Shitty neighborhoods aren't 5x the price. The same place my wife rented for $350 30 years ago is $685 now.

Granted that's almost 2x but minimum wage isn't $4.25 an hour anymore either.

I'm lucky in I'm living in the house I grew up in because instead of pursuing a 4br4ba mcmansion, I stayed home to help care for my dad and homeschool my kids.

He "gave" me and my kids this house, along with the remaining $50k mortgage on it because we helped him out in his last years. We still had the other house all that time and could afford to keep paying because we aren't flipping houses as a lifestyle.

The $588/mo. place we moved to in 2005 was the last of about 15 moves we made over 12 years.

My son doesn't remember the hard times living in roach and immigrant infested student housing so we could have a future, which is the present he currently enjoys.

I like to give him a copy of the "for rent or lease" classifieds to maintain his perspective. There are still MANY housing options for manageable rents available in this area. The place we bought the $588/mo. place still has houses available for $2000 down payment and as little as $800/mo.  So it's still possible to find affordable places to Buy! And with "luck" that can be parlayed into equity!

Imagine that. Putting in effort to find a shithole fixer-upper and winding up with something more valuable than when you first moved in.

The ignorance is on the parties that refuse to slum it in youth to build that equity that will pay off later in their lucky years.

Ignorance also applies when an entire sector of real estate is disregarded by entry level clients with luxury level tastes.

That describes the whiners in probably 75% of the situations.

Someone built a lot of those south of houston and i checked on them, they start at 2400 a month, that more than my mortgage on a 2018 2100 sq ft house.

What city in Ohio?

Public assistance didn't come to fruition until passage of the Social Security Act in 1935, 11 years after peak European influx in 1914 which saw unemployment at a whopping 16% that year.

Regardless, OP's post was directed towards the residents social behaviors and culture. He didn't say anything about their employment.

@Giltweasel Does you're current $500/m mortgage include gang violence, blight and everything else that comes with being "poor" this day and age?

The disconnect is unreal.  

$2K is cheap.

Attached File

$1000 a month rent in Ohio is base. House down the st. from me is on Zillow for $1000 a month 3 bedroom no garage. Its not bad, neighborhood is going to shit.

Sounds like your landlord is taking in government money renting to those on special assistance.

This is either a blatant lie or some ridiculous example with underlying circumstances that fail to reflect in anyway to the current market.  Worthless dirt, in the middle of the desert in AZ, 100 miles from a paved road, has increased in value many times more than your wife's rental 30 years ago.

Findlay.

Can you rent a room or basement at someone’s house?

Move to a free state

Two DECADES ago I was in a 600 SQ foot loft bedroom apartment with a pool and gym membership that cost $650 a month.  It was as cheap as I could go back then because anything less was asking for trouble.  There was still occasional trouble.  I'm surprised you had something that cheap be that good, sorry it is no more.  Seems like decent places start at 1500 in Southern MI.

The dollar isn’t what it used to be.

You had better double that $800 unless you want to die from diversity.

Wrong.  There are affordable properties.  You either need to realize you cannot live the same standard as people who have been in the workforce 30-50 years and/or move.

The $588/mo includes 5.17 acres, a vintage 1976 mobile-home with methbilly built outbuildings, 10 neighbors in the subdivision, $360 a year subdivision road and well maintenance fees, and a 3 mile drive to town. But we butt up against 120 wooded acres of a Century farm on one edge and 80 acres of working corn and soybean fields on another.

It's not a country estate or hobby farm environment. But that isn't an obstacle to turning our part into one.

The kicker is the same circumstances probably exist within 30-50 miles of every whiner in this thread.

never been to montucky, eh big shoots?

The 3br2ba apartment we paid $550/mo. in 2005 is going for $950 now. They've even redone the floors and windows since then.

That's something my son could even afford if he was insistent on being on his own. He'd even have money left in his monthly budget for a baseball game or two.

It's funny, I thought about that. I have two friends who have offered, but it's more I don't want to interject my crap into their space if I can help it. I'll survive, though. Worst case I'll go month to month here and keep looking.

OP

tap into your 401k
5% down + closing
find a 2 family that is of suitable standard for you
rent one unit
live In other

maintain your $650/mo rent cost
build equity


if you can't do this you fucked up somewhere unfortunately. You can fix it, but the time to start was yesterday.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/500-Sloan-St_North-Baltimore_OH_45872_M46253-20643?from=srp-list-card

I don’t miss the apartment living. I have no idea why, but I had one upstairs neighbor that would move furniture in his bedroom right above ours at 3 am fairly regularly.

Or western Colorado.

10 years ago it wasn't hard to find a decent place for that rate. Not so much now.

My ex wife rented a basement/bedroom/kitchen from an elderly couple, that were somewhat religious.  It was an option that she had available.  Seemed like a good arrangement. Typical, midddle class neighborhood with good people.

$650 is about what I paid for rent 35 years ago in the south right out of high shcool. I can't imagine what that is now.

Unless he's got stud-level credit, he's going to be ass raped w/ PMI. And he has to live in the place for at least 12 months before renting it out, if done with a conventional loan. VHA would be worse I think especially with reliance on state law and lender regs.

SoCal says hold my beer....

Sorry man.  Decades ago my first apartment- corrected for inflation- was 800 bucks a month in today’s dollars for about 700sf with two bedrooms.  It was under 3.5 miles from where I was using my GI Bill to go to college.  I could walk, run, bike, take the bus, or drive to college with no hassle. For class or my work study.   All my neighbors were mostly grad or med students, some other good working people, etc.  I was a minute or two walk from a big open fields of park.  A few minutes in the other direction to a huge nature area to mountain bike, hike, cross country ski, etc. Crossing a real road in the other direction was a huge nature trail along a river.  There was zero crime.  It was a town of about 60 square miles and a population of about 15K.  The town was over 95% White and the minorities were like getting their Ph.D. In Math, a Mexican Spanish Professor, or a Black guy with an M.S. in Athletic Training, etc.  and median household incomes were essentially the national average and majority of families were married couples- not single parent.  The place was safe, with essentially near zero property crime and zero violent crime. The towns rate was at or better than the state average and the state was in the handful of least crimes per capita.
I was about 13 miles from where I worked in the guard/reserves.  A typical military “part time” guy needs about 38 days a year in uniform to meet requirements.  Instead of 152 days in uniform in four years I racked up about 350.  I kind of counted on those things as a job.  I would do stuff that made sense- like go to BNOC, or not that I didn’t need to do like go to Air Assault school because E5 or E6 pay seriously buffed our income.

So that apartment location and safety was key.  
I just looked, and that exact same apartment model is currently $2100 a month.  Almost three times proportionally that I paid.  I got married and my wife also worked less than 3.5 miles from there.  

Both our jobs counted on reliable, all weather transportation.  A three year old 30K mile 4WD Toyota US hi-lux was bought by us- with AC, ALBs, cassette player, extra cab, V6, automatic, etc. for about 17K in today’s dollars.  Go price a 3 year old 30K mile similar Tacoma now.  It’s about twice as much.

And about that college degree.  
I paid about 9.5K a year in tuition and fees in today’s dollars.
At the exact same university,
It’s over 20K a year now.  Plus, when I went, once you paid full time tuition for the semester (12 or more credit hours) the cost was capped out.  So, I could do 18 or even 21 semester hours at the same price as 12 or 15.  I graduated with 150+, over five years of college for the cost of four.  My degree was both a physical and a life science bachelors.  I was a proofs class short of a math minor, a waves and quanta course short of a physics minor, could have obtained an English minor if I had known to add it, met the courses criteria for a Classics minor in but couldn’t get it because my language two years were not Latin or Greek, and met the criteria for an Anatomy and Physiology minor but couldn’t get it because my degree was from the college of arts and sciences, and A&P major/minor degrees were under the college of Allied Health and Health Sciences.
But- I have been told that now that semester full time price only covers 12 to 17 semester hours, and each credit 18 and up is about another 700 bucks per hour.  
Instead of 38K in todays dollars for the education I had,
It would be over 80K plus another 15K plus off the top of my head if I remember how over and which semesters correctly. (30-34 years ago.)

I won’t go into what insurance cost in today’s dollars for us vs a young couple now, or a bunch of other stuff like how much more gas, wear and tear, time, crime, etc. factors also are less favorable.

I truly, truly wish young adults and families now had the same society and economic proportions I did.
We were a poor, hard working couple that clipped coupons, scrimped and saved, worked hard, sacrificed, and were not living large.  But the economics now are horrendous.

Unless you are an illegals immigrant, unassimable refugee, or skanky welfare freeloader type, getting in less trouble for crime, etc.  Then things are better now.

This is not good.

The best neighbors I ever had were renters and the worst were owners. A high rent place has better neighbors than most poor owners are.

$650 a month? Damn I’m jealous. I pay $1210 and that’s considered cheap.

Bruh, I read your post. I liked it. But this comment sent shivers down to my bootyhole.

You can buy a $100K house and the payment is around $800 a month with taxes and insurance.  $150K is $1200 a month.

Under $1200 a month PITI

Under $800 a month

Under $800 a month

All of those are south of Toledo.  I have no idea how nice the areas are.  There are probably zero down programs you might qualify for, or the typical 3% FHA.

I moved out of my Fredericksburg 1br postage stamp apartment when they tried to raise my rent to 1900/mo.

Now... the clientele wasn't bad...  the place was fairly nice...  but fuck 2k a month for a 1br apt.

850 would get you a tent behind the dump there.

Wife and I should consider OH after I graduate. All those places would likely be 300-400k in AZ.

It is getting crazy around here too.

Preface:  I live in the most conservative parish (country) in Louisiana and where I live is 95% white.  

There is a trailer park about 3 miles south of me, off the state road that at one time was for workers moving in and out of the area.  Now it looks like the boarder crossing and the Time Saver at the entrance is now a full blown Mexican hangout and restaurant.

Everyone has a phone, all new clothes, all have vehicles and a place to stay, they are getting money from somewhere

$850 in Utah might rent you a room in someone's basement.  Apartments start around $1600-1800.

not a lot of job opportunities in OH.

that's why it's cheap.

From a boomer. Wish you all the best.

Shit I can find something. Or starve trying.

I pay less than $600 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath pool view with balcony, furnished condo less then 2 blocks, 8 minutes walk to the beach.
I also just pay $40 a month electricity and $20 water.

And you just have to live as an expat!

No wonder I’m seeing a lot of florida plates around here. I live in a large hispanic community that is not a sanctuary city and noone wants them here. A lot of them say they are mexican but have a non mexican accent.

but why move to OH?

at least move somewhere enjoyable for a few years.

then once saddled with crippling debt, a job you hate, and kids then move to the rust belt.

A.C...plenty of food and TP.
Public education that half functions cant say I blame them.
Sad thing is most think the way to make it better is more socialist policy.

If you can bump your budget up to $1500 a month, you can get a pretty nice house in that area of Ohio.  

This man speaks scary truth. Good post.

I bet they still need eelektrcitee in OH.

$588 a month puts you around $80k.

That gets me a 5,600 sq ft lot with a nice view outside a nothing town, 0.5 acres of dirt on the highway west of town, or a 1971 trailer in a park on rented land.

Something close to your example with a "no value" trailer is $389k, 30 minutes from town. An hour from town with a 1997 trailer and a small "shop" is $580k... for a trailer.

That’s almost a million dollar property in the west.