It is two days after a friend of mine flew out to visit Denver to look for an apartment as she prepares for her eminent move to Colorado. It has been reported in numerous polls that Denver is in the top 10 fastest growing metro areas in the United States. You can check out the following article by KUNC detailing this growth.
As a result of this it is not unusual to hear stories of expensive apartments, difficulty finding housing, and people being priced entirely out of the housing market and having to live really far away from downtown Denver. This situation is what my friend landed into and as I helped her look for housing last weekend the problems with the housing market in Denver (and other high demand areas) started to present themselves.
High Demand
Creates some interesting (read sh$tty) realities for the potential renter needing a home in their new (or current) town. Based on what I saw this weekend I’m left wondering several things:
- How much money are people earning in order to afford rent here?
- How are people coming up with all of the upfront money being requested of future renters?
- What is the breaking point?
- Who are these potential renters?
- How are these renters affording their rent?
I just had so many freaking questions. I’m going to share a breakdown of what it was like for me to go with my friend apartment hunting. Please note: I haven’t looked for housing in at least 10 years so I have virtually no frame of reference for how it should work. I just knew that people were experiencing a completely different process and expectation than I did when I was a renter.
We looked at 4 different properties in Denver and Aurora. I have certain biases so I tried to discourage my friend from looking in certain areas. We did end up looking in those areas and I’m glad I did because the experience of looking for housing was the same EVERYWHERE.
Nickel and Dimed
Complexes seemed to be nickel and diming their potential renters. I was absolutely appalled by the number of numbers being thrown around like confetti. Here were all of the different fees I noticed complexes expecting tenants to pay:
- Application Fee-$100
- Background Check-$40
- Credit Check-Which may or may not be part of the Background check.
- Pet deposit-potentially non-refundable. Around $200+ a pet
- Monthly pet fees-$50-$75 a month.
- Deposit-Ranging from a small percentage to a full month’s rent. We were looking at rents around $1100-$1200.
- Washer and Dryer Rental-$40 a month.
- Several places required tenants to pay for: electric, sewage, water, and heat. One place said it would average around $150 (depending usage).
- Some places included everything and even wifi.
- Paid parking/Covered Parking-$40
I forgot to mention that they also took our id’s as well. It was an absolutely exhausting, surprising, and mind blowing experience…in not a good way. Also, several of them didn’t have the ability to take digital payments and insisted on paper checks or money orders-what decade/century are we in??
What You Can Do
As a potential new renter in a high demand area there are some things that you can do to prepare to go through the gauntlet that is similar to going to war.
- Have good credit.
- Have a good cash reserve. Seriously. Like thousands of dollars in cash. For a $1100 rental my friend was looking at putting down around $2200+ for each place (she has 2 pets so she would be paying double pet deposits).
- Have the information on your past 3 jobs: earnings, contact information, your supervisor, and duration of stay for each position.
- If you are changing jobs (like my friend is) also have your offer letter for the new position.
- A calculator-seriously.
- Take a friend who operates on logic-not emotion. They will ask questions that you might forget to ask. I was wondering about: the outside light fixtures, security services, how often the fireplaces were serviced, and a few other things.
- Patience, so much patience
A Few Strategies
Fortunately, there are a few strategies that a potential renter can utilize so that they don’t rush the process.
- Ask if the places you like has a 24-48 hour hold that doesn’t require any money down. Be sure to ask about the money part because I don’t want you pissed off when you’re asked to put some money down.
- A budget-And it should be a realistic one. If you are looking at a place that has a number of random extra expenses calculate the highest amount that you possibly can for each expense. Don’t low ball it in the hopes that you can just afford it. Don’t do that to yourself.
- Be flexible-You just might not get everything you want in a high demand market. Something might have to give.
- Request everything in writing. I couldn’t wrap my head around all of the numbers flying around and we both found that we needed time to calculate all of the costs.
- A friend from the town that your moving to.
We had 1.5 days to get this done because my friend was returning to work and then flying overseas the following week. It was stressful but we focused on the goal and got it done.
Ironically, my friend ended up choosing a unit that I picked in a much better part of town, all inclusive, and along the transit line. It doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles that my friend wants and it is still pretty expensive but at least she doesn’t have to figure out all of the costs.
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That reminds me of when I first moved to Seattle and was looking for apartments. It was cheaper back then, but the vacancy rate was non-existent, so you had to almost choose a spot as soon as you walked in the door (and hope you got there first) and had to have a “renter’s resume” ready to go with cash on hand for a credit check, or you stood not chance in hell of getting it. In the area I live vacancy is also declining and rents are going way up because so many hi-tech companies are moving into the area. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. Unfortunately areas that I was kind of interested in in the future (Denver and Austin) are both experiencing HUGE growth rates. 🙁
I have 2 friends moving here for the first time this summer and another friend (originally from Colorado) who is moving back after living in L.A. for the past 4 years. The one from Colorado will be living with her sister while she prepares to buy a property. The other friend that was here this weekend has a place but that was exhausting. The third friend has a boyfriend so that will balance out the cost. But, seriously Tonya I almost passed out from shock a couple of times. There are a ton of new units being built right now but the issue is that the population growth is outpacing the number of units being built-and they are almost all luxury units which was part of what was so frustrating. Not everyone (me) needs a luxury unit. I’m of the opinion that there are certain areas that won’t drop in price (Seattle/San Francisco/NYC/L.A.) and that Denver is speeding onto that list.
This is some good info. I’m planning on moving at the end of the year or the beginning of next. I want to get closer to the downtown area, but the apartment prices are ridiculous. By that time I will have a nice cash reserve. My credit will also be better than what it is right now. I just need to find something with a decent price.
I was shocked Jason. Literally, shocked by the experience. I won’t be moving for awhile just based on how expensive places are in Denver.
I’m going to have to deal with all of this soon with my upcoming move to my own place! It’s crazy looking for a place in a high demand area. You need a check in hand.
Melanie, I was a little traumatized and a bit disheartened by the whole experience. I’m a lot more understanding of what people are struggling with when looking for homes.