MyNewPlace Blog

The front page of this morning's Wall Street Journal hosts an article about a political battle over how the government should address the collapse of the subprime mortgage market. The article, “Mortgage Bailout Infuriates Tenants (And Steve Forbes)," focuses on identifying the sponsors of AngryRenter.com, a site designed to mobilize renters against a federal bailout for lenders and homeowners who have been affected by the rampant foreclosures.

The article refers to AngryRenter.com as an ‘AstroTurf' political movement. A play on the political term ‘grass-roots' which refers to the organic, bottom-up organizing brand of political action, an AstroTurf movement seeks to reap the benefits from being perceived as a grass-roots campaign, but is created or backed by Washington power brokers.

AngryRenter.com is indeed a project of FreedomWorks, “a grassroots advocacy organization founded in 1984 to fight for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom," led by former House Majority leader Dick Armey and publishing magnate Steve Forbes.

Does the fact that these wealthy homeowners AngryRenter.com delegitimize the sites efforts to mobilize renters against a federal bailout for lenders and homeowners?

Rich Toscano, who was quoted in the article as a renter and creator of Professor Piggington's Econo-Almanac for the Landed Poor, feels the importance of the message is of greater importance than who started the movement.

Indeed, it seems that getting people informed and involved in political action, especially when it is often very difficult for citizens to be aware of what goes on in Washington, is a noble cause, regardless of sponsor.

Though the origin and backers of AngryRenter.com surely play a significant role, shouldn't the Wall Street Journal also find it expedient to provide summaries and implications of H.R. 5830 and S. 2636, the bills in question?

What do you think?

Are Steve Forbes and the folks at FreedomWorks legitimate advocates for renters and renting issues? Are there more truly grass-roots renters-rights groups that we should know about and highlight?

For more information on federal legislation pertaining to housing market and the multifamily industry, be sure to check out our Apartment Rental News Weekly Roundups.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be featuring snippets from an article authored by the National Apartment Association (NAA) and the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) entitled Don't Buy the Myths: Renting Can Be a Smart Decision. The Rent vs. Buy article focuses on 9 widespread misconceptions regarding the benefits of homeownership over rental apartments.

MYTH# 4: As an owner, my housing costs will stay constant. I won't have to worry about rent increases.

Reality: A mortgage payment is only one of many housing costs.

Last week, we discussed the Hidden Costs of Owning a Home, and concluded that monthly housing costs will amount to your mortgage multiplied by 1.4. This extra 40 percent includes maintenance costs, property taxes, and homeowners insurance, all of which can add up quickly.

Not only must you account for these costs, but you can also expect them to increase. Property taxes and homeowners insurance have risen significantly in recent years.

Homeowners saw annual property tax hikes averaging 4-5% (for a total increase of 18%) between 1997 and 2001. According to the Insurance Information Institute, the average premium for homeowners insurance rose from $488 in 1999 to $764 in 2005.

Rent increases pale in comparison to the rates at which these two major costs increase over the years. Instead of pouring money into a money pit, you could be saving, investing or going on vacation.

For more information, check out the full Rent vs Buy article, which can be found at the MyNewPlace Apartment Guide.

Check back next week when we will feature Myth #5, “Buying a House is a Safe Investment."

Each week, MyNewPlace provides a compendium of news articles on apartments for rent, the rental market and interesting apartment features. We also track legislation that affects the rental market, highlighting new features for apartment owners and renters, and taking a look at notable apartment trends.

Court Rules in Favor of Multifamily Developer

In this week's top story, apartment owners, builders and architects may rest a little easier following a May 12 ruling by the U.S Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit.
See our previous article, Apartment Owners' Liabilities Under Review, for the facts of the case.

This decision sets an extremely important precedent by ruling that complaints regarding Fair Housing accessibility must be filed within two years of when the last certificate of occupancy is issued.

The plaintiffs sought a statute of limitations that would allow a suit to be filed within two years of the discovery of building features that don't accommodate handicapped people. Such a ruling would hold apartment owners, builders and architects liable for violations for an indefinite amount of time.

Political Corner

We've been keeping our eye on legislation affecting the housing market as Congress scrambles for ways to ameliorate the mortgage crisis. We've been covering a proposed federal bailout of banks and homeowners and featured summaries on the roundups from April 21^st, April 28^th and May 8^th.

There has been no new action on H.R. 5830 as it waits to be considered by the Committee of the Whole.

A related measure, H.R. 3221 is currently in conference, where legislative leaders from the House and Senate will attempt to reconcile the discrepancies between their respective versions. According to Multi-Housing News, the bill includes GSE (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and Federal Housing Authority reforms and $11 billion in tax-relief.

So far, 3 major amendments have passed the House, though how and if tax breaks are paid for is predicted to be a major obstacle.

The Shadow Market

According to an article from GlobeST.com, the recent spring conference of the National Association of Real Estate Editors, hosted a panel of industry experts who discussed how the “shadow market" has increased the supply of rentals in the market and will affect apartment rental markets.

In San Francisco, for example, a $2,400 3 bedroom apartment will now compete with single family homes now being rented out for about $1000 less per month.

In Southern California, an area that has been one of the hardest hit by the constriction of liquidity, short sales are driving prices down quicker than in other regions as lenders put homes at deflated prices back on the market. Some renters who may have been priced out of the market before are now cautiously creeping back into the housing market.

Renters of single family homes, however, should be wary, as “shadow market" homes may be more prone to foreclosure and could result in the eviction of tenants. One woman in Philadelphia, Alice Mills, returned home from a hospital stay to an eviction notice.

Check back with us each week to get the latest from the apartment rental industry.

As always, feel free to send us links to stories that you find interesting.

For many students, college is the first time that they will live away from home for an extended amount of time. This is the first time they are responsible for finding and living in their own off campus apartments.

Given their relative inexperience, it is certainly good to see some students taking initiative and challenging the decisions of local governments and private universities in the courtroom.

Boston's Roommate Crackdown

An undergrad at Boston College has joined with local property owners to file suit against the city of Boston over a new ordinance that would set the limit of 4 students per rental property. According to the Small Property Owners of America, the Boston City Council passed the ordinance without consulting landlords and after only 10 minutes of debate. This is no small zoning alteration, especially in Boston, where about a quarter of the population is comprised of college students.

The common thread that has united neighborhood groups and community leaders supporting the ordinance are complaints of loud parties and nocturnal revelry. Students argue that the influx of college students into the Boston neighborhoods has displaced crime and helped local businesses.

The recently passed ordinance leaves students and landlords who have already entered into leasing agreements for the fall unsure of how to proceed.

Sophomore Jessica Luccio has joined four area landlords who are seeking to overturn the ordinance by filing a motion in the Massachusetts Land Court. Students feel as though they are being unfairly singled out and will be forced into expensive apartment rentals if they cannot find larger homes for rent.

Colgate University Sued for Monopolizing Housing

Students at a Colgate University fraternity sued the school after a new school policy required that all students live on campus. The fraternity alleged that not only had the school coerced fraternities into selling their privately owned houses to the school, but that the action was also in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.

By buying up a majority of the housing available to students and then forcing students to live in those properties, Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE), alleged that the school had therefore monopolized the relevant housing market. The school, however, claimed that the relevant market was liberal arts colleges nationwide, since they must compete with these institutions for students.

Although DKE countered by claiming that once a student had matriculated and paid a substantial initial cost, the local housing market became the relevant market, the court sided with the University and threw out the lawsuit.

We will be following the lawsuit in Boston and highlight details from the ordinance's fallout. In the meantime, best of luck to college students looking for off campus apartments for rent!

Each week, MyNewPlace provides a compendium of news articles on apartments for rent, the rental market and interesting apartment features. We also track legislation that affects the rental market, highlighting new features for apartment owners and renters, and taking a look at notable apartment trends.

Political Corner

A plethora of legislative actions are affecting the multifamily industry this week at both the state and federal levels.

We've been covering a proposed federal bailout of banks and homeowners and featured summaries on the roundups from April 21^st and April 28^th. On May 5th, H.R. 5830, the FHA Housing Stabilization and Homeownership Retention Act of 2008 was placed on the Union Calendar, means that it will be considered by the Committee of the Whole, a parliamentary tactic used to expedite legislation. This haste is due to the perceived timeliness of bill's legislative remedy, as well its authorship by the Chair of the House Finance Committee.

In California, we have highlighted two political issues in previous blog posts whose upshots may affect the apartment rental industry.

The first is a bill that has just passed the State Senate's Judiciary Committee, which would protect apartment owners who seek to make their apartments smoke free. Since there has not been any lawsuits filed against apartment owners on the grounds preserving a tenant's right to smoke, the bill has been criticized as not going far enough by some smoke free advocates who would like to see an outright ban, as exists in two California towns.

Also in California, two competing statewide ballot initiatives will be decided by voters on June 3^rd. Both initiatives seek to reform eminent domain, but one, Proposition 98 is tackling another property rights issue, rent control. Proposition 98 would phase out rent control in California and make it more difficult for governments to seize property under eminent domain.

Green Apartments

A column in LA Weekly suggests that renting an apartment is much more ecologically friendly than owning a home. We have touched upon this issue, exploring how living density is integral to a green lifestyle. By living in apartments people can share resources as well as preserve existing open spaces.

Of course, these effects are only optimized when an apartment building undertakes to become more sustainable by conserving power and water.

To that end, Thomas Scali of the U.S Energy Group offers some insightful commentary on being a proactive ‘building efficiency driver." A property manager should not only react to emergencies or tenant complaints, but be intimately acquainted with the energy mechanisms of each apartment building. This attentiveness will reduce emissions and costs.

A Creative Renting Strategy

And finally, we leave you this week with an article from the LA Times that offers a creative approach to finding renters. Would you rent your home out as a ‘crashpad' to airline crews? To offset living expenses, one homeowner rented out four bunk beds in an extra bedroom for $250 a month per person each month.

Check back with us each week to get the latest from the apartment rental industry.

As always, feel free to send us links to stories that you find interesting.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be featuring snippets from an article authored by the National Apartment Association (NAA) and the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) entitled Don't Buy the Myths: Renting Can Be a Smart Decision. The Rent vs. Buy article focuses on 9 widespread misconceptions regarding the benefits of homeownership over rental apartments.

MYTH# 3: My mortgage payment will be less than my rent.

Your mortgage payment is just the beginning. The “hidden costs" of ownership can add up to thousands of dollars each year.

Do not expect to be able to afford a $1,000 a month mortgage because you can afford $1,000 for apartment rent. According to Suze Orman, your annual budget for additional homeownership costs should be around 40-45 percent of your mortgage. That means you'll need to budget more than $1,400 per month for housing costs, not $1,000.

What makes hidden costs drive up monthly housing expenditures?

• Property taxes: If you own a $200,000 home and your property taxes are 1.25 percent (the U.S. average is 1.38 percent, with a high of 2.21 in New Hampshire and a low of .40 in Hawaii) then you'll need to budget around $200 each month just for property taxes.
• Maintenance costs: Now that you are financially responsible for the upkeep of your home, you'll need to budget about 1 percent of the cost of your home for repairs and maintenance. For a $200,000 house, this will be more than $150 a month.
• Private Mortgage Insurance: If you make a down payment of less than 20 percent, you are also going to need to pay around $100 a month in PMI costs.

So, in this example, you would be paying around $1,450 per month for housing costs, a substantial jump up from $1,000 rent. Be sure to factor in these costs, as well as homeowner's insurance, before you make the decision to buy a home.

For more information, check out the full Rent vs Buy article, which can be found at the MyNewPlace Apartment Guide.

Check back next week when we will feature Myth #4, “The Myth of the Constancy of Housing Costs."

On the next statewide California ballot, the June 3^rd legislative primaries, Propositions 98 and 99 will be battling to set new regulations on eminent domain. Since the landmark eminent domain case, Kelo v. the City of New London was decided by the Supreme Court in 2005, states have rushed to clarify the circumstances under which the government may condemn and seize private property for public use.

Although eminent domain is an important issue to all property owners, one of the proposed initiatives, Proposition 98, is of especial interest to apartment owners and renters as it includes language that would phase out rent control in California.

Currently, in California there are 12 cities that have rent control ordinances. West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Berkeley, East Palo Alto and Cotati have 'strong rent-control laws,' which establish permanently regulated rent control regardless of the turnover of tenants. This is different from San Francisco's rent stabilization, which sets caps on increases once a tenant has moved in.

Rent control is a contentious issue. Cities whose populations are comprised mainly of renters cite the need to maintain a stable rental market and protect low income families from tumultuous rental markets. The economy as a whole would be vulnerable if renters from each demographic were not able to contribute to a locality.

Arguments against rent control maintain that regulations are counterproductive to their own goals and end up creating housing shortages and reducing quality. When rents are artificially low for long term tenants, landlords must charge inflated prices for newly vacated apartments to make up for lost revenue from rent controlled apartments.

Another adverse effect of rent control is that nullifies one of the main advantages of renting, mobility. The Section 8 Housing Program, which grants housing vouchers, is commonly referred to as being a widely effective affordable housing program. Cities that impose rent control may in fact be making it more difficult for tenants to find affordable apartments for rent.

The Public Policy Institute of California polled likely voters and found that 53 percent believe rent control is a good thing and 39 percent think it is bad.

How do you feel about rent control? Have you benefited from rent control policies?

Oh my god, we were totally right about the keyword “Hillside Villas" going through the roof yesterday! I mean, it was so obvious that it was going to happen. You would have to live in a cave under a rock at the bottom of the Mariana Trench to not see it coming. Or the valley. ZING!

So, we made the prediction last week that following Monday night's new episode of The Hills, MyNewPlace would again be hit by a wave of Google searches for the super trendy apartment of Lauren Conrad and Audrina Patridge, the Hillside Villas. Oh and Earth to me, if you are going to write about the Hills, make sure you've got your facts straight, her name is Audrina, not Adriana Patridge.

Look at the graph below, it has more crazy ups and downs than Scott Baio's career:

Keyword Search Traffic

Last Monday night's episode was particularly entertaining as the situation between Lauren and Audrina and the new BF, Justin Bobby unfolded. The situation is later escalated when Lauren begins discussing her roommates with Lo. So when Audrina eventually joins them, Lauren brings up renewing their lease at Hillside Villas. Lauren hinted at looking for a new apartment for rent. As if the situation couldn't become any more awkward it does when Audrina indecisively says she would be interested in moving into the house if welcomed.

Are viewers looking to possible move in with Lauren if Audrina moves out or if their Hillside Villas apartment becomes available?

Until next Monday's show the theme song had it right in saying “the rest is still “Unwritten“

Smoking in rental apartments is a controversial topic. On one hand, it seems reasonable that one should be free to do all legal activities within their own home, rented or not. On the other hand, when does this right to privacy infringe upon the rights of others?

The State of California may soon be intervening on the side of non-smokers.

Senate Bill 1598, authored by Senator Alex Padilla (D-San Fernando Valley) and passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 29^th, would provide legal protection for apartment owners who want to ban smoking in their apartment complexes.

The bill does not seek an outright ban on smoking in apartments, an action that some anti-smoking groups have pushed for, who claim that the bill does not change the status quo. This middle of the road approach protects private apartment owners who want to ban smoking in their apartments from lawsuits.

Apartment owners, however, already implicitly have the right to enact regulations and prohibitions in their apartment buildings, including any those pertaining to smoking. So, what does the bill actually accomplish?

All court cases that we have seen have involved non-smokers filing suit to force apartment owners to take action to prevent second hand smoke under the Fair Housing Act, or suits between neighbors not apartment owners facing legal recourse on the grounds of rights to privacy or a ‘right to smoke.'

Many apartment owners have already ‘cleared the air;' by prohibiting smoking in their apartment buildings, they can command higher rents as well as slow depreciation and mitigate the risk of fires.

The law may have the effect of creating publicity about the benefits that apartment owners may reap by going smoke free; smokers that rent apartments in buildings that change policies will face the decision of whether to move out or to take it outside.

Be on the lookout for tips in our apartment guide on the topic of settling disputes between apartment neighbors.

Have renters had problems with a neighbor who smokes? Would you pay more to live in a non-smoking apartment building?

Should MyNewPlace add a Smoke Free search filter?

Over the next few weeks, we'll be featuring snippets from an article authored by the National Apartment (NAA) and the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) entitled Don't Buy the Myths: Renting Can Be a Smart Decision. The article focuses on 9 widespread misconceptions regarding the benefits of homeownership over apartment rentals.

MYTH# 2: Paying rent is throwing away money. I could be building equity.

During the first five years, more than 80% of your monthly mortgage payment goes directly to interest. Furthermore, since nearly one third of all homeowners move within five years, they never have a chance to start building any real equity. Also, if you take into account the money spent during that time on maintenance, taxes, insurance and the costs to buy and sell their house, most would have saved money by renting.

If you were to buy a $200,000 house with a 5% down payment at a 6% interest rate, you will have paid $55,152 in interest and only $13,196 in principal, after five years of mortgage payments. In addition, you will likely have paid between $10,000 and $20,000 in maintenance and repair to earn that equity.

Chances are you could earn more than this in a number of investments that are more diversified and less risky than putting all of your eggs in one basket. For more information on Diversifying Your Portfolio by Renting, see that blog post, which discusses the rent vs own debate from an investment perspective.

For more information, check out the full Rent vs Buy article, which can be found at the MyNewPlace Apartment Guide.

Check back next week when we will feature Myth #3, “My Mortgage Will Be Less than My Rent."