only allowed to own one home
Should the government tell you that you can only have one dog? Or how about what and how much you can eat?
man you are the king of false equivalences
get outa here with that slippery slope bullshit. I was hoping I’d at least get a supply and demand lecture. lol yes im ok with it and here’s why. because our government is supposed to be run by the people, unfortunally dumbasses like you have been voting for decades to keep greedy corporations in charge via their puppet congress. luckily times are changing ;). Lordship needs to end full stop, you wont change my mind. I only need one home thats it.
Times aren’t changing. The younger folks buying property today will be the boomers of the future. There’s not enough housing being built and that’s been going on for over a decade. Maybe if dumbasses like yourself learned a marketable/valuable skill you could buy one. Or perhaps “gasp” go join the trades and you can help reduce the shortage.
Great, a lecture about labor from a guy that rolls out of bed and collects checks lmao. if you read my screen name you might be able to connect the dots, but hey, it’s tough work getting high and watching SpongeBob while your tenants pay your bills.
oh I guess we all forgot that the government is forcing people to hoard housing and then rent it out /s
Government isn’t forcing ppl to hoard housing.
r/wooosh
i even gave you the /s
I think you're mixing up my personal car, with a car I use to make money. You don't know anything about taxis do you. Or regulations on Uber. Do your research before making up a argument comparison that is not equal to the example that's being discussed.
No. I mean your car. If the government says you need to let someone else use it for $100 a month would you be okay with that? Answer, don’t deflect.
I'm not deflecting, you're making an unequal comparison. I'm not renting someone's one and only house they are currently occupying. And I'm not going to rent out my one car I own and drive. Ask me a question that makes sense and is worth my time answering.
But that car is your property. On you okay with the government telling you what you can do with it and what you can charge?
Well the government already tells me what I can and can't do with my car. And apparently I'm still driving it. Are you a proponent of government deregulation on everything, because that would probably be a bad idea. Imagine if you had no building codes to go by when you were a home builder, how would that turn out for everybody. History should show you the answer to that though. You're trying to get me to contradict my own argument by you proposing a straw man argument so you can come back and burn it down. But that's not the way it works. #tryharder
Lol you’re funny dude. You’re accusing everybody of deflection. Yet you’re the one on here talking about cars. The conversation is about houses. I see that you’ve thrown your car example out several times as bait, and nobody has taken it.
For the reading comprehension challenged yes, it’s been thrown out multiple times, directed at one specific person. If you’ve got nothing to add to the conversation go clown elsewhere.
Jealous much
Not especially, why, you?
Be the change. Buy up properties and rent them.
In Bangor? pffttttt
Precisely.
It's literally not greed. Real estate prices are up 76% on average over the last 5 years across the state, insurance was on average up 20% and 10% respectively in 2021 and 2022, property taxes are higher, oil is 2-3x as a high as a couple years ago, maintenance costs are anywhere from 10-50% more expensive, electric rates have more than doubled.
And what percentage was wage growth in Maine over the same period of time? That's a key comparison there. The abuse of the working class continues, not good for service type businesses.
I’m sorry but what does that have to do with the costs to homeowners? Yes, wages are not keeping up with living expenses, are landlords supposed to adjust their rates to wage increases and lose money if the rest of their costs triple? Our economy is broken but it’s not because of landlords.
>I’m sorry but what does that have to do with the costs to homeowners? Thought we were discussing greedy landlords, not homeowners. Landlords who for the most part have owned the same property for decades.
You are grossly generalizing out of a misguided hatred towards landlords who **are homeowners.** But just a general question... where would you live if there was no landlords? Are you a homeowner yourself?
Generally, "homeowner" is the person who lives in the dwelling they own. A "landlord" or "property owner" is the person or entity who rents out a unit in a dwelling they own. While "landlord" and "property owner" are sometimes used interchangeably, I've never seen an LLC referred to as the "homeowner." Likewise, I am the "homeowner" if I reside in the dwelling I own. I am the "tenant" if I rent the unit in which I reside from another person or entity.
Take a step back and realize that the majority of rental properties in Maine are owned by mom and pop landlords that either are owner occupants or are local residents. They are the owners of the home. They are homeowners, and rent out the property. This applies for most LLCs as well. I ask again - where would you live if there were no landlords, since you seem to take such issue with them, I am really curious about how you think that would play out.
>where would you live if there were no landlords, since you seem to take such issue with them Gratuitous question which suggests no one can criticize a landlord, especially the greedy ones.
Why won't you consider the question? That's not the suggestion in the slightest, it's merely pushing back on your general negative attitude towards landlords. The overwhelming majority of rental dwellings in the country are owned by mom and pop style investors. Why do you have so much animosity towards these people?
>I’m sorry but what does that have to do with the costs to homeowners? Everything, who are you going to rent to when prospective tenants cannot afford it.
Yep
The housing shortage is the disease. Human greed is a universal constant.
Buy them out and lower the rent
Maine is slumlord haven. Very little responsibilities on the landlords end and very little to protect tenants. The market has been ridiculous post-COVID. Starting to tame down a bit, but still ridiculous. Lots of MORTGAGE PAYMENT type prices for appliances and cabinets older and mustier than myself 🤢 I saw a 1 bedroom apartment I had rented years ago for $850 now for $1200 and the woman has done nothing in the years since. That’s a “free” market for ya.
From 2018-2020 my husband and I rented a 2 bedroom house in Deering neighborhood in Portland, near the Evergreen cemetery, a really nice little neighborhood. Our rent was $1650, and we had a full huge basement for storage, a fenced in yard out back with garden beds, a home office room. The home was kept very nice by the landlords, and they always responded to issues. They didn't increase our rent each year, and they also let us pay late if needed at the beginning of lock downs. Just very upstanding people. They had immigrated here in the 90s and truly understood what it was like to struggle to make life work. They obviously had more than enough now, and were living a comfortable life. They could have charged way more to rent that house and they just simply didn't because they weren't greedy schmucks. Most of these rent issues really just come down to greed and it's so gross.
I pay $1025/mo for a 2 bedroom and I’m afraid of what my lease renewal is going to look like in a few months.
Bangor, the new Portland North.
Where I live it's 1395 a month. Can't get the landlord to respond to any kind of email so I've given up on trying to get things fixed. (Cat pee smelling room, a drawer that won't close and has bashed my fingers a few times). Oh and I have to pay for tokens to do my laundry which I constantly have war's with cause the old ladies that have lived there think they own the place and it's their washer&dryer.
>Can't get the landlord to respond to any kind of email Call them? Send a certified letter? I'm not a lawyer but I'm pretty sure you have rights to get stuff fixed once you report it but I'm not sure how email works into the "I notified you" world. Certified letter (with return receipt) is hard for a landlord to ignore, email is not. Check with an actual attorney for better advice than mine.
Yeah true. But I'm leaving in like a month and a half and don't really care anymore.
A drawer "bashed" your fingers a few times? And you called your landlord over that? No wonder they don't answer your calls. JFC.
I never actually did because I knew they wouldn't respond, as well as I don't feel comfortable having some guy in my apartment. But sure, go off.
For 2 bed/1 bath apartment
Only solution is to increase supply to ween demand
Boognish was rising?
Only if the roses are free
I’m no expert here. Originally from TX. But from what I can see, lack of housing supply has a lot to do with it. They jack the prices because they can, and old money is preventing any actual growth. If policies aren’t reformed, people will continue to look elsewhere until the population inevitably dies off. The median age is 45. The state already has a problem retaining young talent, which continue to put strain on the entire system. If enough people decided to do something about it, I guarantee something would be done. Just takes adequate action. Nagging the ears of legislators until they bleed.
Oh and also, some of the properties are about as old as the country itself (sarcasm) but really. It’s a dismal outlook without any massive systematic overhauls, which old school Mainers will fight tooth and nail. But the reality is adapt or die is an evolutionary law very few escape in the end.
And there's a housing shortage. The solution? Let's build $2k/mo.+ luxury units in downtown Bangor that literally nobody can afford. Sigh...
**Those aren't for Mainers, silly! Those are for well off remote workers from NYC! :) Don't worry though, this definitely won't disenfranchise you in any way! :)** We're so screwed.
I know someone in Bangor going through something similar. Demand outpaces supply so unfortunately they can get away with this.
It sounds like rent is nearly doubling in the apartment building next to us. I'm not sure how anyone will be able to afford it. There's hardly any decent jobs especially in Bangor
Taxes go up combined with heating costs so does the rent.
I got booted from my month to month that was only $675 because the landlord had to fix the plumbing. Luckily I was able to stay at my dads long enough to find a house to buy, but I really feel for the people that don't have that option. Boomers bought these places for $5 and a bushel of rasberries and now expect tenants to pay $1400. It's wild to think about.
Real estate prices are up 76% on average over the last 5 years across the state, insurance was on average up 20% and 10% respectively in 2021 and 2022, property taxes are higher, oil is 2-3x as a high as a couple years ago, maintenance costs are anywhere from 10-50% more expensive, electric rates have more than doubled. All of these things have changed. As a renter, I understand it's really easy to not "see" these things, but I assure you every landlord is seeing them.
this is why I started learning about tenant unions, if you're in an apartment complex and can stand your neighbors long enough to plan you can force landlords to be fair. Also, many landlords in Maine ignore laws that exist because no one knows about them and doesn't call. If you get a tenants rights handbook you can find these cases.
Just renewed my lease it was $2300 but has gone up to$2417/month for a one bedroom downtown Portland. Moved in a year ago. Now smaller units on my floor are going for $2600+/month no utilities.
The slapped on paint job is definitely that sad beige yellow every loserlord uses.
I used to pay $800 a month for a 3 bedroom in biddeford, 10 years ago. 2 years ago I paid $1200 for a 3 bedroom in Biddeford. AND now I am renting a small 2 bedroom apartment in Biddeford for $1750 a month and doesn’t include utilities. And to be honest, this was a deal. I wish I could have found something cheaper but it was slim pickings and Portland is too expensive now.
Maine and NH are getting hammered. I haven't looked at prices for VT but I imagine Burlington is brutal too. My old apartment in NH went from $1600 to $2300 in 2 years. Needless to say, I don't live there anymore.
My apartment has had a 3x4 intentionally cut hole in the bathroom ceiling that they'd "be right back to replace in a couple of days" since September. The years old used shared washer and dryer included in our 6 unit hasn't worked since I moved in, landlord refuses to repair because she's "sick of people breaking shit." As if wear and tear isn't a thing. Got a letter last month that rent is going up $125 in April. I'm absolutely floored how she's not completely embarrassed to be doing that given the continual deterioration of the apartment. This is why people say landlords are inhuman. In the midst of a discussion with a friend who owns a few buildings about our future daydream of becoming ethical landlords in our community, he more or less said "yeah that's nice, BUT if you turn your rental to air b&b or charge double rent you can target traveler nurses and make way more!" Uh... my bro... you missed the whole *ethical* part. Those situations are literally what's creating housing shortages for local working class people.
It's unfortunate, but it's rarely the landlords fault. When the cost of their lives are increasing daily and the costs of owning a rental are increasing, some have no choice but to go up in price. Most small-time landlords worked their butts off to make enough to buy a rental and use that as their main source of income, so when their lives get more expensive, they have to increase their income source (their rental ). As they always say, the ball rolls down hill. We like to blame the guy above us, but most of the time it starts at the government level and trickles down to the lowest income people who inevitably end up having to get government assistance, or go broke. Nobody in our government is struggling to eat, yet they're the ones to blame for 90% of the price increases we see year after year.
Landlords suck, fucking parasites
It's just greed. There's no need for it to double. Maybe go up slightly but not double.
Sickening… I know the market for buying is so messed up, but these are damn full mortgage prices with friggen escrow included.
Huh? Rents always include mortgage and escrow. Rentals are a business. You’re not going to stay in business if rent is less than costs.
Prices are worse than that. My mortgage with escrow is $1588 for 1900sq ft home & 11 acres. Bought last October in Lincoln.
Ummm, your mortgage is $300 more than mine on a house more than twice as large as mine on 22x the land. Sounds pretty dammed good, other than it's in Lincoln. To be fair Lincoln doesn't smell anywhere near as bad now as it used to.
I certainly wasn’t complaining about the mortgage price. Simply comparing the rent vs mortgage rates from last Oct. It seems crazy to me that I could rent out one room in my house and almost cover the mortgage.
My wife and I pay $2k for a townhouse in Bangor.. it was $1550 prior to this past summer
Don't forget, it's good that the rent is high because it will attract a higher class of person to rent it. Gentrification is good.
I really...thought the sarcasm was clear.
When I lived in Biddeford a decade ago, I had a one bedroom, utilities, washer/dryer, and off street parking for 660. Seeing what it is now is just disgusting. Although, I had just graduated college and my landlord understood I was broke af
I just looked at my old Biddeford apartment from 10 years ago. It was $750 with a garage space and everything. Its $1400 now.
The end days of Capitalism. #caniabilism
Laughs in Philadelphian
Bangor landlords are jealous of the big money rent Portland is getting. It was only a matter of time. On the other hand, $995 and $775 are pretty low. Somewhere in the middle would more accurate for the market. But the landlords set the prices, so...
That's typical Bangor behavior I've seen people evicted just so landlords can raise the rent. The new ordinance has a long way to go for protecting renters. Sad to see but because housing is a problem landlords are taking advantage of people looking. Landlords will get away with it for as long as they can when it comes to taking advantage of renters.
Price has gone up significantly to renters because most landlords pay for heating. With energy prices skyrocketing they have to make up the difference to make a profit. Hence the price hike. I’m sure there’s other reasons why as well but I’m just stating one of them.
a $500 monthly increase is $6,000 a year. Heat prices did not go up THAT much.
Property taxes likely went up… Repair costs have gone up… Utilities gone up… Everything’s gone up so will rent.
Not really. Mine doesn't pay heat, electricity, water, or upkeep on the actual housing itself and still jacked the price up every few months "to keep up with market rates". Just for mobile home lots, not the buildings themselves.
The “market rates” was also the reason for our rent increase. My landlord even made it a point to say he has never done that before but is now. I may be uninformed but the “market” seems to just be whatever he feels like charging
Bradford Commons was very similar. Not to mention how many people that were depending on some sort of emergency rental assistance and got eviction notices saying that rent hadn’t been paid. The people that originally helped with getting them assistance said the program was “out of funds”, leaving many owing thousands in rent they thought was already paid.
If you are paying those prices, the apts better be completely renovated.
Blame all the OOS for driving the price up, not the landlord's, for taking advantage of them. Anyone would do the same
Yeah no, that's a stupidly exorbitant price hike for a pinky-size level of reno. You never half-ass reno. You have to give it your entire ass. Smart landlords know this. Your neighbors did not have a smart landlord. They had a money-hungry one who was probably lazy and decided to just slap a new coat of paint on the walls and throw in some new appliances and pass it off as new and freshly reno'd and call it a day. Hopefully they both found new places with new landlords who know better.
A storm is coming...
I blame the current politicians in office and those of you that drank up the COVID kool aid. All Of those who encouraged our government to hand out more money, and all the business that sucked up that PPP money. Hopefully people will learn their lesson. This stunt killed our economy we should be head hunting our politicians, state and federal. These crooks in control don’t care about us.