Cost of Living vs wages where you live

originally posted by: Meldionne1
Rentals are in demand .... So rental prices are up . It's a landlords market . ... Do not move to the Florida keys to rent . It is over the top pricey . 2 bedroom 1 bath is around $2,500 .00 , nothing included . Just to rent a room in a shared house is $1,500. .... Ever since Irma housing is sparse and in demand . People work 2 jobs to pay their rent . ... My advice is to move to another small place like palatka , fl .... Or buy your own place. ... Look for short sales , foreclosure, or tax auctions ..... Better yet , buy a duplex and you can rent out the other side for dirt cheap ... Like $400 all included ...and you can be a landlord everyone wants ! 😀

It is insane here! I grew up here. If I wasn't a single parent my income wouldnt be so bad. If I had another income coming in I could afford something else but on just my salary and no child support, well it's crazy!

Also places like Palatka are in the middle of nowhere. Gas alone would be ridiculous to commute or find decent work.

I have looked at my options to buy and as a single mom first time buyer there are quite a few programs. I am in a relationship with someone who lives in Holland, the plans are my son and I will move there in 2-3 years. If it becomes too difficult he will move here. So many things could happen. Yes the duplex thing would be great but again not sure I want to buy if I might move. Now if my bf move here we would probably go to another state all together.

The cost of homes here isn't all that bad honestly. I find homes I would buy if I were in the market at all the time. It's just insane what they charge for rent. Now if you want a nice 2/2 home forget it. It's about $2000 a month for that. I mean if I could afford that for rent I would own my own.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
You are in a tourist community so you will definitely get gouged.

I've have several rental properties and I can tell you that renters can be terrible.
I got a call at 11pm one time because her front door squeaked when she got home....
Taxes and insurance are a bitch too.

$13 sounds awful low by the way. Starting bank tellers make that here in northern indiana.
No experience required.

It use to not be so bad compared to the wages. It's always been touristy and it's not even as bad as it use to be.

As a renter I am not like most. I treat the place as if it were my own. I have spent my own money on the place I'm in and have the worst landlord possible. I can't stand people who give good renters a bad name but then again if you get into the business of being a landlord you should be able and prepared to deal with whatever you get. It is a crap shoot on who you rent to unless you do a thorough background check and even then you just never know. I know about taxes and insurance as well. Again if it's something people can't handle then they should not have rental properties. I have had many of those landlords, the one I have now is a prime example.

Yea here $13/hr is a great wage but when you factor cost of living it's a joke. I did make more in banking but I absolutely hated my job. I dreaded going to work every day. It made me very bitter and mean. I just hated it. We have local credit unions I looked into but the hours and pay vs what i have no I just can't. I would have to work Saturdays and being a single parent that's just not possible. It's not always easy but I manage. I live within my means.

Starting pay at the big banks is $15.hr BUT nothing is full time anymore.

OH the food! I love to cook and food has always been my thing but it drives me nuts how much a box of butter costs. I know that sounds silly but damn food is getting crazy. I shop at 3 places to make my money with food go far.

When I think back to my first apartment where I made $10.hr in 2000, rent was $359, car payment was $200, my insurance was $34, my power was never more than $60 (I pay 175 now with 3 crappy window units), cable and water were included. It was soooo cheap back then. I was able to save money, go out and buy new things i needed and eventually move to a better place. NOW with more money I can't go anywhere. Everything is so much higher. It's mind boggling to me.

Housing here is getting higher, a decent modern two bedroom apartment can run seven to nine hundred when it includes utilities. Of course, there are much more luxurious ones, the price can go up the more elegant the apartment is. The cost of food here is reasonable, the area is not overinflated. Hopefully it does not get worse.

Here we get a lot of winter snow though, some racist people hate the whites. Also the cost of car insurance is a little higher here because of the higher levels of snow and ice, but lately I think car insurance is getting higher all over as more snowstorms hit other places, so we may not be way out of line anymore in that aspect.

I took a few trips down to Florida years ago and can say I like to visit there but would never want to live there. I was going to buy a lot in a subdivision there, but am glad we decided not to. I enjoy the winter actually, being almost all finn with the rest being Northern European I am accustomed to the winters. I feel awkward if there is no snow and trees. I love living in the woods.

This place is not for the majority of people, not many blacks around here because they have a harder time with the winters. Some do do well up here though, they want to get away from the ratrace of the cities and the cold and snow is better than putting up with all the crap down there. We do have gangs up here, those darn coyotes were yapping like crazy last night. The kids do go out and have their parties but it seems that is lessening around here as more houses come into our area, when we built here there weren't many houses on this section of road, kids partied across the road a bit towards town. They can't party there anymore, the rod and gun club extended their rifle range, where they partied is right where the targets used to be.

I will leave those who like living down south live down there, they can have the scorching hot days. Our airconditioner is a big oak tree that shades the house.

a reply to: mblahnikluver

My place now and my last place are both 3 bedroom. Last was 1 bath this current spot is 2. Current is a trailer as a temp deal cause owner of old house was talking about selling.

Rent on both is 650 a month.

I'm actually going to look at another rental today.
900 sq feet
2 bedroom
2 car detached garage
Central air
Rear deck
Sits on 1/2 acre

Rent is 750 a month

I make 18 an hour which is on the middle to high side for this area.

We are not killing it but the houses are not good either.
My wife has not worked in 5 years.
I cover everything and we have 500 or so disposable left over each month.

We could kill it if she worked but we both rather her not. Neither of us care about money like that.

This is outside Cleveland in a burb.

I've been bitching about my electric and how I xant afford the stay where I am but a lot of that is we like to spend the extra and Its a trailer so # that size bill.

a reply to: mblahnikluver
Well prepare for it to get worse because in many areas, local governments are now charging a business tax to the home owner that is renting. They are also doing inspections and demanding additional fees for any infractions.

These taxes, fines, and fees, should correct the problem of poorly maintained rentals, but it will surely increase the cost of those rentals, and will make affordable housing extremely difficult.

People that rent for a profit regard it as a business, just like a corporation or the hotel industry. The more you pay the better the accommodations.

I grew up not too far from you up & down the west coast (you already know that, though ) Your numbers aren't all that different from there. The cheapest rent we ever had was our last place we lived in down there, a 600 sq ft 2 bed/1 bath condo for $800 a month. Granted the water was included, it wasn't enough to call it "cheap" rent discounting it.

I realize we got pretty lucky up here in the Grand Rapids area with our rent, we got in right when the market started to explode. It took us 3 months of living in a hotel & competing heavily with other potential renters to snag a rental.
It's a 1400 sq ft 4 bed/1 bath house (2100 sq ft if you include the partially finished basement) on a half acre of land, and we pay just over a grand ($1100 to be exact) A house this size, on a plot of land this size in Florida would be an easy $2500 on the "cheap" side. More realistically, $3K plus would be accurate in SW FL.

I haven't browsed too heavily, but as far as jobs go, it seems $15 an hour (or around $30k a year) seems average, since it's a manufacturing area. Although the Payscale site says average pay is around $47,000 (puts hourly equivalent around $22 p/h) It definitely doesn't seem to be all that hard to find something paying around $15 an hour, that's for certain. The Payscale site's given average is close to my husband's income, and it wasn't hard for him to climb the company ladder to that despite not having the college degree qualifications his current position requires. Employers up here seem fairly forgiving in that respect, even the apprentice welder across the street makes a good enough income to own his house. The rule of thumb seems to be that if you do the job well, you get paid well.

As for rentals, that runs the gamut, and the higher prices are starting to become all that's left. $1500+ for some fancier/hot locale apartment/home is pretty normal. For the most part, a 2 bed/1 bath seems to be going for an average of $1000 right now, which was pretty much expected due to the influx of people coming up here, it's a hell of a hot housing market. So hot that renter competition is fierce enough that our hotel stay is something to expect to do while hunting. My hubby has several people from FL working with him now that moved up here for work, and they all faced the same hotel stays before finding a rental.
Hell, even buying is a "like hotcakes" thing, the last house that sold on my street sold within 24 hours of the sign going up. The old vet living there picked a buyer at random because he had 20 offers by afternoon & he wasn't going to drag that on longer than needed O.O

The CoL is dirt cheap here, so that helps a LOT. Our last winter electric bill for last month was $150, and the gas was $80. The electric ran higher than I wanted to see for April, but we didn't run the gas furnace as much at night and just turned on the electric heaters in the bedrooms instead. This month's electric is sure to have sunk like a stone, I'd wager it's probably going to be around $100, and the gas definitely plummeted. That one just came in for $30.
I can't remember what our highest winter electric was, but I remember our highest winter gas bill pleasing the hell out of my husband at a mere $140. I think the highest electric was not much higher than April's bill. Basically, one month of being close to or on par with regular FL summer cooling bills, and we're not well insulated in this house. If we were, it'd be even cheaper.

Our grocery costs are for 5 -- 2 bottomless pit kids & 3 adults -- and it runs us about...$400 a month for fresh meat, fruit & veggies, and very little in the way of prepared/convenience foods. The sirloin we're going to grill for dinner tonight ran us $5 a lb (I know damn well back in FL that'd be at least $7 or $8 a lb) We get fresh-made sausages & brats for $3 a lb, the boneless, skinless chicken breast we stockpiled in the freezer was on sale for $1.50 a lb (normally $2.50 or $3. I think. It's cheap compared to FL, I know that much) We tend to get ground sirloin for burgers at about $4 a lb, and thick cut bacon's about the same price (eat that, prepackaged brands!)

Stuff like lettuce is almost always $1 a lb, sometimes fluctuates upward a quarter, so we eat a LOT of fresh salads around here (plus the rabbit & bird, too) Apples are always a steal, I've paid as little as 69 cents a lb in season for Honeycrisp apples, and that's if I don't get half bushels. I'm buying by the half bushel by apple season anyway, so at most, a $12 a half bushel, but normally for something like Galas or Fujis or whatever, it's $6 or $7 for all of that. One of my kids is the Bubba Gump of apples, so this is a very affordable way to keep her eyeball deep in her favorite snack.

The only major drawback I can see for the CoL up here is insurance, it's very high & fluctuates by area. My brother's full coverage runs him over $300 a month in suburban Detroit for an older rustbucket, but he swears he's getting a good discount o.0
I'm not sure exactly how much my husband pays, but it's well over $100 for basic, and he never paid that much for basic insurance in other states.

Hopefully that all helps you, Mblah

I get it. I live in the hood in NYC and a year ago the median rent there for a 2 bedroom was $2200, which is what I pay.

In nice areas of Brooklyn that would be $3-4000. In the nice areas of Manhattan that could be $5-6000. It's insane.

What this means is that many 30/40 somethings have roommates or two working partners in a relationship. With a kid and student loans I can't afford more than my $1100 portion of the rent. If I didn't have a kid I could afford a studio or maybe 1 bedroom, but saving nothing.

That puts a true living wage in NYC at something like $4500 a month, assuming $1500/month studio and the 1/3 of income rule. And that would be for those without children and significant debt.

Half of New Yorkers are "rent burdened," meaning they pay more than 1/3 of their income to rent.


a reply to: mblahnikluver

originally posted by: Fools
Wages have been stagnant. I am fortunate enough to have been above that curve for about 25 or so years now. But I see the problems my oldest son (23 yo) has in making rent and so on. Then again when I was his age I had 2 roommates so I am not sure if it is any better or worse now.

I know that food prices have definitely went up possibly quadrupled. Rent seems to have "only" doubled where I am in the last 25 years.

Cost of living and inflation have gone up for 40 years, and wages have been stagnant since then, including adjusted for inflation.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: mblahnikluver


I watched a five year documentary about a high school science teacher who made a boat load of money producing and selling meth. It seemed doable.

Lmao

San Francisco area is even worse. It's now the most expensive in the country.
a reply to: kurthall

a reply to: mblahnikluver

Keep voting for Republicans and it will get better. They've been telling you so for over 30 years!

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: mblahnikluver


I watched a five year documentary about a high school science teacher who made a boat load of money producing and selling meth. It seemed doable.

HAHAHAHA it took me seeing another members "LMAO" comment to ACTUALLY GET THE BREAKING BAD reference. I am at work and busted out laughing. Thank you!

originally posted by: mblahnikluver
Thank you!

Most of the time I'd tell you I'm good for two things, nothing and s***. Occasionally though I can tell a joke.

Terrible here too!! (North Tx)
Rent is sky high and getting worse, sooo many people are moving here, it's driving off any affordable options that might have been. About 1300 will get you a standard 1 bedroom crappy apartment at the moment.
They keep building houses by the 100's around me.. all START no lower than 300k, most are in the 400-500k range and up. Minimum wage here is still 7.25/hr!! It's ridiculous! Where in the H#ll do these people work?! I have 2 Bachelors degrees and was lucky to find a part-time job making $14/hr. The only way I'm making it is sharing a home with 2 other family members! It sucks, but it's a home.
oloufo-- I'm so jealous! That sounds amazing
I think one of the problems here is that they base minimum wage on food costs, NOT housing costs-- which are insane!