Jenn Martinelli Blogging in Boston

Clementine wrote at 2008-02-19 13:11:

Good luck, lady! I'm rooting for you!

Rob wrote at 2008-02-21 11:37:

I'm less optimistic. People are vile little monsters and looking for an apt/moving means coming into contact with a whole new gaggle of them, which only serves to confirm the worst.

Incidentally, there is the unfortunate realization that SO many people pay $1100, $1200, $1300+ a month (that's over $15,000 a year and $150,000+ in a short 10 years) for an apt and then live like squatters.

The prized possessions of the people who live in these places we're looking at, would appear to be little more than debris. You would think that someone making between $50,000 and $100,000 a year would be able to do a little better than a stained and broken couch that looks like it was dragged away from a dump.

I am in no way judging anybody else. My own life makes me want to cry. It's just pathetic and the last thing I need is a survey of the pathetic human condition. Keep in mind that this is the normal experience. This is what passes for middle class these days. How about some more numbers...

These are quick figures you may be able to find something different but I am suggesting that they are approximately accurate.

The average American spends between 20% - 30% of their yearly income on housing - by the way if you pay more than 30%, the common wisdom says that you'll have trouble paying for other necessities.

The average price of a condo in Boston is $420,000.

That mortgage payment would be between $2500.00 - $3000.00 (depending on a lot of different factors). The rough estimate I've seen is that you should not be approved for a mortgage that is more than 28% gross income (including taxes). Also, your the amount of monthly debt, including the mortgage of course, shouldn't be more than 35% of gross income. All of that seems reasonable to me.

The average income for Boston, MA is approx $45,000 a year.

So let's do some tax-free math. That $45,000 is $3750 a month. 28% of that is $1050.00. So at best the average person can afford a 155,000.00 mortgage which is 36% of the cost of the average condo. As far as apartments go $1050.00 will get you a lousy studio or a downright shitty one-bedroom. Someplace appropriate for you to store the garbage that is sum total of your life.

But things are life and an apartment doesn't define who you are. I agree, sort of. You don't have to be fancy to live a good life, but if you in squalor you are probably struggling, and struggling everyday impacts your life profoundly.

Ok, ok, that's not even the point I want to make. These poor unfortunate wretches (who by the way include doctors doing research work at MIT, not just service industry drones)... well I would pity them, if it weren't for the fact that they are all doing better than I am. Anyway, I'm certainly not out to chastise them.

The people I do have a problem with are the reprobates who "work" at renting apartments in this city. I use the term 'work' very loosely. This job has become nothing more than spending 5 minutes posting a free ad on Craigslist, fielding some calls/emails, showing the apartment, and filling out a little paper work. Let's look at each of these tasks:

5 minutes posting a free ad on Craigslist - The ads are very generic, frequently wrong, only sometimes include a photo (and only some of the photos correspond to the listing), full of typos and grammatical mistakes (some of them are barely intelligible), factually inaccurate ... I've already spent more time on then some of these people spend listing properties in a month.

fielding some calls - Of course more often than not, calls are greeted by voice mail and emails go unanswered for days. I would say more about the ridiculousness of people carrying cell phones so they can be contacted only to let most of the calls ring through to voice mail but I'm running out of steam.

showing the apartment - Which amounts to opening the front door and then standing in the corner until the person looking at the place indicates that she's ready to leave. They never know anything about the place. Frequently they've never been there before. I don't think I've ever gone to look at a place when the realtor hasn't commented that she 'hadn't noticed before' something in plain site (like insect or rodent traps or water damage on the shabby drop ceiling, or maybe a rotting carcase in the middle of the room).

filling out a little paper work - These guys aren't lawyers by any stretch of the imagination. These are standard leases, which often haven't been so much as thoroughly read over in years. They are often inaccurate, and sometimes not even legal, because for example they include terms which are not legally enforceable.

But the worst is the deception and stupidity. The picture of the kitchen that somehow doesn't include the giant blood stain on the floor. Do you not think I'm going to look at the apt I'm coming over to look at?

Of course the worst insult of all is that in exchange for these services, realtors typically expect to be paid a full month's rent. Realtors can go fuck themselves.

With this attitude, it's unlikely that I'll find an apt, which is why I'm less optimistic than Jenn.