Two Ann Arbors
How can anyone argue that A2 rent is too high with deals out there like the ones offered at Academic Homes? How about a Kerrytown 2-bedroom in a building of “academics and young professionals” with all hardwood floors and heat included for $1050? Or a 4-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom Ann Arbor Hills house, perfect for a “discerning family,” for $1995? Of course housing discrimination on the basis of student status or source of income is illegal, so we’re sure that the site’s promise to “help you locate professionals to stay in your home while you are away” isn’t meant to be taken literally.
(To clarify, we mean that these rents, at $500/bedroom, are amazing deals by Ann Arbor standards, just not likely available to riffraff like ourself.)
“Or a 4-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom Ann Arbor Hills house, perfect for a ‘discerning family,’ for $1995?”
Well, actually, that seems like a good deal in the sense that it has to be considerably less than the monthly mortgage, taxes, insurance, and maintenance for a 2600 sq ft house in Ann Arbor Hills. Say $500K at 6% plus ~$10K in property taxes — that’s $40K. Then add insurance and upkeep. Of course you get a tax deduction to reduce the bill, but you’d probably be nailed by the AMT, and even if not, you’d still be well above $2K/month.
Maybe we should sell and rent
posted by mw on May 14th, 2007 at 1:15 pm“Of course housing discrimination on the basis of student status or source of income is illegal”
Well, but, what the off-campus housing site says is:
“The landlord still has the right to screen all tenants as to individual responsibility and to select the one most suitable for the unit, as long as all tenants are screened equally. ”
So why not just screen applicants by credit scores? (Which, BTW, seems like a perfectly defensible kind of screening for a landlord to do) Students generally don’t have much in the way of credit histories or credit scores, so, voila…
posted by mw on May 14th, 2007 at 1:28 pmRight, it is a good deal — just not likely one that’s open to everyone.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on May 14th, 2007 at 2:27 pmHaving grown up in a family that spent various sabatical years in other places, and having lived as a renter in a couple of college towns, it seems to me that most college towns have three rental markets, student, non-student, and visiting faculty.
The differences between the student and non-student markets tend to involve quality, location, and the sorts of screening involved. That gets covered a lot here.
The difference between non-student rental housing and visiting faculty housing has more to do with the expected length of stay. Normal non-student residents tend to rent places that are owned as investments by landlords, and are rented out constantly. If a tenant decides to stay longer than the original lease term, that just means the landlord doesn’t have to go to the trouble of finding a new tenant. The visiting faculty houses tend to be the normally owner occupied houses of university faculty on sabatical. As faculty on sabatical generally have firm dates on which they’re counting on being able to move back into their houses, they’ve got a strong incentive to find tenants who also have a job somewhere else to get back to.
As the pool of tenants meeting that criteria is fairly small, the visiting faculty rental rates tend to be lower than the long term resident rental rates. If it’s any consolation, the visiting faculty paying the reduced rental rates in one college town are probably renting their own houses out at similarly reduced rates in other college towns.
posted by scg on May 14th, 2007 at 7:25 pmscg, where do graduate students fit into this picture?
posted by Nick on May 14th, 2007 at 7:38 pmIf you are a discerning family willing to shell out $2000 a month to rent a house, you are surely discerning enough to rent my 1999 Jeep Cherokee with an almost perfect transmission for…er….I’ll let it go for $850 a month and throw in a slightly used rear facing infant seat. Call me!
posted by Sarah on May 14th, 2007 at 8:29 pmI picture AAIO as slightly hunched, black t-shirt, three days beard growth with a surly, cynical look on his/her face. Would you rent your house to such a character? I think not! Does the EEOC prohibit not renting to bitter grad students?
posted by Sulli on May 15th, 2007 at 8:57 amHeh — your picture of AAIO is wrong in every detail.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on May 15th, 2007 at 9:05 amWell, I am wearing a black t-shirt. And sneering at the screen as I type this.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on May 15th, 2007 at 9:06 amSo he/she has ramrod straight posture, glowing skin and an ebullient countenance. Could he be…
http://www.donny.com/
posted by Sulli on May 15th, 2007 at 9:24 amI have to admit (sheepishly) that I came across that $1050 2BR, thought it was a great deal, and contacted the owner.
As a grad student who’s currently doing the A2 housing shuffle, I’m beginning to understand the depth of the housing problem here in town. The problem being a complete lack of decent housing for those of us unable to buy but unwilling to live in a sh*t-hole.
posted by MLK on May 15th, 2007 at 2:10 pmSwallow that pride. Its just a big lump. You’ll feel better in the long run.
posted by Ypsidweller on May 15th, 2007 at 7:11 pmfuck yes.
Ann Arbor is so fucking over priced. But alas, we wouldn’t possibly want to make it easier for low socioeconomic status students who want to come to the glorious university of michigan…
posted by Anonymous on May 15th, 2007 at 8:54 pmI know a ranch style brick house in the area near Pontiac Trail that will available to rent this July. I am pretty sure it is under $1000 a month. It has three bedrooms,1 bathroom, basement, beautiful garden (front and back)I know the landlord personally….If interested email me
posted by CB on May 17th, 2007 at 10:36 pmcarachapina@yahoo.com
Nick - I fail to see how a grad student is not a “student.” They may wish to think of themselves as otherwise, but they aren’t.
posted by Anonymous on May 18th, 2007 at 4:06 pmIf you think $500/bed is a great deal (and I agree), I have a house for rent at $1950/mo for four full bedrooms, with parking. It’s at 907 S. Main, just south of Davis. Look it up at www.wilsonwhitecompany.com or call 734-995-9200.
posted by Matt on May 18th, 2007 at 4:19 pmIt seems there are many affordable options for renters who want to share living space. But for those of us in the Deuce who are single, tired of living with roommates, and want a decent, affordable 1BR to ourselves? Forget it. (Though if you have any leads, I’d be grateful to hear about them.)
posted by shana on May 19th, 2007 at 11:58 amI agree with you Shana! I work 40 hours a week and bring home $476 every two weeks. I’d like to find a clean, safe, and quiet efficiency near the bus stop.
posted by WorkerBee on May 19th, 2007 at 1:11 pmThis is directed to WorkerBee….If anyone tells you to get on the Avalon Housing waitlist…run the opposite way! These characters are not to be trusted at all. I was a tenant with them two different times and they are the worse landlords to have in AA for working people. They do not have safe apartments at all…no matter what they say or anyone says. Take it from a former tenant.If I could afford the shrink fees for the terror I felt by living next to drug dealers and whores and schizos….
posted by CB on May 21st, 2007 at 3:01 amHave to take issue with the pejorative “schizo”. Whoring and drug dealing is, in the final analysis, a lifestyle choice (albeit frequently a result of complex socio-economic issues that are only getting worse as we speak), whereas those of us with schizophrenic loved ones bless Avalon for providing opportunities for housing to one of the most vunerable segments of our population as well as one of the poorest, the mentally ill. Try finding a 1 bedroom in AA when receiving $540 SSDI per month to live on. You better believe they are generally pretty happy with the opportunity to have Avalon as a landlord as opposed to The Delonis Center.
posted by Stella on May 21st, 2007 at 9:11 amYou at least have some choices, they generally don’t. Your “terror” pales in comparison to the terror of being under served, extremely ill, completely vunerable and homeless.
So you let Avalon take on the burden of housing your schizo “loved ones”, presumably because you don’t want to have to deal with their shit, but then you call CB to task for not bucking up and enjoying their company?
If these are truly your “loved ones” then take them the fuck back to your house and don’t saddle the rest of us with them. And if you’re going to go ahead and make the community do your job, then at least have the decency not to get all huffy when someone complains.
posted by Parking Structure Dude! on May 21st, 2007 at 1:23 pm“Thanks” for the Nazi thing, Poorly Socialized Dud. Hitler, who killed the so-called “untermensch” like he did the Jews, would be happy to call you a companion.
You always save me the work of having to think who the least decent person in Ann Arbor is, because you are always at the top of the list, in your perpetual flasher-in-a-trenchcoat-with-a-mask-on anonymity.
(My condolences to Stella for PSD’s gutter behavior, as used to it as we all are by this time.)
posted by David Boyle on May 21st, 2007 at 1:34 pmOh, Dude. Wrong. And pretty flippin’ presumptuous.
posted by Nitro on May 21st, 2007 at 2:16 pmThanks DB & Nitro. As the latter probably knows, I fervently pray that my commitment to defend and serve the under served will never flag. And BTW whores & the working poor (among others) fit into that category as well.
posted by Stella on May 21st, 2007 at 11:34 pmBlame the victim seems to never get old, especially as AA gets more yupscale. Maybe we’ll get lucky and someone will try to open a Hooters around here and we can finally, officially, take our social cues from Troy.
I as a native of Ann Arbor and student else where I must say, $500 a bedroom is way unreasonable and I would never pay that.
posted by EJ on June 18th, 2007 at 7:54 pmI am a native of ann arbor as well as a student at the university. I have an aparatment at Nob Hill apartments. They are rather affordable and *Very* nice. One of the nicest apartment complexes in the area.
I live in a studio for $612 a month with all utilities included. Not only that but I got my first month free. You can even get it furnished at no extra price! Parking is also free for all residents.
The one bedroom is around $700 without utlities.
But the quality of the place is amazing. It’s not like most student housing since most people who live there are grad students or real people with families who just live in ann arbor. I have friends who are all amazed by my place (being as nice as it is), as well as by the price!
I think you just have to know where to look.
posted by Melanie on July 6th, 2007 at 1:38 pmalso should mention I live by myself. no roomates.
Good place for singles.
posted by Melanie on July 6th, 2007 at 1:39 pmYou are aware that you can get a studio apartment on Chicago’s lakefront for what you’re paying at Nob Hill.
Chicago: a better place for singles.
posted by HNG on July 6th, 2007 at 11:36 pm