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[–] 142 points 2 months ago (14 children)

Easy. Just buy a house cash and never pay rent or make mortgage payments. Simple.

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    [–] 89 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (11 children)

    This account is 100% rage bait. Look up the account. It's all posts like this, same formatting, tone, similar themes.

    It's all bullshit, he contradicts himself constantly.

    There's also a community note that the account is based in Africa.

    Edit to address replies:

    First of all, first months rent and security deposit shouldn't factor in. You get your security deposit back from your current place if you haven't trashed it, and you're already paying rent, so the new apartments rent isn't an additional cost. In fact, if you're moving somewhere cheaper, you'll save money that first month.

    Yes, you might have to pay those way before you move in, and there might be a delay getting the old deposit back, so you need more money up front to cover it. But if you don't have two months' rent in savings, credit, investments, etc? You are absolutely living beyond your means. I know I'll get shit on for this, but that's really not a lot to save.

    Application fees include credit checks everywhere I've ever lived. Here they are capped at like $25 I think? It sucks but it's not the end of the world. Never had to pay a deposit on utilities and my credit is shit.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 months ago*

    It doesn't mean that the scenario he described isn't authentic. I've experienced it myself several times in my life.

    He may have framed his story as an actual thing that happened to him, but that isn't important. What's important is that he laid out the parameters for a discussion on the problems with switching rental properties, and a substantive discussion followed. The discussion is the point, not how the premise was presented.

    There are lots of awful things that happen in America. Bringing them up for discussion is not automatically rage bait just because it makes you angry. Rage Bait is when you give it a misleading, anger-inducing headline, just to get someone to click on it, and then see advertising. That's Rage BAIT. What is this BAITING us into? A discussion about the economics of moving?

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    [–] 48 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    Then there's the Application Fee Scam. They charge you a non-refundable $50 per person, sometimes more, just to apply. In my case, that's $150, which goes to the Property Manager. So the property manager is motivated to take as many applications, and turn them down, as possible. They can easily make far more in application fees than whatever fee they collect from actually renting out the place.

    After spending hundreds, only to get turned down within minutes ("Here's $150...oh, it's a No?), I learned to only deal with the person who OWNS the property, no property managers, real estate companies, etc.

    Reasons for being turned down? Usually none given. Once it was because of my "criminal record" - a speeding ticket two years before. Goodbye $150.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Christ, I remember when they were just happy if you gave them money. Now hearing about the song and dance you have to go to to just be considered...

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  • [–] 9 points 2 months ago

    Then you get approved, to pay 50% of your income to live in a place that wouldn't pass any kind of inspection, so the ceiling leaks and ruins most of your possessions, this happened in 2 different locations.

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    [–] 43 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    It's important to stay on good terms with friends and family so they will help you when shit like this arises. So you can move back in with mom and dad, or couch surf for a while.

    Sadly, for too many people, there is no help, and they end up homeless.

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    [–] 30 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    Moving has always been a huge financial set back for me. It's why some degree of rent control is important as renters are in many ways trapped. It's also super depressing to move to lower rent housing. As you age there's a societal and self imposed expectation of financial progress, paying a bunch to move to lower rent housing is a double tap.

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    [–] 25 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (25 children)

    https://xcancel.com/jeremyct

    https://x.com/jeremyct

    It's a blue checkmark bot.


    EDIT (because I couldn't help myself):

    It's a faaaake.

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    [–] 18 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Poverty is a resource access problem.

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    [–] 12 points 2 months ago

    Yeah, and it's not the excuse that landlords need to keep up with costs, either, since most landlords are huge corporations, and costs don't increase that fast. Land values plateaued years ago, so taxes aren't ballooning or anything like that anymore. I was lucky enough to have help with a down payment, so I now own, but that's rare, especially in my city where house/land costs are way higher than their value due to the limited supply, which is mostly due to all the properties that are forever unoccupied as investment property or are mostly unlivable, and building material costs have made it too expensive to repair.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    In Spain you get a paid vacation day for moving. You just show your lease contract and you get the first day of the lease off.

    But you usually have to pay first month up front and put in a security deposit. It used to also be that you had to pay a fee to the agency. The law now says that the landlord pays that fee but sometimes they will still say it o you. You can either pay or keep looking.

    So worst case you need 3x the rent to move. Best case you just put in the security deposit which you get back at the end of the contract.

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    [–] 8 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Sidebar, I'm a big fan of a minimal life aka having as little stuff as possible. My truck can hold all my stuff for a one trip move. If I didn't have that then there's the $20 daily van rentals which are honestly going to be like $60 all said and done. If I couldn't afford a deposit and first months rent on an apartment then I could rent a room. I've also been tempted to get a cheap trailer for an RV park. Finally there's the option of taking on a roommate. In college we had two people to each room and a guy with a makeshift wall renting the living room. Is it glamorous? Hell no. Could things be better? Hell yeah. Is it better than living out of my truck or on the street? Most definitely.

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