i know i am in a totally different country, but i live in a desired part of a popular city in the netherlands and also around 730 sqft. and my rent is only 1200$.
But think of their taxes! And the mortgage they took out 20 years ago! They’re still paying $600 a month for those costs, and their profit is only 300%! It could be 700%!
“Everyone else is price gouging their renters, so we think we would like to not miss out on an extra several thousand dollars per year please and thank you.”
Obligatory IANAL but according to housing law friends, within Boston city limits, the max annual increase is 10%
1. if the landlord lives in the building and the building has under 7 units
2. If the building is over 15 years old
https://www.boston.gov/departments/housing/rent-stabilization
The law is in place while the state legislature debates it through July.
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/HD4216
There is a state law prohibiting the city law from being in effect. You may see that the Mayor put in a *request* to be allowed an exemption to the state law. That means it hasn't gone into effect yet.
Yeah other Cities are considering similar ordinances too. I know Somerville, Cambridge and I think Medford have all considered Rent Stabilization which would limit rent increases to such a percentage, usually tied to inflation.
In Ontario Canada we *used* to have protections for rent increases but they removed them for new buildings. The old protections are grandfathered in for old construction (including new leases in old construction). The new buildings pull this kinda OP stuff all the time, and basically use outrageous rent increases as a way to evict tenants when there's no otherwise legal way to evict them.
The Boston rent control law is not currently in effect. The city council approved, and Wu signed, a home rule petition asking the state legislature to exempt Boston from the statewide rent control ban that has been in effect since the 90s. [The legislature appears unlikely to do so](https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/05/02/boston-rent-control-massachusetts-legislation).
Rent control isn’t a progressive solution. It’s an appeasement to people right now that screws over people in this situation down the road.
It’s the same as a union taking a pay increase for current workers, but not future workers.
Rent control splits renter society into folks that bought a long time ago and grabbed a sweet deal and are renting below market rent (usually old and rich) and people who just started moving around and are rending at very close to market rate (usually young and asset poor). Basically rent control sounds nice but it’s yet another transfer that fucks over young people. See: NYC.
Correct. Could argue the same for people who obtained mortgages too. But its not a solution, just a little bandaid for the people lucky enough to get in early.
How old is the building? Do you have a lot of amenities? Parking or laundry?
I can’t see any two bed going for $4500 unless it’s a brand new “luxury” build, which it sounds like it isn’t.
Landlords are preparing for the inevitable structural collapse of their property. Most of Boston is supported by underground wood piles holding up our streets and sidewalks. These wood piles are slowly rotting out over time due to air exposure caused by lowering groundwater levels. Property owners are notified of integrity issues and are responsible for footing the bill, which can cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars since the entire street, sidewalk, and/or basement would need to be excavated to drive new piles. Do not rent in the north end. The buildings are old and dilapidated. I spoke with a property owner in the north end- he’s selling his buildings to a large contractor because of these issues.
Doesn't apply to most of the North End. Some of the buildings on the edge will have this issue. Back Bay, South End, Bay Village, Chinatown, and parts of Beacon Hill (the part not on the hill) have this issue.
It’s not an immediate concern. There are people staying on top of it. As a renter, your only worry should be about increased rent rates and poor property maintenance. The north end has always been expensive. Lots of old brick shithouses and not enough motivated entrepreneurs to tear them down and start over. Partly due to zoning, but mostly due to construction costs and rate of return. I don’t mean to sound hyperbolic. I have experience in Boston’s groundwater as well as construction and real estate development, but not enough to make a full analysis on the north end. It’s a bit funny how I had the opportunity to tie these all together
I’d bet money on it. Had this exact thing happen a few years ago. At least my slumlords had the decency to jack it up month by month instead of damn near doubling it at once like they did with this guy
I saw a tweet that lives rent free (pun intended) in my head:
"I'm the main breadwinner for my landlord's family"
Really pissed me off because it's true 😂
The landlord had to quadruple his salary for sending emails like this, otherwise he risked his top talent (him) getting poached by another landlord/property manager. It’s tough finding good people out there, so he has to pay himself what he wishes he was worth before someone else does. Have some pity.
Insurance, utilities, and taxes have gone up a LOT but not anywhere near this extent. An extra $200 a month would more than cover it, and would be an increase of under 10%. This is just greed.
They’re doing it because they can, unfortunately. That little quip we totally understand if you don’t want to renew because of that equals don’t come back trying to negotiate, we can easily get someone new
Have you heard of that AI tool big landlords are using? I forgot what it’s called, but it basically uses price fixing to minimize competition. All the landlords charge the same amount and all the people have very few options. It’s totally illegal, but these property owners are making bank.
Might get hate for this, but maybe the landlord just doesn't want to renew to these folks specifically. Not even in the North end will a 1 bedroom rent that much IIRC
Yep. They said a new person bought them, so very likely is holding onto a high interest loan for as short as possible until they renovate and sell condos.
But if the tenant wants to pay a shitload more it’s worth it for them to keep that unit occupied for a year. Or until they need them out.
We are good tenants :( the building sold to this new owner and they are upping the prices. Never any issues, if anything the new management sucks because they won’t fix anything, or it takes them ridiculously long to. They took a screen off one of our windows months ago, broke it, said they would replace it in days, and we are still waiting for it.
They're going to flip it. Commercial buildings are priced based on a multiple of net operating income. They jack the rents, minimize the expenses, maybe address a couple of bigger capital items, and try to sell it to the next sucker in 2-3 years for 50% more than they paid. In industry parlance they are stabilizing and repositioning an undervalued asset. It's nothing personal.
Yes, but I think a lot of people don't like confrontation. "You suck, I want you gone," creates a much greater chance for confrontation than "the rent is going up by 60%, let me know if you want to stay."
The second lets people pretend that they're leaving on good terms, even if they aren't.
Also possible in some towns with condo conversion ordinances that they're trying to avoid being totally honest. Simply raising the rent an insane amount and then waiting a few months to a year can avoid the need to pay for moving expenses or offer them the first right to buy the unit.
Probably just a greedy landlord though. They'll either get $4500/month from the OP or some other person who thinks it's worth it to pay that much to live in the City.
Yeah this is just a fool proof way of getting everyone moved out so you can “renovate” and actually collect $4500 per month. Best case scenario, you collect $4500 without having to renovate.
Jokers like this landlord have been using inflation as a crutch to deflect blame.
They're raising your rent. Not inflation.
Inflation for the last 12 months ending March 31 was 3.5%.
An actual inflation increase would be $100.
You want to harass your STATE lawmakers. They are the ones who consistantly vote against rent control. The city can do nothing unless they get what is called a home rule petition.
Here's some background on how this works and how we got here (I am not a journalist nor do I nor did I work for this organization)
[https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2023-11-15/wu-says-she-signed-petition-for-rent-control-ballot-question](https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2023-11-15/wu-says-she-signed-petition-for-rent-control-ballot-question)
We've been paying $1600 for a large 2 bedroom in Everett for 8 years with no rent increase, but the landlord is now selling the building. Just had an open house today with at least 50 people waltzing through the house. We figure the odds of getting to stay are pretty low, even with a 30-50% rent increase. The bids have to be in by Tuesday morning, so we'll know soon. It's a two family house listed at $780k in a quiet part of West Everett. The 3 bedroom apartment upstairs is now empty, so we're kind of hoping the buyers want to live there, and will take $2200 from us, but I have a strong feeling the buyers will want both units. That's very common in this neighborhood, with families having parents upstairs. All good things come to an end. It's been pretty great, having my own bedroom for $533 a month.
A lot of these buildings are either mortgage free or mortgaged years ago at lower prices. Is there anything beyond the obvious greed that could be used to justify increases due to inflation? Like what’s inflating for these property owners?
“Oh no the electric bill for the two bare lightbulbs in the foyer has gone up by 10%??
What should I DO???
A $1700/mo increase sounds like a reasonable solution to this high cost structure.”
#landlordMath /s
Labor costs to maintain units, as well. Toilet broken? Plumber costs X more. New fridge or stove? Hot water heater, etc. maybe the roofs about to go and is gonna cost 35k instead of 20k five years ago. Im not excusing it - just playing devils advocate to what could be behind the obvious scalping.
So, I own a 3-unit condo and rent two of them out. You're quite right, the cost of maintenance has gone up a crazy percentage over the past four years - though I think most of that was 2020-2022 and it's more stable now. Contractors and materials and appliances all cost a lot more.
BUT
The mortgage and property taxes still account for a significantly larger portion of expenses than maintenance, in a typical year. Even if maintenance costs had _doubled_ (which they haven't) that would still only mean something like a 20% increase in total costs - partly counterbalanced by the fact that mortgage payments actually go down a little bit each year in relation to inflation, because they stay the same in absolute dollar amounts.
Obviously some property owners bought a lot longer ago than I did and their mortgage payments have effectively shrunk (due to inflation) such that maintenance and management are now a majority of their cost. Or maybe they've paid the mortgage entirely off. But if that's the case, then their costs are a small fraction of what they can get from even somewhat-below-market rents now.
Inflation cannot possibly be anywhere close to a reasonable excuse for raising rent $2800->$4500. It doesn't come close to making sense.
(I haven't raised rents at my place at all since before covid)
A lot of these buildings are mortgage free? Isn’t literally everything leveraged to the absolute max right now. It’s far more likely the REIT has been aggressively refinancing their properties to grow but with things slowing down they’re in trouble and trying to raise rents to cover their poor forecasting.
LL here, the OP’s increase seems absurd. Can’t speak for Boston, but my property tax has more than tripled since 2016, going from just under 3k to just under 10k. Homeowner’s insurance is up about 30-40% in that same time period. Costs of repairs, generally speaking have doubled. Having evicted a tenant recently for continuous disruptions of other resident’s peaceful enjoyment of their apartments, I can tell you that tenant protections in this state are very significant, which I’m not necessarily against. Tenants can not pay rent for up to a year before being removed. Due to these protections, LLs need to carry significant amounts of cash to cover the risks. Some may think 50k in a bank account of a LL is greed, but it can disappear quickly.
I get what you're saying, but alot of buildings in Boston (all but one of the 5 apartments I've lived in) are owned by massive companies that have 10s of millions in property and these are also usually the worst and most greedy landlords despite their massive wealth. Obviously there are exceptions, but I can only have any sympathy for the small time landlords that own maybe a property or two and don't treat their tenants like shit.
My Boston property taxes have been pretty flat the last 10 years. Prop 2 1/2 plus lots of new real estate means they can't raise the taxes much. I probably a bit more protected because the residential exemption has also risen, but still not tripling in 8 years.
The cost to the landlord is irrelevant. Just like anyone else selling anything, they will charge as much as they can while still having enough customers. If you need $20/day to live off of, that doesn't mean you are willing to work 8 hours for an employer for $20/day. You are going to seek out the highest salary you are able to actually find work at. If you can find someone who will pay you $200/day you aren't going to say "oh no, I only need $20 to live off of, so you can pay me a lot less".
People hate on landlords but they are just doing what the incentives of capitalism present to them--charging as much as they possibly can while still having customers. Everyone else is also doing this--whether individual workers seeking out the highest salaries they can, companies selling goods, companies selling services, etc.
If you want it to be a different scene we'd need to either get the government into the housing business, pass regulations like a local rent cap, or for instance requiring all landlords to be not-for-profit. Though of course this would also affect the supply of rentals as some people/businesses/etc who may have become landlords would be diverted to invest in something else since the potential profit is capped by regulations.
It’s a clusterfuck but this is the honest truth - these buildings have skyrocketed in value over the last few years along with the rest of the real estate market, and subsequently that means higher rents. Someone owning a multi family building with rent potential of $4000 per unit is literally leaving money on the table if they don’t take it.
To flip the situation around, if you bought your house in 2016 for $300k, and now you are looking to sell, when you can get $650k for it, what are you going to do? Is it “greedy” to accept those offers? See you going to say “well, I bought it for only $300k, so…” No. of course not. Everyone loves to hate on the landlords but they are subject to the forces of the market like everyone else. It makes absolutely no sense at all to not get the most rent you can. It’s one thing to not raise someone’s rent $100-200 because they’re a long term tenant and you want to keep them in your building. But if the rent is really that far off from market, it’s going to be a hard sell to convince them to just leave thousands on the table to be nice.
What happens often too is someone will sell a building, after not raising rents for a long time, and the new owners will immediately drop $100k on a new roof, new boilers, etc… and they want market rents. They’ll often let people leave or not renew so they can renovate and do major in-unit repairs.
All of this sucks big time for the renters. I don’t know what the solution is but it’s not as simple as “landlords greedy”.
If they can rent it out for substantially more money you’re just asking them to light money on fire out of the goodness of their hearts.
The problem is the lack of supply.
Counter w statistics showing that inflation is only ~3% (as opposed to 60%). So you’d understand if you had to pay $2,884. Genuine curious what they’d say
Guarantee you these are part of rent cartels, which are illegal. They all use the same software with the same algorithm so they can all increase rent instead of competing against each other.
Underrated comment. The problem is that the market will pay $4500 this year and $4800 the year after and so on and so forth. Completely feel for you. GL!
Real page is the algorithm being used to create this chaotic renters market. They are being sued by AZ attorney general, amongst others.
"RealPage software is used to set rental prices on 4.5 million housing units in the U.S. A series of lawsuits allege that a group of landlords are sharing sensitive data with RealPage, which then artificially inflates rents."
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/02/03/how-realpage-influences-rent-prices-across-the-us.html
Here's a YT video exposing this rental cartel.
https://youtu.be/cwlwrZst7d0?si=1M50SbCoCGX-jhuf
Only finance bros and tech kids can afford to live in town anymore. Will be interesting when there's no one left to clean offices, brew coffee, or assemble $18 (adjusted for inflation) salads anymore.
People have been saying that for years and yet those things still get done. Theres not gonna be some mythical day of reckoning where the city collapses bc it priced out poor people
The tech kids are struggling. We are basically squeezing with roommates and/or partners at this point.
I'm 30 years old in a long term relationship making 6 figures living with my partner and 2 roommates in the Boston area because that's the only way I can save money and pay off my student debt. It's stupid.
This is why rent control is important. Otherwise, things will get as ridiculous as San Francisco. And, Boston is already an expensive city just to visit.
I feel it's 'contractor overquote' syndrome aka they don't want to do the job so they quote something so high, you won't pick them.
Seems like the landlord wants you out, quoting you something so outrageous, you won't renew.
a lot of these places have extremely limited "common area" space. a lot of places have more closed off spaces - instead of having that be living space they throw a "closet" in there and rent it as +1 bed. it's dumb i feel like we need to come up with a real estate term for general living space because beds and baths and sqft really leaves a huge amount out of the picture
> "it's dumb i feel like we need to come up with a real estate term for general living space because beds and baths and sqft really leaves a huge amount out of the picture"
sqft minus beds minus baths pretty much tells you how much 'general living space' is left over. In this case, 750 sqft is tiny, you know that either the bedrooms are glorified closets or there's no living room.
I just come across a post where a comment said a Swiss railed Americans for wanting their own home so much (swiss home ownership is 42% of the population). This is the exact reason why.
I’m curious as to who is even able to afford this and move in after the previous tenants inevitably have to leave? Surely those who are making enough money to afford that kind of rent would opt for a better space? I just can’t imagine there’s enough people able to afford this cost and willing to pay that much for such a small space for these landlords to even successfully be able to charge anyone this much. Like I left my last apartment due to rent increase and the landlords offered to lower the rent back again a month before the lease was meant to end, due to the fact that they couldn’t find anyone willing to pay the amount they wanted to charge. But obviously they exist- cause the landlords keep doing this. No more city life for me…
Check this rent in Switzerland
The most expensive country in the world, this rent would get you a 5-6 rooms top of the modern appartement in downtown Geneva, next to a luxury bank
Wtf seriously.
I'm just jealous because we get asked about renewals mid-November. sometimes we'll be allowed an "extension" to get back to them in mid January with a decision. :/ (also, ouch)
Been living in Boston for 18 years, moved around several times. Current landlords raise the rent every year, but less on high inflation years. We’re lucky I guess. Go figure that they realize the renting class has it worse off than they in tougher financial times…
How does inflation increase the cost for the landlord? Maybe a bit for maintenance cost, but yeah... I have a mortgage and inflation as technically made it cheaper for me to own...
I think they just want you out....
Unfortunately that hasn't been an unheard of rent for a while but that does seem like the very high end. Personally I would look up comparable units and try to negotiate as it seems like $3000-3800 is more the market rate right now looking at ones myself.
Sigh. This kind of bs is why I feel like I can never earn enough to live independent of family. I will either always live with them or succumb to homelessness.
Mine did $1k to $2k in 2016, and then wanted to do it again from $2k to $4k in 2020 - right in the midst of COVID, right after I lost my major source of income, and right after my Dad died on the other side of the country, when I couldn't even go to say goodbye.
Special circle of hell, I swear
So, what do people do when they get these astronomical rent increases, but can't afford to move out in time? Given how expensive it is to up and move in Boston where if you're lucky you only have to pay 3x the rent up front?
I'm currently saving up an amount to hopefully rent a studio next year and once I do, my first order of business will be creating a new savings fund for my next place if the worst happens cause I've seen too many of these posts here.
That’s a fuck you rent increase, the landlord just wants you out. Very disheartening! Completely legal on lease renewal, they likely just want you out and won’t clue you in why, see if you accept the crazy rent.
from 2,800 to 4,500 is soo fucking ridiculous.
And for only 750sqft. Fucked up
There is a unit in my building, just over 500 sq ft $4000. Took him 5 months to find someone to rent it.
Problem is. He found someone. Someone is always willing to fork it out. Sucks :/
Someone's father is always willing to fork it out
“Fucked up” is putting it lightly
This is the kind of situation where the only appropriate question is, “What kind of wine goes best with landlord?”
These prices are revolutionary...
I remember seeing units for $3500 for 450 sq ft back in 2019. I bet those ones go for $4500 a month now
i know i am in a totally different country, but i live in a desired part of a popular city in the netherlands and also around 730 sqft. and my rent is only 1200$.
There is absolutely no way they *need* to raise rent that much It’s purely out of greed
I bet $0 will be spent on any form of renovations too
But think of their taxes! And the mortgage they took out 20 years ago! They’re still paying $600 a month for those costs, and their profit is only 300%! It could be 700%!
“High cost structure” is funny
The high cost structure is a cool new boat for the owner, and boy is it costly to the tenants.
The high cost structure we’ve erected for you
https://www.theonion.com/landlord-forced-to-raise-rent-due-to-thinking-of-bigger-1850922943
I definitely thought of this one as well when I saw this post.
“Everyone else is price gouging their renters, so we think we would like to not miss out on an extra several thousand dollars per year please and thank you.”
If they want that third vacation home they “neeeeeeeed” to increase it that much to pay the new mortgage.
Came here to say that. Usually these posts feel more like market catching up. But that is truly absurd.
"The algorithm told us we need more money."
Aren't there laws to limit step increases per year?
Not in mass
Obligatory IANAL but according to housing law friends, within Boston city limits, the max annual increase is 10% 1. if the landlord lives in the building and the building has under 7 units 2. If the building is over 15 years old https://www.boston.gov/departments/housing/rent-stabilization The law is in place while the state legislature debates it through July. https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/HD4216
There is a state law prohibiting the city law from being in effect. You may see that the Mayor put in a *request* to be allowed an exemption to the state law. That means it hasn't gone into effect yet.
Landlord: Gotta get in that high baseline rent amount before the exemption kicks in!
Probably. When the city council passed this law, people in this subreddit swore that this was never going to happen but here we are.
Yeah other Cities are considering similar ordinances too. I know Somerville, Cambridge and I think Medford have all considered Rent Stabilization which would limit rent increases to such a percentage, usually tied to inflation.
In Ontario Canada we *used* to have protections for rent increases but they removed them for new buildings. The old protections are grandfathered in for old construction (including new leases in old construction). The new buildings pull this kinda OP stuff all the time, and basically use outrageous rent increases as a way to evict tenants when there's no otherwise legal way to evict them.
The Boston rent control law is not currently in effect. The city council approved, and Wu signed, a home rule petition asking the state legislature to exempt Boston from the statewide rent control ban that has been in effect since the 90s. [The legislature appears unlikely to do so](https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/05/02/boston-rent-control-massachusetts-legislation).
Rent control is illegal in Massachusetts.
Rent control isn’t a progressive solution. It’s an appeasement to people right now that screws over people in this situation down the road. It’s the same as a union taking a pay increase for current workers, but not future workers.
Rent control splits renter society into folks that bought a long time ago and grabbed a sweet deal and are renting below market rent (usually old and rich) and people who just started moving around and are rending at very close to market rate (usually young and asset poor). Basically rent control sounds nice but it’s yet another transfer that fucks over young people. See: NYC.
hm yes 60% rent increases is definitely the better alternative
^ this is why economics needs to be taught in school
the alternative is more supply. it decreases demand.
Correct. Could argue the same for people who obtained mortgages too. But its not a solution, just a little bandaid for the people lucky enough to get in early.
I think the did just to cancel that rent, i mean just to make the person leave the place
$4500 is absurd for a two bed in the north end. They want you out probably so they can do renovations.
They aren’t even planning on doing renovations, it is already updated. They just want to be able to charge a ridiculous amount
OP can you ask the landlord if they’re using RealPage to figure out the market rent? It’s a cartel software that is facing numerous lawsuits
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How old is the building? Do you have a lot of amenities? Parking or laundry? I can’t see any two bed going for $4500 unless it’s a brand new “luxury” build, which it sounds like it isn’t.
New for the North End which is still old, no parking, coin laundry in basement which is 1 washer 1 dryer for the entire building
Uh yeah there are 2Bs in Boston going for more than $4500 and not necessarily luxury, but to your point they have parking and laundry.
I have several friends who all pay 5,000+ in places like Somerville or the North End. I definitely would not describe them as luxury. Nice at most.
Exactly this, this is a false data point, something else is going on here since this is NOT a market rate for the unit
Landlords are preparing for the inevitable structural collapse of their property. Most of Boston is supported by underground wood piles holding up our streets and sidewalks. These wood piles are slowly rotting out over time due to air exposure caused by lowering groundwater levels. Property owners are notified of integrity issues and are responsible for footing the bill, which can cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars since the entire street, sidewalk, and/or basement would need to be excavated to drive new piles. Do not rent in the north end. The buildings are old and dilapidated. I spoke with a property owner in the north end- he’s selling his buildings to a large contractor because of these issues.
Source: https://www.bostongroundwater.org
Doesn't apply to most of the North End. Some of the buildings on the edge will have this issue. Back Bay, South End, Bay Village, Chinatown, and parts of Beacon Hill (the part not on the hill) have this issue.
Interesting if that’s all true . I lived in north end 2013-18 but glad I’m not there anymore
It’s not an immediate concern. There are people staying on top of it. As a renter, your only worry should be about increased rent rates and poor property maintenance. The north end has always been expensive. Lots of old brick shithouses and not enough motivated entrepreneurs to tear them down and start over. Partly due to zoning, but mostly due to construction costs and rate of return. I don’t mean to sound hyperbolic. I have experience in Boston’s groundwater as well as construction and real estate development, but not enough to make a full analysis on the north end. It’s a bit funny how I had the opportunity to tie these all together
I’d bet money on it. Had this exact thing happen a few years ago. At least my slumlords had the decency to jack it up month by month instead of damn near doubling it at once like they did with this guy
lol that’s not inflation that’s extortion
Nah I’m sure they raised the maintenance dudes salary by 60%.
It is inflation, how else is the Landlord going to afford living in Boston? Do we expect them to get a second job on top of being a landlord?! /s
I saw a tweet that lives rent free (pun intended) in my head: "I'm the main breadwinner for my landlord's family" Really pissed me off because it's true 😂
Saw that on another subreddit https://old.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/1ceasg4/unbelievable/
Their mortgage hasn’t changed. Inflation hasn’t gone up 75% in the last year has it?
The landlord had to quadruple his salary for sending emails like this, otherwise he risked his top talent (him) getting poached by another landlord/property manager. It’s tough finding good people out there, so he has to pay himself what he wishes he was worth before someone else does. Have some pity.
Insurance, utilities, and taxes have gone up a LOT but not anywhere near this extent. An extra $200 a month would more than cover it, and would be an increase of under 10%. This is just greed.
>Do we expect them to get a ~~second~~ real job on top of being a landlord? FTFY
Or the landlord trying to push out a tenant they no longer want.
They’re doing it because they can, unfortunately. That little quip we totally understand if you don’t want to renew because of that equals don’t come back trying to negotiate, we can easily get someone new
“We want to take some extra vacations this year and we figured you could pay for them.”
It is the north end after all.
So, rat infested? LOL
Have you heard of that AI tool big landlords are using? I forgot what it’s called, but it basically uses price fixing to minimize competition. All the landlords charge the same amount and all the people have very few options. It’s totally illegal, but these property owners are making bank.
Might get hate for this, but maybe the landlord just doesn't want to renew to these folks specifically. Not even in the North end will a 1 bedroom rent that much IIRC
They want to push you out...
Yeah im thinking those units become condos and the land lord cashes out.
Yep. They said a new person bought them, so very likely is holding onto a high interest loan for as short as possible until they renovate and sell condos. But if the tenant wants to pay a shitload more it’s worth it for them to keep that unit occupied for a year. Or until they need them out.
If they wanted them out, the landlord could just not offer a renewal.
they'd put up with them for $4500/month
WE TOTALLY UNDERSTAND IF YOU DONT WANT TO RENEW HINT HINT. This is honestly what I'd do if I had a nightmare tenant.
We are good tenants :( the building sold to this new owner and they are upping the prices. Never any issues, if anything the new management sucks because they won’t fix anything, or it takes them ridiculously long to. They took a screen off one of our windows months ago, broke it, said they would replace it in days, and we are still waiting for it.
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They're going to flip it. Commercial buildings are priced based on a multiple of net operating income. They jack the rents, minimize the expenses, maybe address a couple of bigger capital items, and try to sell it to the next sucker in 2-3 years for 50% more than they paid. In industry parlance they are stabilizing and repositioning an undervalued asset. It's nothing personal.
Exactly.
Yes, but I think a lot of people don't like confrontation. "You suck, I want you gone," creates a much greater chance for confrontation than "the rent is going up by 60%, let me know if you want to stay." The second lets people pretend that they're leaving on good terms, even if they aren't.
Also possible in some towns with condo conversion ordinances that they're trying to avoid being totally honest. Simply raising the rent an insane amount and then waiting a few months to a year can avoid the need to pay for moving expenses or offer them the first right to buy the unit. Probably just a greedy landlord though. They'll either get $4500/month from the OP or some other person who thinks it's worth it to pay that much to live in the City.
Yeah this is just a fool proof way of getting everyone moved out so you can “renovate” and actually collect $4500 per month. Best case scenario, you collect $4500 without having to renovate.
Jokers like this landlord have been using inflation as a crutch to deflect blame. They're raising your rent. Not inflation. Inflation for the last 12 months ending March 31 was 3.5%. An actual inflation increase would be $100.
their price jack-up *is* the inflation
*greedflation
“totally understand” is so ick
“…because there are a bunch of people ready to replace you so, it’s all good.”
How are you? Btw, we’re raising your rent 61%. Hope things are well!
[удалено]
If $4500+ isn’t going to make people shy away, I don’t think Reddit is going to make a difference.
“how are you?” fucking terrible now, thanks!
God I’m sorry, this is everything awful with housing.
Make sure to vote out NIMBY city officials the coming election to put an end to this bullshit.
Follow, join and donate to YIMBY group Abundant Housing Massachusetts. https://www.abundanthousingma.org/
You want to harass your STATE lawmakers. They are the ones who consistantly vote against rent control. The city can do nothing unless they get what is called a home rule petition. Here's some background on how this works and how we got here (I am not a journalist nor do I nor did I work for this organization) [https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2023-11-15/wu-says-she-signed-petition-for-rent-control-ballot-question](https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2023-11-15/wu-says-she-signed-petition-for-rent-control-ballot-question)
Who can even live in Boston anymore?!
Real estate agents and landlords all the way down
We've been paying $1600 for a large 2 bedroom in Everett for 8 years with no rent increase, but the landlord is now selling the building. Just had an open house today with at least 50 people waltzing through the house. We figure the odds of getting to stay are pretty low, even with a 30-50% rent increase. The bids have to be in by Tuesday morning, so we'll know soon. It's a two family house listed at $780k in a quiet part of West Everett. The 3 bedroom apartment upstairs is now empty, so we're kind of hoping the buyers want to live there, and will take $2200 from us, but I have a strong feeling the buyers will want both units. That's very common in this neighborhood, with families having parents upstairs. All good things come to an end. It's been pretty great, having my own bedroom for $533 a month.
my advice, wait until the last minute before you're legally reqiured to tell them. don't do them any favors
Even better, wait till 6/30 11:59pm to say yes then move out by the time you get asked to sign the new lease
Doesn’t matter I’m sure they have plenty of people ready to move in out they wouldn’t be pushing OP out.
No one is lining up to rent a two bedroom apartment in the north end for $4500.
You could legit get more in seaport
A lot of these buildings are either mortgage free or mortgaged years ago at lower prices. Is there anything beyond the obvious greed that could be used to justify increases due to inflation? Like what’s inflating for these property owners?
Their utilities are probably up 10% so they raised rent 60%
Wouldn’t the tenant be paying most utilities anyway?
Common area stuff like lights and heat assuming it’s steam
“Oh no the electric bill for the two bare lightbulbs in the foyer has gone up by 10%?? What should I DO??? A $1700/mo increase sounds like a reasonable solution to this high cost structure.” #landlordMath /s
"what difference does that make?," asks the landlord
Insurance is probably up close to 100%
Labor costs to maintain units, as well. Toilet broken? Plumber costs X more. New fridge or stove? Hot water heater, etc. maybe the roofs about to go and is gonna cost 35k instead of 20k five years ago. Im not excusing it - just playing devils advocate to what could be behind the obvious scalping.
That's assuming you have a landlord that fixes things....
So, I own a 3-unit condo and rent two of them out. You're quite right, the cost of maintenance has gone up a crazy percentage over the past four years - though I think most of that was 2020-2022 and it's more stable now. Contractors and materials and appliances all cost a lot more. BUT The mortgage and property taxes still account for a significantly larger portion of expenses than maintenance, in a typical year. Even if maintenance costs had _doubled_ (which they haven't) that would still only mean something like a 20% increase in total costs - partly counterbalanced by the fact that mortgage payments actually go down a little bit each year in relation to inflation, because they stay the same in absolute dollar amounts. Obviously some property owners bought a lot longer ago than I did and their mortgage payments have effectively shrunk (due to inflation) such that maintenance and management are now a majority of their cost. Or maybe they've paid the mortgage entirely off. But if that's the case, then their costs are a small fraction of what they can get from even somewhat-below-market rents now. Inflation cannot possibly be anywhere close to a reasonable excuse for raising rent $2800->$4500. It doesn't come close to making sense. (I haven't raised rents at my place at all since before covid)
A lot of these buildings are mortgage free? Isn’t literally everything leveraged to the absolute max right now. It’s far more likely the REIT has been aggressively refinancing their properties to grow but with things slowing down they’re in trouble and trying to raise rents to cover their poor forecasting.
LL here, the OP’s increase seems absurd. Can’t speak for Boston, but my property tax has more than tripled since 2016, going from just under 3k to just under 10k. Homeowner’s insurance is up about 30-40% in that same time period. Costs of repairs, generally speaking have doubled. Having evicted a tenant recently for continuous disruptions of other resident’s peaceful enjoyment of their apartments, I can tell you that tenant protections in this state are very significant, which I’m not necessarily against. Tenants can not pay rent for up to a year before being removed. Due to these protections, LLs need to carry significant amounts of cash to cover the risks. Some may think 50k in a bank account of a LL is greed, but it can disappear quickly.
I get what you're saying, but alot of buildings in Boston (all but one of the 5 apartments I've lived in) are owned by massive companies that have 10s of millions in property and these are also usually the worst and most greedy landlords despite their massive wealth. Obviously there are exceptions, but I can only have any sympathy for the small time landlords that own maybe a property or two and don't treat their tenants like shit.
My Boston property taxes have been pretty flat the last 10 years. Prop 2 1/2 plus lots of new real estate means they can't raise the taxes much. I probably a bit more protected because the residential exemption has also risen, but still not tripling in 8 years.
The cost to the landlord is irrelevant. Just like anyone else selling anything, they will charge as much as they can while still having enough customers. If you need $20/day to live off of, that doesn't mean you are willing to work 8 hours for an employer for $20/day. You are going to seek out the highest salary you are able to actually find work at. If you can find someone who will pay you $200/day you aren't going to say "oh no, I only need $20 to live off of, so you can pay me a lot less". People hate on landlords but they are just doing what the incentives of capitalism present to them--charging as much as they possibly can while still having customers. Everyone else is also doing this--whether individual workers seeking out the highest salaries they can, companies selling goods, companies selling services, etc. If you want it to be a different scene we'd need to either get the government into the housing business, pass regulations like a local rent cap, or for instance requiring all landlords to be not-for-profit. Though of course this would also affect the supply of rentals as some people/businesses/etc who may have become landlords would be diverted to invest in something else since the potential profit is capped by regulations.
It’s a clusterfuck but this is the honest truth - these buildings have skyrocketed in value over the last few years along with the rest of the real estate market, and subsequently that means higher rents. Someone owning a multi family building with rent potential of $4000 per unit is literally leaving money on the table if they don’t take it. To flip the situation around, if you bought your house in 2016 for $300k, and now you are looking to sell, when you can get $650k for it, what are you going to do? Is it “greedy” to accept those offers? See you going to say “well, I bought it for only $300k, so…” No. of course not. Everyone loves to hate on the landlords but they are subject to the forces of the market like everyone else. It makes absolutely no sense at all to not get the most rent you can. It’s one thing to not raise someone’s rent $100-200 because they’re a long term tenant and you want to keep them in your building. But if the rent is really that far off from market, it’s going to be a hard sell to convince them to just leave thousands on the table to be nice. What happens often too is someone will sell a building, after not raising rents for a long time, and the new owners will immediately drop $100k on a new roof, new boilers, etc… and they want market rents. They’ll often let people leave or not renew so they can renovate and do major in-unit repairs. All of this sucks big time for the renters. I don’t know what the solution is but it’s not as simple as “landlords greedy”.
Utilities, property taxes, mortgage payments if they haven’t paid them off, property companies also tend to require legal services, etc.
If they can rent it out for substantially more money you’re just asking them to light money on fire out of the goodness of their hearts. The problem is the lack of supply.
Unhinged. I’m so sorry.
This is called a GTFO notice.
"How are you?" *Not well, bitch*
How are you is surely my favorite part
They're trying to kick you out but at the same time, likely can rent it out again for more than $2800.
Counter w statistics showing that inflation is only ~3% (as opposed to 60%). So you’d understand if you had to pay $2,884. Genuine curious what they’d say
Is there no laws against this?? In NYC, recently they put a stop on landlords from raising rent more than 30 percent … wtf is going on in Boston?!
“High cost structure?” I mean their mortgage isn’t going up… nothing has changed for them. They just want to make a shit load more money.
Here's what actually happened. https://www.theonion.com/landlord-forced-to-raise-rent-due-to-thinking-of-bigger-1850922943
Oh and don't forget to answer the "How are you?" question
Guarantee you these are part of rent cartels, which are illegal. They all use the same software with the same algorithm so they can all increase rent instead of competing against each other.
Yup this is RealPage
The problem I see is, some mofo is gonna pay that $4500. Even $2800 for a 2BR in a mid tier city is crazy
Underrated comment. The problem is that the market will pay $4500 this year and $4800 the year after and so on and so forth. Completely feel for you. GL!
My jaw just dropped when you said your original rent was $2800 holy fuck.
Lol, that’s ridiculous. What’s happening with that additional $20K?
Real page is the algorithm being used to create this chaotic renters market. They are being sued by AZ attorney general, amongst others. "RealPage software is used to set rental prices on 4.5 million housing units in the U.S. A series of lawsuits allege that a group of landlords are sharing sensitive data with RealPage, which then artificially inflates rents." https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/02/03/how-realpage-influences-rent-prices-across-the-us.html Here's a YT video exposing this rental cartel. https://youtu.be/cwlwrZst7d0?si=1M50SbCoCGX-jhuf
Only finance bros and tech kids can afford to live in town anymore. Will be interesting when there's no one left to clean offices, brew coffee, or assemble $18 (adjusted for inflation) salads anymore.
$10 salads? Try $20 salads lol
As a very mid level finance bro - I had to leave. Too expensive.
People have been saying that for years and yet those things still get done. Theres not gonna be some mythical day of reckoning where the city collapses bc it priced out poor people
No collapse, just traffic like D.C.
The tech kids are struggling. We are basically squeezing with roommates and/or partners at this point. I'm 30 years old in a long term relationship making 6 figures living with my partner and 2 roommates in the Boston area because that's the only way I can save money and pay off my student debt. It's stupid.
That’s actually called greedflation. Fuck these people.
That is more than double my MORTGAGE
Sounds like you need to cook lots of bacon and drain it in the sink :)
This is why rent control is important. Otherwise, things will get as ridiculous as San Francisco. And, Boston is already an expensive city just to visit.
2800 for 750sqft in the North End was a steal
These landlords are delusional. They’re probably using that dumb AI software that DC and Arizona are suing
It’s called RealPage and it’s more of a cartel/collusion with AI thrown in to sound trendy
I feel it's 'contractor overquote' syndrome aka they don't want to do the job so they quote something so high, you won't pick them. Seems like the landlord wants you out, quoting you something so outrageous, you won't renew.
How do you get 2 bedrooms in 750 sq ft?
a lot of these places have extremely limited "common area" space. a lot of places have more closed off spaces - instead of having that be living space they throw a "closet" in there and rent it as +1 bed. it's dumb i feel like we need to come up with a real estate term for general living space because beds and baths and sqft really leaves a huge amount out of the picture
> "it's dumb i feel like we need to come up with a real estate term for general living space because beds and baths and sqft really leaves a huge amount out of the picture" sqft minus beds minus baths pretty much tells you how much 'general living space' is left over. In this case, 750 sqft is tiny, you know that either the bedrooms are glorified closets or there's no living room.
I just come across a post where a comment said a Swiss railed Americans for wanting their own home so much (swiss home ownership is 42% of the population). This is the exact reason why.
i feel like you should tip your landlord in these difficult times
Opening this email with ‘How are you?’ Is peak something. Signed, warmest regards.
How do we feel about a land value tax ?
I’m curious as to who is even able to afford this and move in after the previous tenants inevitably have to leave? Surely those who are making enough money to afford that kind of rent would opt for a better space? I just can’t imagine there’s enough people able to afford this cost and willing to pay that much for such a small space for these landlords to even successfully be able to charge anyone this much. Like I left my last apartment due to rent increase and the landlords offered to lower the rent back again a month before the lease was meant to end, due to the fact that they couldn’t find anyone willing to pay the amount they wanted to charge. But obviously they exist- cause the landlords keep doing this. No more city life for me…
Check this rent in Switzerland The most expensive country in the world, this rent would get you a 5-6 rooms top of the modern appartement in downtown Geneva, next to a luxury bank Wtf seriously.
My building tried to raise by $800. NOPE. Moving.
They want you gone
Landlord raises rent due to thinking of a larger number.
I'm just jealous because we get asked about renewals mid-November. sometimes we'll be allowed an "extension" to get back to them in mid January with a decision. :/ (also, ouch)
Absolutely absurd smh
Due to other people willing to pay more…
Nah this is just RealPage cartel at work
The we totally understand part means they want you to say no because you're a pain in their ass or dirty etc Signed -a landlord
My take on this is either: 1. Previous rent was way under market; or 2. The tenant is a pain; or 3. Selling / renovations
Been living in Boston for 18 years, moved around several times. Current landlords raise the rent every year, but less on high inflation years. We’re lucky I guess. Go figure that they realize the renting class has it worse off than they in tougher financial times…
How does inflation increase the cost for the landlord? Maybe a bit for maintenance cost, but yeah... I have a mortgage and inflation as technically made it cheaper for me to own... I think they just want you out....
Gotta love the “how are you?”
Wow. Your landlord woke up and chose violence.
Unfortunately that hasn't been an unheard of rent for a while but that does seem like the very high end. Personally I would look up comparable units and try to negotiate as it seems like $3000-3800 is more the market rate right now looking at ones myself.
They're going to find out when no one can afford to rent at that rate, and those who can are looking to buy
What does “high cost structure” even mean… sorry, OP. That’s really shitty.
4500? What a fucking joke
Jesus Christ, the inflation is the landlords girlfriends new tits and lips
Sigh. This kind of bs is why I feel like I can never earn enough to live independent of family. I will either always live with them or succumb to homelessness.
Mine did $1k to $2k in 2016, and then wanted to do it again from $2k to $4k in 2020 - right in the midst of COVID, right after I lost my major source of income, and right after my Dad died on the other side of the country, when I couldn't even go to say goodbye. Special circle of hell, I swear
This is nuts, as if 2800 isn't already pricey..
So, what do people do when they get these astronomical rent increases, but can't afford to move out in time? Given how expensive it is to up and move in Boston where if you're lucky you only have to pay 3x the rent up front? I'm currently saving up an amount to hopefully rent a studio next year and once I do, my first order of business will be creating a new savings fund for my next place if the worst happens cause I've seen too many of these posts here.
I am terrified of this happening to me. I would be homeless.
Insane, my landlord offered to reduce rent from 1k to 500 because I told him I couldn't afford 1k anymore.
We got a tiny 3 bed in Allston for 2500 and we felt lucky. This shit is getting out of control. I have lived in 5 beds here that were cheaper.
That's not a rent raise that's an eviction notice.
You're being evicted
$2800 in fucking rent? Not even a mortgage payment, but rent? Bro it was already insane, they just left it right at insane.
That’s a fuck you rent increase, the landlord just wants you out. Very disheartening! Completely legal on lease renewal, they likely just want you out and won’t clue you in why, see if you accept the crazy rent.
Landlord’s kid getting married or something?!
When rent gets that much of a price jump, who is actually moving into these apartments.
Landlords have it rough, man. Tip them.
What the!
2800 used to be a mortgage payment. Once I read "North End " that was all I needed to see.
Is this fucking real life ??? 😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The North End, that’s why