Renting in NYC has been the biggest blight on my life in the last 17 years. Here are some of the things that have happened to me as a result of renting:
1) massive monetary expenditure, for absolutely nothing in the end. I guess it could be argued that the money was spent to be in close proximity to opportunity. However, that is arguable.
2) conditions that were damaging to health. Some of the conditions that I've encountered:
- mold that made us cough and itch
-insufficient electricity for the demands of space heaters, appliances, etc
- no heat in winter due to electricity insufficiency and inability to use a space heater that caused me to have "walking pneumonia" without realizing it for a period of 7 years until a doctor figured it out and gave me a course of antibiotics
- insect and rodent infestations
- constant noise that deprived us of sleep
- landlords who actually came in uninvited and prowled in the apt, did not respect boundaries
- roommate "sharing" situations where the roommate turned out to be mentally unstable or dangerous, a drug addict or a thief
- stressful situations with other renters in the building
- and finally the over use of pesticides that caused me to have series of Emergency Room visits, Doctors visits, etc, upset me and my family greatly and caused a huge health scare that could have been very serious, and cost us money. This brought me out of the renters market for good.
And a host of other calamities. They could all have been avoided had I simply thought more about the situation and used my resources right in the beginning to secure property and a vehicle right away that was close to the place I wanted to live, without being right in the middle of it. I suppose it was my misguided urge for community that brought on some of these calamities. But hindsight is the best sight, so they say. I feel good that the recent "Tiny House" movement got me to focus on my living situation and clarified a lot of these issues for me - namely, that I didn't have to put up with ANY of it, and there were alternatives to the way I had been living - both the high prices and the health hazards.
1) massive monetary expenditure, for absolutely nothing in the end. I guess it could be argued that the money was spent to be in close proximity to opportunity. However, that is arguable.
2) conditions that were damaging to health. Some of the conditions that I've encountered:
- mold that made us cough and itch
-insufficient electricity for the demands of space heaters, appliances, etc
- no heat in winter due to electricity insufficiency and inability to use a space heater that caused me to have "walking pneumonia" without realizing it for a period of 7 years until a doctor figured it out and gave me a course of antibiotics
- insect and rodent infestations
- constant noise that deprived us of sleep
- landlords who actually came in uninvited and prowled in the apt, did not respect boundaries
- roommate "sharing" situations where the roommate turned out to be mentally unstable or dangerous, a drug addict or a thief
- stressful situations with other renters in the building
- and finally the over use of pesticides that caused me to have series of Emergency Room visits, Doctors visits, etc, upset me and my family greatly and caused a huge health scare that could have been very serious, and cost us money. This brought me out of the renters market for good.
And a host of other calamities. They could all have been avoided had I simply thought more about the situation and used my resources right in the beginning to secure property and a vehicle right away that was close to the place I wanted to live, without being right in the middle of it. I suppose it was my misguided urge for community that brought on some of these calamities. But hindsight is the best sight, so they say. I feel good that the recent "Tiny House" movement got me to focus on my living situation and clarified a lot of these issues for me - namely, that I didn't have to put up with ANY of it, and there were alternatives to the way I had been living - both the high prices and the health hazards.
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