When I fled from my toxic apt and realized I couldn't stay with the friend who wanted me to stay with him due to his 6 indoor cats (cat allergy), I found a descent Motor Inn about an hour away from the city and secured a room.
For the past 3 weeks, I have been checking out various rentals with the intention of moving from the Motor Inn to another rental until I can buy a property . I was shocked to find that landlords even an hour away from NYC ARE TRYING TO CHARGE THE SAME PRICES AS 15 MINUTES AWAY FROM THE CITY. The reason was explained to me by one of them - the banks are not giving out mortgages like they used to, therefore the rental market is flooded with people who would normally have a mortgage. Therefore it's a "renters market" and they predatorily raised their prices.
If the rental is within walking distance of a Metro North train, a lot of landlords are trying to charge 1100-1300 per month- EVEN IF IT IS AN HOUR AWAY FROM THE CITY. I was paying 1300 when I was 15 minutes from the city. This is utterly, utterly ridiculous. To then have to pay gas and car repairs and commute ON TOP of paying the same price is outrageous, not something I am willing to enter into.
Not only that, many of these landlords were pompous and entitled in what they said to me when I inquired about renting. One man told me that although I was not allowed to invite people over for a party, he had parties all the time and "his parties were the best". One woman told me that "She was Itallian so she was coming into the apartment whenever she wanted to and anyone who didn't like it would have to get out". I was told by one owner that "he would get back to me when HE felt like it", even though I was living at a hotel and needed to hear back from him as soon as possible. I was told that "I'd never find something cheaper than 1100 next to the train". I did, in fact, find cheaper apts, they just weren't as nice, they were studios with no yard access. I was told "there were cheaper places to live but they would be full of mold". And other discouraging things. The behavior I encountered from prospective landlords was pretty outrageous. Keep in mind that this is not Manhattan, nor is it 15 minutes outside of Manhattan or even 30 minutes outside of Manhattan- this is a FULL HOUR AWAY FROM MANHATTAN, and they are acting like this because they are close to some godforsaken little train station out here. GTFO.
I then started thinking about my current situation, the Motor Inn. It cost as much to stay in it as it cost to live in my previous apt- however, there are some advantages to it.
1) I can park just steps away from my front door. No worrying about my car, I could easily keep an eye on it- and in addition, there is no stair climbing, carrying groceries and belongings up flights of stairs.
2) Included in the amount I'm paying is electricity, internet, a landline, really good cable TV, laundry of sheets, bedding and towels, vaccuming/cleaning of my room if I want it, and last but not least, free toilet paper. None of this would be included in the $1100-$1300 fee to live in a rental that is this close to the train and highway. So what I've actually got here is the equivalent of a $1,000/month rental when you add in all the amenities.
3) the Indian couple who owns the Motor Inn are laid back, friendly and non intrusive. They have never said a harsh word to me or attempted to come into the room for any reason. They are a lot nicer than almost any landlord I've had(with a couple of exceptions).
4) the insulation here is sufficient so that we don't hear what anyone else is doing next door and they don't hear us. In my previous apt we could not talk in our kitchen after 10 pm due to a failed attempt at insulation in the wall that bordered on our super/landlord's bedroom! The kitchen is where people naturally collect to socialize, and we are "night people" so not being able to talk in our kitchen after 10pm was very detrimental to our use of the apt. Not only that, in one of the apts we checked out recently, we were told that we wold not be able to have the TV on or speak loudly in our apt after 10 because of the insulation being insufficient. Letting people move in if you have insufficient insulation and then expecting them not to talk, watch TV, etc is just crazy, a setup for problems and ill will. Yet landlords will still attempt to charge top dollar for such a situation??? Please, GTFO!
5) the Motor Inn is within walking distance to two shopping complexes, fast food places, 24 hour markets, etc. Lots of the rentals we checked out were not, especially the cheap ones - for less than 1,000/month you had to drive for half an hour to get to the nearest store.
6) I can stay at the Motor Inn as much or as little as I need - there is no locking myself into a lease. There's no crazy credit check, no hustling around for references or worries about being accepted. If you have the $ and act normal, you're in. I like that. I don't believe in having to work hard to be accepted into a descent place to live, or being locked into one if you would rather be somewhere else. Where is the sense in that? Especially if it's the SAME PRICE as a rental??? Keeping everyone in fear of getting a decent place to live and making everyone jump through a lot of hoops to be accepted is a form of societal control that I just don't believe in. I believe everybody should have safe, clean housing as a God Given Right WITHOUT the approval of ANYBODY. The Motor Inn is more in keeping with this philosophy.
7) there is 24/7 protection and surveillance here at the Motor Inn. To get that in a rental, I'd have to spend big $ to install a system.
8) there is a culture of friendlieness and politeness here, where i can't say as much for a lot of the neighbors I had in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan.
9) the Motor Inn is located in a place where we can get RIGHT ON the main highway to get to the city. The rentals we saw mostly were not.
10) Sanitary Conditions and Heat/AC - in my rentals, the plumbing was constantly backing up, not working, etc - in my last rental, raw sewage backed up on my bathroom floor three times, in one case leaking through the floor and ruining the ceiling of the apartment below. The landlord attempted to blame ME for their failure - *I* should have known how to turn the water off, *I* should have heard the water dripping sooner, etc, etc. This is all BS- it's FULLY their responsibility to make sure the plumbing works no matter what, and to somehow try to implicate me in the plumbing problem is outrageous. The bathroom in the Motor Inn has industrial strength plumbing that works- period and has not backed up once. In addition, AC is provided - I was of course paying for AC every summer in the rentals I was living in, did without it except in extreme heat, etc. And the heat the landlords were supposed to provide always had to be supplemented with a space heater that I paid for the electricity for. The Motor Inn does not have these problems.
So landlords-
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY???? What can you do for me that the Motor Inn isn't doing better for the same price? Can you provide me with great parking? Can you make the price worth it to put up with the extra rules that come along with renting? Can you give me complete privacy and friendliness, low stress situation? Can you give me a convienient location that is better than the Motor Inn? How about some of the amenities? IF NOT- I am NOT renting from you. Seriously. When the price of renting matches the price of a Hotel, renting becomes NOT WORTH IT ANY MORE. GET A CLUE.
For the past 3 weeks, I have been checking out various rentals with the intention of moving from the Motor Inn to another rental until I can buy a property . I was shocked to find that landlords even an hour away from NYC ARE TRYING TO CHARGE THE SAME PRICES AS 15 MINUTES AWAY FROM THE CITY. The reason was explained to me by one of them - the banks are not giving out mortgages like they used to, therefore the rental market is flooded with people who would normally have a mortgage. Therefore it's a "renters market" and they predatorily raised their prices.
If the rental is within walking distance of a Metro North train, a lot of landlords are trying to charge 1100-1300 per month- EVEN IF IT IS AN HOUR AWAY FROM THE CITY. I was paying 1300 when I was 15 minutes from the city. This is utterly, utterly ridiculous. To then have to pay gas and car repairs and commute ON TOP of paying the same price is outrageous, not something I am willing to enter into.
Not only that, many of these landlords were pompous and entitled in what they said to me when I inquired about renting. One man told me that although I was not allowed to invite people over for a party, he had parties all the time and "his parties were the best". One woman told me that "She was Itallian so she was coming into the apartment whenever she wanted to and anyone who didn't like it would have to get out". I was told by one owner that "he would get back to me when HE felt like it", even though I was living at a hotel and needed to hear back from him as soon as possible. I was told that "I'd never find something cheaper than 1100 next to the train". I did, in fact, find cheaper apts, they just weren't as nice, they were studios with no yard access. I was told "there were cheaper places to live but they would be full of mold". And other discouraging things. The behavior I encountered from prospective landlords was pretty outrageous. Keep in mind that this is not Manhattan, nor is it 15 minutes outside of Manhattan or even 30 minutes outside of Manhattan- this is a FULL HOUR AWAY FROM MANHATTAN, and they are acting like this because they are close to some godforsaken little train station out here. GTFO.
I then started thinking about my current situation, the Motor Inn. It cost as much to stay in it as it cost to live in my previous apt- however, there are some advantages to it.
1) I can park just steps away from my front door. No worrying about my car, I could easily keep an eye on it- and in addition, there is no stair climbing, carrying groceries and belongings up flights of stairs.
2) Included in the amount I'm paying is electricity, internet, a landline, really good cable TV, laundry of sheets, bedding and towels, vaccuming/cleaning of my room if I want it, and last but not least, free toilet paper. None of this would be included in the $1100-$1300 fee to live in a rental that is this close to the train and highway. So what I've actually got here is the equivalent of a $1,000/month rental when you add in all the amenities.
3) the Indian couple who owns the Motor Inn are laid back, friendly and non intrusive. They have never said a harsh word to me or attempted to come into the room for any reason. They are a lot nicer than almost any landlord I've had(with a couple of exceptions).
4) the insulation here is sufficient so that we don't hear what anyone else is doing next door and they don't hear us. In my previous apt we could not talk in our kitchen after 10 pm due to a failed attempt at insulation in the wall that bordered on our super/landlord's bedroom! The kitchen is where people naturally collect to socialize, and we are "night people" so not being able to talk in our kitchen after 10pm was very detrimental to our use of the apt. Not only that, in one of the apts we checked out recently, we were told that we wold not be able to have the TV on or speak loudly in our apt after 10 because of the insulation being insufficient. Letting people move in if you have insufficient insulation and then expecting them not to talk, watch TV, etc is just crazy, a setup for problems and ill will. Yet landlords will still attempt to charge top dollar for such a situation??? Please, GTFO!
5) the Motor Inn is within walking distance to two shopping complexes, fast food places, 24 hour markets, etc. Lots of the rentals we checked out were not, especially the cheap ones - for less than 1,000/month you had to drive for half an hour to get to the nearest store.
6) I can stay at the Motor Inn as much or as little as I need - there is no locking myself into a lease. There's no crazy credit check, no hustling around for references or worries about being accepted. If you have the $ and act normal, you're in. I like that. I don't believe in having to work hard to be accepted into a descent place to live, or being locked into one if you would rather be somewhere else. Where is the sense in that? Especially if it's the SAME PRICE as a rental??? Keeping everyone in fear of getting a decent place to live and making everyone jump through a lot of hoops to be accepted is a form of societal control that I just don't believe in. I believe everybody should have safe, clean housing as a God Given Right WITHOUT the approval of ANYBODY. The Motor Inn is more in keeping with this philosophy.
7) there is 24/7 protection and surveillance here at the Motor Inn. To get that in a rental, I'd have to spend big $ to install a system.
8) there is a culture of friendlieness and politeness here, where i can't say as much for a lot of the neighbors I had in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan.
9) the Motor Inn is located in a place where we can get RIGHT ON the main highway to get to the city. The rentals we saw mostly were not.
10) Sanitary Conditions and Heat/AC - in my rentals, the plumbing was constantly backing up, not working, etc - in my last rental, raw sewage backed up on my bathroom floor three times, in one case leaking through the floor and ruining the ceiling of the apartment below. The landlord attempted to blame ME for their failure - *I* should have known how to turn the water off, *I* should have heard the water dripping sooner, etc, etc. This is all BS- it's FULLY their responsibility to make sure the plumbing works no matter what, and to somehow try to implicate me in the plumbing problem is outrageous. The bathroom in the Motor Inn has industrial strength plumbing that works- period and has not backed up once. In addition, AC is provided - I was of course paying for AC every summer in the rentals I was living in, did without it except in extreme heat, etc. And the heat the landlords were supposed to provide always had to be supplemented with a space heater that I paid for the electricity for. The Motor Inn does not have these problems.
So landlords-
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY???? What can you do for me that the Motor Inn isn't doing better for the same price? Can you provide me with great parking? Can you make the price worth it to put up with the extra rules that come along with renting? Can you give me complete privacy and friendliness, low stress situation? Can you give me a convienient location that is better than the Motor Inn? How about some of the amenities? IF NOT- I am NOT renting from you. Seriously. When the price of renting matches the price of a Hotel, renting becomes NOT WORTH IT ANY MORE. GET A CLUE.
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