Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Fairfield County rents high. In other news, sky blue.

The Advocate has an interesting but not surprising article about the price of rentals here in the FC. Basically, no one making less than $45 billion can afford an apartment in this area.

I'm a firm believer in a free-market system, but how did it get so out of hand that it precludes vast swaths of people from renting? FROM RENTING?? I'm not talking about the working poor; I'm talking about middle-class professionals, maybe with a kid, who simply can't afford to pay $2300 a month for a 2-bedroom apartment in Glenbrook.

For example, take Glenview House, which I've blogged about in the past. Their smallest two-bedroom apartment is 1139 square feet and costs $2299 a month! Let's see...$2299 times 12 times 30 equals $827,640. If you have the choice between buying an $800,000 home or renting an admittedly fancy apartment across from Taco Bell, what would you do?? I understand that renting works better than buying for some people (temporary transfers, etc.), but I always thought that renting was generally supposed to be the less-expensive alternative to buying. On a similar note, I always thought that townhouses were sort of like "starter homes" for people who can't afford or don't want a house with a yard, but not when townhouses start at $600,000!!

That said, if I'm going to pay $2300 a month, I'll live in NYC, where I can do many, many more cool things and enjoy more than two types of food (Italian and "other").

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

2300 In NYC will be the size of my closet.

Unknown said...

I figured that the Advocate had a slow news day, or are really behind the reporting times to have that headline. I mean, DUH!
$2300 is still too much for anyone living on a regular income.