Dropping Rents

If you're like me, you've been looking for an affordable place to move into since you came back from the storm. One of the best places to look, and also to gauge the housing market, has been Craig's List. I finally found a place just last week, for a fairly competitive rent price, but still twice the amount I would have had to pay pre-storm. The good thing is that the rent I'm paying is about half that of what it would have been three months ago, when jackass's were gouging people even worse than now.

Back in December and before, the dynamic was different. Out of town companies, like contractors and FEMA workers, were relocating their employees to New Orleans and not knowing any better, paid the $3,000/month rents for two bedrooms. In New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and other high-rent, kick-you-when-you're-down, rent-gouging locales, a $3,000/month rental price isn't something you even bat an eye at. The landlords of undamaged real estate, who have had to spend nothing fixing up places or time waiting for insurance companies, decided that was fine with them, and charged away. Meanwhile, the locals are priced out of apartments (University students, blue collar workers, even the middle class).

Well, the tide has turned for the better. There aren't any more companies trying to place employees into apartments or houses, and so the entire market is filled with ACTUAL New Orleanians, who recognize a gouging when they see one. That two bedroom for $3,600? Forget about it, it ain't gonna sell. So the rent prices have been dropping steadily. I remember just two months ago when the median price for an apartment hovered around $2,200. Now, basically the exact same apartment is attempting to rent for about half of that asking price. Which is not to say the stubborn greedy landlord isn't still out there, he is. The excuse is "but that's how much it costs!" Bullshit. Before the storm, the rent you charged was half the mortgage, because you were using half the house, or the house had two apartments in it. Today, if you're renting half your house, that person is not only paying the whole mortgage, but he's also paying you extra money which you're pocketing. You get free real estate, the real estate is equity you can borrow against and eventually sell (all that rent is profit when you do) and you get profit additionally off of the person you're gouging. How can someone say it's simply what it costs when they weren't doing it a year ago? The only thing that's changed is the demand.

If I were still looking though, and I had the luxury of time, I'd wait it out until June and then pay a rent about 1/3 cheaper than what's going today. Happy hunting.