After writing the post last week about living in a bad neighborhood, many readers and commenters asked me why we still choose to live here. Why don’t we move to a better neighborhood?
I have an odd way of thinking about living quarters. While most people look for rentals that are in a safe, quiet neighborhood that is spacious and has features that they like, I take the stance that if it’s not mine, then I don’t want to waste my money.
I used to watch those shows on HGTV (like My First Place) about people looking for rentals and I always wanted to reach through the screen and shake them. Who cares if the walls are painted an ugly color? It’s not your place! Sure, you may want to live in it for awhile, but why would you want to spend the time and effort making something yours when it’s not even yours?
For years, we had this tiny loveseat – not even a couch. We didn’t care, because we weren’t willing to buy a couch to suit a rental. After all, what if it didn’t suit our own house? So we kept it and it was really hard to find seating for people if we had anyone over. We finally caved and bought a couch a few months ago, but it’s certainly versatile enough to go into a house we own as well.
I would never put the effort in to painting a rental, or gardening in a rental or doing anything to somebody else’s property because rentals are just that – rented! All that time spent trying to make somebody else’s house/apartment/town home nice is in vain once you move.
So to us, moving to a rental in a nicer neighborhood would cost more than what we’re paying right now.
Currently, our rent is $875/month. This doesn’t include parking ($25/month) or hydro ($25/month). So all in, we pay about $925/month on the apartment.
It is in a convenient location and that price, for an apartment in city we live in is very, very inexpensive. When we first moved here, we paid $975/month utilities not included for an apartment about half the size of what we are in right now, so for double the size (albeit a much more questionable neighborhood).
A quick Craigslist search produced not so promising results, with 1 bedroom rentals that allow dogs in the same types of neighborhoods (what I would consider a bad neighborhood) for anywhere from what we’re paying to $1200/month. Anything in what I might consider a better neighborhood would be over $1200/month and usually above that. Any more affordable alternatives are government subsidized and for lower income families, for which we do not qualify.
So, am I willing to spend $350+/month more on an apartment that isn’t mine to live in a neighborhood that may be farther away from work, that would be considered a “better” neighborhood? No.
I feel safe in the area that we currently live in, it’s just noisy and we have a lot of weird neighbours. In the meantime, we’ll save up money to buy our own place (which will be in a nicer neighborhood) while saving on paying another person’s mortgage.
Have you ever lived in a bad neighborhood? Why?
Daisy, I certainly understand your thoughts on not wanting to “fix up a rental property”.. You are right, that work would all be lost when you moved.. But for me, an extra $350/month is easily worth the safety and security that comes to living in a safe neighborhood.. Perhaps it is fact that we have children that makes the security such an important factor for us… I also think that I would worry about Michelle coming home late at night by herself in a neighborhood.. Do you ever worry about that?.. Lots of creepos in this world we love in..
-j-
We used to live in a bad neighborhood. It was super cheap. I think it was $350 for the house we rented and it had a huge backyard. It was all that we could afford since we were only 18!
I’ve lived in shady neighborhoods to save money. But I tended to make sure I was known in the shady neighborhood. The more people that knew me and looked out for me, the safer I felt.
I don’t live in a shady neighborhood but it isn’t a nice one either. We have some low income people and a lot of renters around us but the way I see it it doesn’t make me want to keep up with the jonseses because we are toward the top of our neighborhood. The real reason we live where we live is the beach though. It is only a 5 min walk away.
I think your reasons make total sense. And so long as you feel safe, why not? I’ve lived in a bad neighborhood before (where I did not feel especially safe outside of the apartment complex) because it was all we could afford. I guess we technically live in a “bad” neighborhood now, too — IF you base that on affordability vs newness. But I think it’s great, our neighbors are nice, and it’s within 5 minutes of almost everywhere I go,
I completetly understand your argument. I lived in not a bad, but not so great neighborhood a number of years ago and it was for a lot of the same reasons you list here. I was willing to live there because it saved me several hundred a month (which went to repay debts) and was a good location. Sure, I would not buy a house in the same location. But my living there was only temporary and would do it again if I had to.
This didn’t sound like a post on living in a bad neigborhood as much as it sounded like a post talking about not fixing up rentals. 🙂
I dunno, maybe I’ve had different landlords or maybe I have a different outlook on life, but I always paint and fix up rentals. I always work in the garden. I always add little decorative touches. This is where I *live*. I come home from work every night and want to feel comfortable and relaxed. I want to have people over and have them feel comfortable and snug and welcomed. I want to look and see my artwork on the walls, my curtains fluttering in the breeze in the evenings, my bright red geraniums in pots on the front patio. It makes me feel warm and comforted to come home to a place that isn’t some impersonal, featureless box, but a home that I have made for myself. Even if it is a rented home – it’s still my home.
And the second part of that is that I love my landlady. She has done me the honor of trusting me with her home, and the least I can do is treat it as tho it were mine. No, I’m not going to put thousands of dollars into it, but I am going to care for it and paint it when it needs painting.
I think that the idea that “trying to make it look nice is in vain once you move” is kind of silly, actually. You’re basically saying that you don’t deserve a nice place to live because you live in a rental.
If I feel safe being outside at midnight, I’ll live in the neighborhood. I’m okay with “iffy”, but not dangerous. And I like to make rental spaces my own – at least a little bit. Maybe it’s because I have no idea when I’ll be interested in owning a home.
This is interesting!! We painted a few walls (“accent” walls) in our rental because we plan on being there for three years, and neutral drives me crazy. We also don’t have to paint over them when we leave, but I understand what you are saying. I can’t wait to have a house, but I”m so anal about the way things look I have a few nice piece now.
We have lived in a bad neighborhood before. I never really minded. At the end of the day, our apartment was super charming because it was our home.
We live in a better apt now but it’s also 2x as much. It’s five minutes away from work, which is why we moved.
I would not work to make the place I am currently renting better. We did that with out first apartment: painted, added a towel hanger, etc. We lost it all when we moved. Promised I would never make that mistake again.
Thank you for this post. After you’re ast one I was really wondering why you would want to live there. Your reasoning is completely valid. Not saying I have the same beliefs on the subject, but I can see where you’re coming from. 🙂
Interesting… that is rather different than my approach. I always try to treat a place like it is my own, because it makes it a better place to live in for me, it’s better for the landlords and better for the neighbourhood/community. “Pride of ownership” goes a long way to making areas nicer.
I’ve lived in lots of dumpy neighbourhoods as a student and these are the kinds of things that make a place look like a dive or make them a decent place to live.
Usually, the things aren’t very expensive, especially if I’m not planning to take them with me.
I have never really lived in a bad neighborhood in a a large city. I’ve lived in dumpy houses in my college town, but we are talking about a city of about 40,000 people. It wasn’t a dangerous spot. However, in the larger cities, I always prefered to live in a safer area. I didn’t mind visiting the shadier areas for work or play, but I wanted to make sure that I lived in a safer spot. I guess I’m just a wimp:)
We have a set of renters right now who take awesome care of our rental house and have fixed up a lot of things. They plan on living there for a long time. It is a great deal for us. We’ve offered to pay for the upgrades, but they usually insist. Of course, any major changes need to be run through us first, since it is ultimately our property.
In a former life I relocated to Minneapolis from the D.C. area with no job, no contacts, no anything. Just picked up stakes and started over. Given my starting point, I rented a very crappy efficiency in a scary neighborhood. With no money coming in, seemed to me the prudent thing to do. While I looked for a “real” job, I took temp jobs and anything I could get. I earned enough to pay my meager expenses. But once I got a job–took about 6 months–I bought a house and got out of there! It was an adventure, and I think the right thing to do under the circumstances.
I’m totally with you. I’ve lived in some sketchy areas, knowing that I was saving money for the future. That said, I did spend time working on the yard on one of the places I rented. I didn’t do it to improve the property as much as I did it for my sanity. I was working long days and needed some mindless activity. I figured I’d screw up learning how to do yardwork on one that wasn’t mine so that when I bought my own home I’d have a clue what I was doing.
We paid $580 a month for an apartment in a more “questionable” place for a year, and will never do that again. Not worth the risk, especially now that we have the little one. Do you have a weapon handy just in case?
Daisy, you should consider our apartment building if you ever decide to move to Vancouver. It’s not perfect (the property manager is not always responsive) but it allows cats and dogs and is ~900 a month, spacious, and quite central. With hydro and cable/internet, we pay around $1000.
For the Americans out there – “hydro” in BC is electricity. I confused a co-worker for quite a while before realizing this.
Daisy, I have lived in very sketchy places, and let me tell you this: my bank account does not regret a thing. You make good points. If it were $50 or $100, maybe it might make a little sense. I would not pay $350 extra and increase my travel time just to live in a “nicer” area.
I used to live by a strip club but was also sharing the place with two other guys (besides my fiance) so we were still paying about half of everything-for about $45 less than where we our living now and a lot less space. Eventually, living with 3 guys made me go insane–mostly because one started “dating” a stripper and had no problems leaving the door unlocked for anyone to walk in. I just wanted out of there at that point.
I live across the apartment complex from a mass murder for 6 months. I didn’t think the area was unsafe, just a little lower class. I even remember the night he was arrested, I just assumed it was a domestic violence arrest since I heard those kinds of arguments many times in my complex. That was the only really bad place I lived.
I’m totally with you on that. I don’t mind that my place is old and creaky and I can hear the people above us crystal clear when I’m in the bathroom, because it’s relatively cheap rent and I don’t own the place. My BF is interested in moving to a nicer place and pay a bit more in rent but I just don’t see the point. I’d rather save the difference so we can buy our own place that much sooner.
I lived in not the worst neighborhood of LA, but not the best either. The main reason: COST.
I didn’t worry too much about safety, even though I was out, due to work, at 11:00pm on many nights. I went to the grocery store, where not much happens. My parking space was within 5 feet of my front door, and I never really felt unsafe.
To live in almost any other “better” location, my rent would have been at least $200 per month higher for a much smaller place and only on street parking.
I never regretted moving into a so-so neighborhood.
We never really lived in a bad neighborhood but did downsize once to save money for about 17 months.
We currently live in a rental in “America’s Safest City” (seriously, it’s been voted that liek several times according to some survey). Yes our rent went up by 40% but it was worth it for our sanity and safety. Believe it or not, we got an amazing price for what we rent. Also, because Eric works 24 hour shifts, I’m alone a lot at night, so safety was a huge factor for us.
However, I also painted, put up curtains, decorated our place, AND we garden! Basically everything you said NOT to do, haha. We plan on being here a few years (maybe 3-5?) so to us it’s worth it. I would hate not being able to call our place a home just because it’s a rental. And I’m incredibly happy with our place so I guess the cost is worth it to me
“I would never put the effort in to painting a rental, or gardening in a rental or doing anything to somebody else’s property because rentals are just that – rented! All that time spent trying to make somebody else’s house/apartment/town home nice is in vain once you move.”
While this is true, I do think painting our apartment made it seem a lot nicer. It didn’t take that long either, only about a day. But I totally understand your point, especially now that we are moving out and have to paint it back :0
As a fellow bad neighbourhood dweller I agree with you… It’s just a place to hold my things while I save money 🙂 My dad once knew this woman who tore her carpet up and installed floating floors. I think I was 12 or something and I remember asking my dad wtf she was renovating her rental…
I lived in the hood literally when I was in school. We had razor wire around our complex and someone actually tried to break in while I was asleep on night. Scary! It was cheap though. I get your point. If you aren’t getting mugged, it is a means to an end when you buy your own place.
I think it depends on whether you’re in the city or in a rural area. In city life(think downtown SF), who cares where you live? As long as it’s close/convenient to where you work, things you do. My friend lived next door to a rehab center so there were some super shady characters outside his place, but it was awesome before and after we went to the bars. And it was close to work.
I don’t live in a bad area now by any means, but I did sacrifice living 5 mins from the beach to buy a place I could afford that was nicer, more spacious, etc 15 mins from the beach. But now I’m 15 mins from work, beach, second job, etc.
When I used to rent, I didn’t bother makign it “mine” either. If it worked, it worked. Now that I’m a little older, I’d be more interested in making a space more mine but not if it requires excessive money, time or effort.
I have to say though I’m glad to hear you feel safe in your neighbourhood. You’ve spoken about your odd neighbours a few times and I was a little concerned.