美国人纠结是租还是买的时候,中国人笑了!

2015年03月30日 美国置业投资



面英文杂志某文章中描述的情况一点都不夸张,美国房屋租赁市场真的很旺,3年内全国平均涨了15%,这可是平均数,大城市和好地段三年涨幅超过50%,有的甚至翻番. 大家看看这张表吧. 全国数据统计显示房产拥有率在减少,租金在上涨, 有的是疯涨.

我家隔壁200平米三房townhome,三年前租$1500,去年是$1800,到期了准备涨价$1900,因为小区其他单位都涨价了. 有点看不懂了,自从07年金融危机以来, 房屋拥有率暴跌,租赁市场开始繁荣, 年年上涨, 不过如同文章中的描述的,30岁出头中档收入的青年仍然是买不起房子. 美国只有30%的家庭拥有自己的房产,大部分都是租房住,和咱们中国国情正好相反. 在美国的中国家庭依旧延续咱们中国人的优良传统, 就是特能攒钱,特愿意投资房产.这两年不光是华人家庭买,中国大陆来买的也越来越多,芝加哥湖边新修的两栋高层公寓, 几天就卖光了, 全是咱中国人买的,自己住的少,都租给downtown的上班族,根本不愁租呵.还有waitinglist, 排队等着空出来的.

How High Can LandlordRaise Rent?

When news broke last week that a San Francisco woman’s rent was increasing by 400% (yes, youread that right, 400%), we all clutched our pearls and muttered throughclenched jaws, “Only in the Bay Area.”

Except it’s not.

While the Bernal Heights woman’s situation is somewhat nuanced andunique (her place had been rent-controlled, but the landlord got the buildingrezoned so those regulations would no longer apply), the issue of skyrocketingrent is affecting people across the country.

In 2014, rents nationwide increased an average of 3.6%,and nearly 11% over the past three years, according to Freddie Mac. Another study last week from the National Association of Realtors® shows that citiesacross the nation are seeing rent growth far exceeding wages.

In New York, for example, rents have increased 50.7%since 2009. In San Jose, it’s nearly 26%. And even in America’s heartland––St.Louis––it’s a 22.3% increase.

For me, the issue hits close to home. I’m a BayArea renter whose monthly costs went up nearly 25% last year. In mysticker shock, I called the local Fair Housing office, where I was told by a volunteer, “Sometimeshousing isn’t fair.” Ain’t that the truth.

I ended up resigning myself to last year’s rent increase.A move within the Bay Area would only mean trading one expensive apartment foranother, and as a singleton, I certainly wasn’t in a position yet to dump myrental digs and buy.

This year, however, my neighbors and I are facing thesame quandary—rents are rising again (by 25% if I want to continue month tomonth, or by 10% if I lock into a yearlong lease). I don’t particularly carefor either option.

And so, for my own sake and for America’s, we’re asking:What does happen when your landlord jacks up your rent? What’s a fairrent increase? An unfair increase? And what’s downright illegal?

Landlordscan raise your rent as much as they want

First thing’s first, let’s be clear that we’re nottalking about rent control here. Rent-controlledand rent-stabilized areas are pretty rare, are governed on the locallevel, and have rules around how often and how much rent can beincreased.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the arguablymore complicated topic of non-rent-controlled areas, which make up most of thenation’s rental market.

Rentals in these places are subject to whatever themarket will bear. While it doesn’t feel fair, landlords areoften perfectly within their rights to raise your rent, says NickEmanuel, a San Jose attorney who specializes in real estate litigation and landlordtenant law.

“It’s precisely the reason for rent-control laws,”Emanuel said. “It may be the case the market will bear a drastic increase and alandlord will be able to get a tenant at that price. But what that does,for all intents and purposes, is make that area unaffordable.”

The hard truth is: Short of locking yourself into alonger lease or buying a home, there’s little you can do to control your costsas a renter.

With that knowledge in mind, it was time for me to lookat my budget and see if I could afford to buy. I met with a mortgage lender,and I crunched the numbers in our site’s mortgage calculator. It would take every cent Ihave––and I’d still be left with monthly payments I can’t afford. Mychoices seemed bleak.lic

It’s not a free-for-all—landlords have rules, too

Even in non-rent-controlled areas, landlords do havelimitations on how and when they can raise the rent, Emanuel noted.

Just as you’re tied down by your lease, so is yourlandlord. A landlord can raise the rent only when your lease expires and withthe appropriate amount of notice (if you’re month-to-month, the landlordcould conceivably increase your rent at the end of any month). Unlikerent-controlled areas, there is no cap on the amount a landlord can increaseyour rent.

The exception to all of this is if there’s a question oflegality––specifically, discrimination or retaliation, Emanuel said. Manyof the cases that cross his desk are illegal rent increases based onretaliation (say, for example, your landlord didn’t like that toilet-repairrequest you made, or that stinging article you wrote about your rent goingup 25%). Then you might very well have a case.

If a lease is in effect, you’ll want to makesure any rental increases don’t violate the terms of the lease. The longeryour lease, the longer a landlord has to wait to implement a rent increase.

“As a landlord, I’d want to make awful sure I’m incompliance of all aspects of the law before I raised rents to such a degree itwould cause a tenant to look at their legal options,” Emanuel said.

But if you just think the increase feels liketoo much, you probably don’t have much legal basis for a claim, experts say.

“They get to determine the prices, and you get todetermine whether you’d like to live there,” said Robert Collins, deputydirector of the San Francisco Rent Board.

Whatyou (and I) can do

If you’ve done your research on the market, negotiated with your landlord, and the increase still feelsout of line, try contacting a real estate lawyer or a housing mediationservice, which have staff on hand to step in and investigate. There’s nonationwide database of such services, so you’ll have to Google around to findthem.

You can also try to lobby your local officials to enact arent-control ordinance. (Beware, though, that rent ordinances aren’t always asilver bullet––they sound pretty great until you consider the fact that insome places, such as New York City, the cost ofrent-stabilized units is increasing faster than thatof their market-rate counterparts.)

Community members pushed recently for rent control in my city, but localofficials seem to favor increasing housing stock over enacting laws.

I know it’s the price I have to pay for living in a tech hot spot. The market can bear that 25%rent increase, and so it will. In the end, I chose to ride out one moreyear in my apartment and save like crazy.

Maybe this time next year, I can say hello tohomeownership and goodbye to my landlord—for good.

––

Rachel Stultsoversees buying, selling, and finance news at realtor.com.





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