ann arbor is overrated.

Because It Seems a Lot Longer Than That

An adorably naive incoming grad student asks about housing options. “I am starting to look into housing now to beat some of the rush … I would really like to find a nice apartment in a close but quiet neighborhood.” Ha. Ha. Ha. Has it really been just six years since that April when we eagerly perused the U’s housing page with the same fairytale visions of lots of available nice apartments close to campus with prices that obey some kind of rational market forces?

38 Responses to “Because It Seems a Lot Longer Than That”

“Trust in the Market Force, Luke”

What I’m glad got cut out of the Star Wars script.
posted by David Boyle on April 10th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
weeeeelll… if you scroll down the comments you will notice that the woman who posited the question is seriously considering a $900 one bedroom because she likes the interior. it’s unavailable so she says she “wishes there were more places like this around”. she actually sounds like a perfect candidate for the aa housing market.

six years… isn’t your time in aa about over? not to break the graduate student code of honour… but shouldn’t you be graduating soon?
posted by Miko on April 10th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Yes, six years is about the average and I am almost done.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 10th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
but who will take up the aaio torch when you are gone????
posted by Miko on April 10th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
We paid $825 a month for a 2 bedroom duplex with a garage and a finished basement near Frazer’s Pub in the early 90’s. Nice place. Very quiet neighborhood. Easy bike or bus ride to campus down Packard or through Burns Park. If the rent only kept pace with inflation, it’d go for $1175. But I just googled, and it’s available now for $995:

http://aarec.com/index.php?option=com_ezrealty&task=detail&id=6&Itemid=

So quit whining…
posted by mw on April 10th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
mw - We’re not complaining because of the _increase_ in rent compared to inflation. We’re complaining because the rent here is ridiculous compared to other markets. Other Big Ten towns are much cheaper than Ann Arbor, and trust me as someone who’s lived in a few, it’s not like Ann Arbor is any better of a place to live. Plus, even in Chicago you can find cheaper and better apartments than here.

But gee, at least it’s cheaper than New York or San Francisco! (shhhhhh, don’t tell the land lords, they’ll get ideas!)
posted by Beth on April 10th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
_mw - We’re not complaining because of the _increase_ in rent compared to inflation. We’re complaining because the rent here is ridiculous compared to other markets. Other Big Ten towns are much cheaper than Ann Arbor, and trust me as someone who’s lived in a few, it’s not like Ann Arbor is any better of a place to live. Plus, even in Chicago you can find cheaper and better apartments than here._

Still, a 20% drop in real terms over 15 years is pretty significant — especially given what has happened to housing values in the same period. The idea that rents here involves some kind of landlord conspiracy or defy the market is kind of goofy. Rents have been flat or dropped in the last decade and a half even while house prices have gone nuts. Why didn’t that $825/mo we were paying go to $2000/mo? Because the owner of that particular building is insufficiently flinty-eyed and greedy? Or because $995 is all the market will bear (and we’ve heard from old neighbors over there that it has been sitting empty for a while, so $995 may be optimistic). It appears to me that, over the last decade plus, lots of new apartments on the outskirts have created competition that has held down rents (and created vacancies) close to campus. It’s not cheap here for renters, but it’s cheaper than it was, which is pretty surprising, really.

_Other Big Ten towns are much cheaper than Ann Arbor, and trust me as someone who’s lived in a few, it’s not like Ann Arbor is any better of a place to live._

I seriously doubt Evanston is cheaper. I’m skeptical about Madison, too.

And I guess you care about different things when you’re a grad student. Back then, I probably would have thought Bloomington or Iowa City or Champaign were fine, but I wouldn’t want to live in any of those places now. Or Columbus. Or even Evanston (too urban). Madison would be a reasonable substitute, I guess.
posted by mw on April 10th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Data point: in Ann Arbor, I lived in a 1550 sq ft unit about a mile from campus with 5 other people with a rent of 2333. That’s $1.51 a square foot a month, not including the heat. In Evanston, I live in a unit about 1.25 miles from campus of about 1000 sq ft. It is a 2-br I share with one other person and a cat and we pay $900 a month and do not pay heat. $.90 a month per square foot. Irrespective of neighborhood amenities (Evanston wins), that is more than a 50% premium for an inferior unit in Ann Arbor.

Central Ann Arbor’s rental market is highly overpriced. It has been for decades, with a dip during the 1970s and perhaps a merciful leveling of late.

A specific note, mw: age reduces the values of housing in real terms except in three cases — total rehab or market shortage or the unusual addition of some cultural significance to the structure.
posted by Dale on April 10th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Just as a note, in 1969 there was a massive student-initiated rent strike (over $100,000 withheld in a bank in Windsor). A group of students sued the recently-formed Ann Arbor Property Managers Association, alleging that the 8-10 members who controlled more than half of the Ann Arbor rental market, constituted a trust. The federal court declined to hear the case because it claimed that the case was not a matter of interstate commerce.

When landlords took their renters to court within the state system for non-payment, students generally won rent reductions of up to 25%.
posted by Dale on April 10th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
I never paid more than $400 a month from ‘95-’00. I lived on Hill Street, Granger, and Mary Ct.

also, LOL@”it’s not like Ann Arbor is any better of a place to live”.
posted by Fred on April 10th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Uh.. $400 for a bedroom, right? Yeah, that’s too much. Just like mw’s anecdote only really illustrates that mw got rooked a while ago, and current screwing has more lube.
posted by js on April 10th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
A “bedroom” in Chicago costs me $600-$1000 so…
posted by Fred on April 11th, 2007 at 12:29 am
Dale: Data point: in Ann Arbor, I lived in a 1550 sq ft unit about a mile from campus with 5 other people with a rent of 2333.

Look at the houses listed near campus in Ann Arbor — do you think they rent for far above what it would cost to pay the mortgage, taxes, and expenses? This one, for example:

http://annarbor.craigslist.org/apa/308936412.html

And if this is an incredible profit opportunity, why is it that Burns Park houses aren’t snapped up and turned into rentals just as fast as they come on the market? But I don’t think you could buy houses in Burns Park and rent them for enough to cover everything and still turn a profit (hell, if it were easy to do, I might do it myself). But do the math — a $400K house means $24K/yr in interest at 6% and about $10K/yr in property taxes (maybe more without the lower homestead rate). That’s $2800 month without anything to cover expenses or generate any profit. And that’s if you can buy a house even that ‘cheap’ in Burns Park:

http://annarbor.craigslist.org/rfs/308758071.html

Why do people pay $500K for smaller older houses near campus when they could have a brand new McMansion out in the townships for the same money? The problem is–yuppies with money like to live in the old neighborhoods near campus and students have to bid against them (indirectly if not directly). No conspiracy.

A specific note, mw: age reduces the values of housing in real terms except in three cases — total rehab or market shortage or the unusual addition of some cultural significance to the structure.

Age hasn’t reduced the value of the house I’m living in over the past 15 years — quite the reverse, the value has more than doubled without major rehabbing. Which is pretty typical for Ann Arbor, I think. But rents have not doubled in the same time frame.

js: Just like mw’s anecdote only really illustrates that mw got rooked a while ago

If you mean rents were higher then in real terms, yes — that’s my point. But if you mean we paid way too much at the time — no. We shopped around quite a bit.
posted by mw on April 11th, 2007 at 8:14 am
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/realestate/11leonhardt.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
posted by Ypsidweller on April 11th, 2007 at 9:26 am
but who will take up the aaio torch when you are gone????

Well, Dave Cahill and I weren’t planning to make the announcement public for a while, but…
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 11th, 2007 at 10:14 am
But Cahill doesn’t really need another soapbox, does he? I mean, he’s already got ihavetomgantertscockinmymouth.com.
posted by Parking Structure Dude! on April 11th, 2007 at 10:43 am
It makes a lot more sense for a grad student to buy someplace crappy on the outskirts of town and rent out a couple rooms to fellow grad students (call it a “community”) to pay the mortgage. What’s wrong with being a capitalist?

You can get a place for less than $200K with like 5% down.
posted by hma on April 11th, 2007 at 11:25 am
When I was in law school, another student bought a 3-story 9-bedroom house two blocks from campus, and rented out rooms to me and one other law student (the rest of the rooms still needed a lot of work).

Buying the house cost $5,500 cash. No, really: five thousand five hundred.

But that was Detroit in 1979. A house like that might cost more than $25,000 today.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on April 11th, 2007 at 11:58 am
mw — I think we’re having different arguments. I’m talking about supply and demand.
posted by Dale on April 11th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
So Parking Structure Dud has some time off from looking for teenage children to abuse to come here and slander David Cahill.
What’s your IP address, Dud? For that matter, what’s your full name, you frustrated, unfunny pervert?
posted by David Boyle on April 11th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
It makes a lot more sense for a grad student to buy someplace crappy on the outskirts of town and rent out a couple rooms to fellow grad students (call it a “community”) to pay the mortgage. What’s wrong with being a capitalist?

You can get a place for less than $200K with like 5% down.

The problem with buying is that you’re stuck in Ann Arbor until some poor sod wants to buy your crappy house. It’s hard to get rid of real estate around here, and grad students might, someday (*gasp*) graduate.
posted by Anonymous on April 11th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
mw — I think we’re having different arguments. I’m talking about supply and demand.

Well, yes, that’s how markets work. But while housing prices have gone up rapidly in the past 15 years, rents haven’t. And that’s also because of supply and demand–lots of rental units have come onto the market. Within 3/4 of a mile of campus? No (with the exception of the Corner House Apts), but it’s still the same housing market. Students can and do rent out where it’s cheaper (and/or the units are newer and nicer and there’s free parking), and commute in (as my wife and I did as a grad students in the late 80’s and early 90’s). More high rises near campus would help, as will the new dorms (North Quad and the private dorm both).

But as it is, for student renters, the situation is better rather than worse than it was in the recent past. Especially if you figure rent as a fraction of total cost of education (the rent/tuition ratio has to be at historic lows).
posted by mw on April 11th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
the situation is better rather than worse than it was in the recent past.

I definitely believe this (although the Observer claims it’s going to get worse soon.) But it’s still not good; remember that the median two-bedroom in Washtenaw rents for the same as the median two-bedroom in the Chicago area.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 11th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Madison House is available in the Fall. Semi-legal backyard music venue included. Send inquiries to brandonzwa (at) gmail.com
posted by Brandon on April 11th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Dear god, hope you get the letter and I pray that it was AAIO’s divine sense of humor to imply Cahill may someday take the reins of this site. I’m not one to tell people what they should or shouldn’t do, so I’m asking you…I hear you have published volumes on the subject.

Respectfully,

Me

P.S. Please enlighten those who think it “makes sense” or is some sort of answer to this rental market that a grad student purchase a “crappy” house. Aside the obvious bit that the days of 5% down mortgages will soon die alongside the sub-prime lenders in bankruptcy court, what grad student has 5% of $200K? I mean, what grad student has 5% of $20K?
posted by FAA on April 11th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Yes. The rent here is crazy for what you get if you want to live close to campus. I personally refused to pay more than I paid for an apartment in Chicago to live in A2 in a stained-carpet shithole next to a loud bunch of undergrads with a soggy sofa in their grassless front yard.

Are there really any quiet neighborhoods close to campus here? I sure as hell didn’t notice any.

If you take some time and look around a little further out, you _can_ find a decent deal. I found a 2BR with all wood floors, a working fireplace, in-unit washer/dryer, and a garage parking space for $950 +utilitites near Jackson and Revena.

Now if i could just find a decent pizza.
posted by dm on April 11th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
I lived in a basement for $100 a month at Maynard and William. Right under the front porch. While the stomping of snow of boots over my bed constantly was a down side, I got to hear everyones deep secrets.
posted by Blofeld on April 11th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
We should just have the city buy all the apartment buildings near campus and charge graduate students $300 a month in rent, with the difference paid for by a special millage.
posted by JCP2 on April 12th, 2007 at 12:26 am
We should just have the city buy all the apartment buildings near campus and charge graduate students $300 a month in rent, with the difference paid for by a special millage.

You’re beginning to think like an Ann Arborite; but go all the way and demolish half of the apartment buildings to provide for a greenway.
posted by halflight on April 12th, 2007 at 9:03 am
“We should just have the city buy all the apartment buildings near campus and charge graduate students $300 a month in rent, with the difference paid for by a special millage.”

Sure, that SOUNDS like a great idea, but within six months the apartment buildings would be condemned and the city would be moving all of the grad students to motels in Ypsi Township–but just temporarily, while they solicited bids for a mixed use train station/grad student residence tower/community garden with composting toilets and and negative carbon footprint.

Years later, with a billion dollar motel tab dogging him, Mayor Hieftje will perform a fund raising concert in which he’ll croon his theme song:

If Ypsilanti slides into the ocean,
Like the mystics and statistics say it will,
I predict this motel will be standing
Untill I pay my bill.
posted by Parking Structure Dude! on April 12th, 2007 at 9:16 am
I don’t know what apartments are going for in A2 these days, but I would be surprised if Madison was a lot cheaper. I just moved out of an apartment four miles east of campus — not really student territory. The owner plans to charge the next tenant $895 for 2br’s.

When I moved here from A2 last year, I did think there was a much larger selection of apartments (and condos) here that there. But, Madison is almost twice the size of A2, so I’d expect that to be the case.

And yeah, you can get a cheaper apartment in Chicago than in central A2, but again — lots more selection and competition. If you want to rent walking distance-close to Northwestern in Evanston, or DePaul or U of Chicago, I’d be surprised if the rent was a lot cheaper.
posted by mjl64 on April 13th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
http://annarbor.craigslist.org/rfs/311097241.html
posted by hma on April 14th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
You’re beginning to think like an Ann Arborite.

Don’t you mean, Ann Arbourite?
posted by Chris L. on April 15th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Arguments that posit ’size of the city’ as a marker-of-presumed-rental-cost miss the mark: A2 is probably among the most congested towns in the USA when it comes to easy (non-electronic) access to credible education. It’s the same dynamic that drives rents in san fran and manhattan: access to capital (with minimal secondary capital expenditure to access said original capital resources.) U Mich is still the easiest access education credit per square mile in my reckoning, in terms of rental cost. Not that improvements could not be made. You could decide on Sweet Briar College and pay tertiary-capital costs to try and make your school credible.
posted by toasty on April 16th, 2007 at 3:36 am
Yes, I’ll be taking over when annarborisoverrated leaves town, probably around June 1. Since this website has negative net worth, I’ve had to pay a substantial sum for the takeover.

There will be a change of name to “annarborisgreatforsinglefamilyhomeowners.com”.
posted by David Cahill on April 16th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Okay, David, this is totally not what we agreed on. It was supposed to be annarborisgreatforeveryonebecausewhatsgoodforsinglefamilyhomeownersisgreatforeveryone.com
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 16th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
I think a2sux.com has the advantage of succinctitude.
posted by David Boyle on April 16th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
DO NOT, let anybody you know ever rent from McKinley Properties, my Daughter was just carjacked there, Items stolen, threats on her life if she complained to police, since Saturday there has been two muggings ! car theft & 4 home invasions all on the same property. McKinley just tries to hide from it or cover it up BEWARE!
posted by Mike on February 29th, 2008 at 4:01 pm

Because It Seems a Lot Longer Than That

38 Responses to “Because It Seems a Lot Longer Than That”

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