COMMENT OF THE DAY: WON’T GET MOVED AGAIN “The move out procedure has been pretty crazy so far. You have to go and schedule your move out date (down to a 4hr window) to qualify for any of the incentives (a month of rent back) if they catch you moving outside of the window they claim they could hold out on the incentive. You have to make the move out appointment soon, i.e. in the next couple days. What we found was that it made for a difficult time finding a new place given the strong rental market right now. My family member is on a fixed income, so we needed cheap with easy bus access. We got her in to Maryland Manor, on Bissonnet, should be a stable community for awhile, and they had lots of space.” [MH005, commenting on 4444 Westheimer Residents To Be Gently Escorted from Their Domiciles]
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Maybe Maryland Manor has so much space because it’s about to be torn down soon for the long-awaited Ashby high-rise. Better keep those moving boxes handy…
Maryland Manor? Is that not where the Ashby high rise is going up?
Apartment living is not stable, that’s why buying is best for long term financial planning….
I got thrown by that, too, but the MH005’s continued comments on the original article explain that it was a joke.
That’s crazy to move from one tear down complex to another! I hope they reviewed the lease to make sure there is no “60 day notice” clause. Yikes!
houston apt rental rates are out of control
Sorry, yes it was just a joke. We didn’t move her to Maryland Manor, but we did move to an older complex in Montrose, which given the current environment probably only has a 2-3yr shelf life before it becomes highfalutin living.
The bigger joke is all the hoops they are making residents jump through for the incentive at Westcreek. There is also a group forming at the apartment who is looking to make a public stink about the whole thing. Hopefully none of the local TV stations will accept the invite. Sorry folks, you are not disinfranchised, you agreed to the eviction.
Rental rates are out of control? Who do you suggest should control them?
Rental rates are out of control. When I first moved inside the loop, I rented 728 sq ft 1 bedroom for @825 a month after all the goofy incentives. That same unit is now renting for $1315 with no incentives offered. This is in an “older” complex (late 1990s). I used to hear from people who relocated to Houston that affordable rentals were a big plus coming to Houston compared to places like Boston, Chicago, NY, San Fran, etc. Coming to Houston meant having an extra $500-1000 a month from housing cost savings and not having to deal with roommates or living in a cruddy part of town. That advantage for Houston is erroding away. Hopefully the boom in mutlifamily construction will keep rent inflation down, but more is needed.
The market will dictate these out of control apartment rents. There are like 23187498172354 units under construction inside loop and galleria area now. when they hit the market in a year or two I expect the rents to drop significantly. @ OldSchool, I have same story, I used to rent for $750 and now same unit is like $1400 and it isnt really very nice. Stick around folks, this overbuilding will catch up to supply/demand soon. Ben
Gables behind Carrabas on Kirby is over $2 per sf per month, west ave is also over $2 per sf per month. IMO this is outragious. I’d pay MAYBE $1.50 and I have a decent job to afford it.
Benny, you are correct that the oversupply of apartments in what amounts to a relatively small area of Houston will drive down average rental rates in about 3 years. There will be lots of incentives offered to lease out the complexes that are the last to come on line in, say, late 2014.
I question the folks at the banks that are doing the lending on all these things. I guess they have no memory of “2008 Housing Crash” or “2001 downturn”, or even better, “1984 Houston Real Estate Bust”. But that goes to the larger argument over whether the banks have socialized their risk and privatized their gains.
@ Shadyheightster,
You’re right, the banks will get hammered (again)