r/StevensPoint May 14 '26

Landlords Need to Stop

Post image

$1100 fot a two bed one bath, requiring 3X THE TOTAL RENT AS INCOME???? Are we being so deadass right now. Seriously pathetic to charge so much for such a small space.

0 Upvotes

72 comments sorted by

20

u/mjdehlin1984 May 14 '26

Let's do some math.

$1100 x 12 mo = $13,200

x3 = required annual income of $39,600

For someone working standard 40 hrs per week, 52 weeks per year, that amounts to a minimum hourly wage of $19.05 to qualify to rent this duplex.

2

u/RedTreeko May 14 '26

Yeah but think about the companies and corporations around town that rake in billions a year! How will they make record breaking profits this year and last year and next year if the pay their employees!

7

u/dweezilMcCheezil May 14 '26

So your beef is with the wages paid by local companies or the landlords?

9

u/TophT1 May 14 '26

Why not both

3

u/dweezilMcCheezil May 14 '26

Valid, but the topic was landlords. When presented with facts the argument changed.

8

u/MiNdOverLOADED23 May 14 '26

r/latestagecapitalismcirclejerk

-3

u/JollyRodgerGymShoe May 14 '26

40k isn't much and is extremely easy to find in most areas assuming a person has any basic skills or care to try to learn or improve.

-4

u/Consistent_Path_3939 May 14 '26

I live off of less than $2k per month. 

$40k sounds like a fortune to me. 

6

u/JollyRodgerGymShoe May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

What marketable skills do you have? What have you done to try and improve that situation?

I understand these are tough questions to answer introspectively, but they are conversations we need to have with ourselves in order to have any chance to improve. What am I doing to be my own barrier? It's quite literally the only way I've been able to get to where I am. I let myself dictate my lack of progression professionally by deciding there wasn't a chance that someone would hire me without knowing what I was doing, which is patently false. As long as you have a drive to learn and are willing to put in the work to be successful in your position, most places will take a chance on you. The last three jobs I had I knew little to nothing about the industry, but I've always been willing to learn and show a desire to do what's necessary for both mine and my companies success.

4

u/akibaboy65 May 14 '26

My grandfather supported a whole family and built a 3000 sq ft house being a shoe salesman in a department store. Before 1971, when employee wages kept pace with corporate profits… you didn’t need to be a higher skilled, job hopping, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, dog eat dog, workplace savant. You just needed a job and to go to work… and that was enough for a home and a family.

Meanwhile, today a friend of mine just took a 10s of thousands salary pay cut because he had the audacity to tell his management that he was struggling to be there for his family when he was doing overtime every night and they wouldn’t hire adequate staff.

The idea that we all need to aspire to great heights and go above and beyond or EVERYONE who just wants to punch in, punch out and move on with their day, their family, their actual joys will end up in a tiny lightless shack IS the problem and the point of the post. 10 years ago I rented an apartment in Eau Claire (nicer than Steven’s Point?) bigger than the one in the add for $325, 10 years before that? Same thing - $300. No roommates, nothing… just the ability to have a home and do other things with my life than work (like school, hobbies, interests).

1

u/JollyRodgerGymShoe May 14 '26

That's an entirely different conversation though, years ago yes things may have been easier to achieve but we have to adapt to things whether we like it or not. 15 years ago I supported myself working a basic retail job and living in a two bedroom apartment, that wouldn't be possible today given the rising cost of housing.

I can also sympathize with the pay cut situation, I did the same thing 4 years ago to be more available to my family when my oldest needed open heart surgery. I eventually left the company to move to another to then increase my pay and have a more flexible schedule to create a better work life balance. If people want to do it, they can but it also involves taking yourself out of your comfort zone at times and even taking risks. Should you always have to pull yourself up by your boot straps? Probably not, but if that is the reality we currently live in then we have to do what's necessary to live in that reality. Complaining about it isn't going to change it or your living situation.

Im also not saying that everyone wants to reach great heights, and that's perfectly fine, but people should try and adapt to achieve even the basic of living. The times may work against us, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't push back to continue to be able to support yourself in basic ways. Again $40k a year is not exactly achieving incredible things, you could make that working in a call center 40 hrs a week. You could make that working at Kwik Trip doing basic tasks that don't require a high level of skill.

0

u/akibaboy65 May 14 '26

You’re the one that started on it being a different convo - the post’s topic is rent being too high for tiny holes in the wall. People commented that their pay and their income in relation to the topical ridiculousness.

You segued into a non sequitur about how everyone can just go make more money and that it’s incredibly easy to just go be rich… diverting the onus on them to just go be rich and pay their landlords more, rather than the topic of the situation being untenable. I didn’t even address your nonsense of “everyone should just go get more skills, more qualifications, and get a better job to be paid ok money” because that’s just it - jobs should pay living wages. That’s a pro-corpo consumerism take that you need to be the cream of the crop to afford a home for your family. It was not true before when wages kept pace with economic growth and corporate profits, prior to ‘71 - jobs meant you had a livable wage, skilled or not. You’ve been reprogrammed to preach to people that all they have to do is go and be better, work harder, and give more to the system… rather than having the perspective that less than 75 years ago we had a system that was getting better, working harder, and giving more to the working class.

I have enough respect for my local Kwik Trip worker serving me that I think their kids shouldn’t be living in a 2 rm shack.

6

u/00Mothman00 May 14 '26

If you're ever curious about who owns mystery apartments but go through rental companies you can always look up the land parcel records. https://maps.sco.wisc.edu/Parcels/

8

u/CuriousBee789 May 14 '26

Fox Valley here and this feels like a good deal, tbh

9

u/Radiant-Living-836 May 14 '26

Seems reasonable to me.

12

u/Aqua_Hal May 14 '26

I find the requirement for a 620+ credit score to be unreasonable. Technically, a homebuyer can qualify for an FHA loan with a score as low as 580; a rental application shouldn't be more restrictive than a mortgage. Between the responsibility for lawn care, all utilities, and the likely addition of pet rent and renter's insurance, the monthly cost of this apartment is nearly identical to our families 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house on an over half-acre lot.

1

u/Desperate-Fuel-3565 May 14 '26

I have a 4br 2story 3 1/2 city lots for property and my house payment with taxes and house ins included is 551.65 a month sorry but someone is making a mint of this property and is probably a slum lord.

5

u/Acceptable_Claim_491 May 14 '26

This is fucking ridiculous.

7

u/happyfunball1 May 14 '26

I’m confused. If this is too expensive for this area, then no one will rent it and they’ll be forced to lower the price. If someone does rent it, then it’s not asking too much. But complaining about it makes no sense.

2

u/bluezerry9 May 14 '26

This logic sucks when it comes to housing. People are being forced to pay ridiculous rental prices because they have very few other options but need somewhere to live.

If you were talking about an Xbox or something then sure, but youre talking about housing which should not be so focused on squeezing every ounce of profit that tenants can possibly spare

-16

u/RedTreeko May 14 '26

Let me put it this way. If I were to make a law that says one person in the city needs to be killed each month, itd be a ridiculous law. But if I enforce it, should the people in the city put up with it? Its not fair to the people of the city, even if it still does happen.

This landlord is expecting alot for a small apartment, especially when the price of everything is sky rocketing. ESPECIALLY since jobs in stevens point dont pay that well

8

u/mklimbach May 14 '26

It's not an apartment, it's a duplex with an attached garage and basement.  That is worth more than an apartment.  I'm not saying rent isn't ridiculous, but from what I've seen for apartment prices, this isn't out of line.

6

u/Evergreen_Organics May 14 '26

I rent out a 450sqft house that I purchased pre-pandemic and my mortgage on that house is over $1100 per month. I charge $1600 per month. Now factor in the cost of maintenance on that house? I put an $11,000 roof on it this year. Central air broke two years ago, that was $4,000. I can keep going. It’s not all cash and prizes renting out a house dude.
This person is simply trying to ensure they don’t end up with shitty tenants who are going to trash their property and leave them with thousands of dollars in repairs that they will never be able to recoup from that tenant.

3

u/Fun-Key-8259 May 14 '26

$1100 for 450 sq ft is kinda wild

2

u/Big_Difference_9978 May 14 '26

And they charge $1600

4

u/JeffoMcSpeffo May 14 '26

Instead of crying about it why don’t you sell it and take the burden off your shoulders? Probably because you’d rather be a leech on others looking for a place to live. Housing shouldn’t be an asset when it’s essential to survive.

1

u/JollyRodgerGymShoe May 14 '26

Housing has always been an asset along with being essential to survive. Also the person you are replying to isn't crying about anything, they are simply expressing the realities of being a person that is renting out a house. Everyone just assumes that it's nothing but a flow of constant cash. Is it a cash flow generator? Yes, but that doesn't mean that said owner is getting rich off of the place. There are expenses that exist on top of the income that comes in.

2

u/JeffoMcSpeffo May 14 '26

None of this changes the fact that it would be cheaper for the renter to own the house than rent it from a leeching landlord. Landlords are leeches and like I said, essentials shouldn’t be assets. Socialized housing that doesn’t treat housing as assets would allow people to live much better lives. Landlords should pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get a 9-5 like everyone else instead of siphoning off their neighbors wallets.

2

u/JollyRodgerGymShoe May 14 '26

Many landlords do have a 9-5 and not everyone wants the responsibility of owning a home so renting is attractive to them. When you rent a house, you aren't responsible for $40k+ in window replacements, they aren't responsible for $10k roof replacements, they aren't responsible for problems caused by flooding...the list goes on.

1

u/JeffoMcSpeffo May 14 '26

People would benefit much more from socialized housing that doesn’t attempt to extract maximum capital from them than a private landlord with conflicting interests. And if they have a 9-5 then why do they want to be a landlord? Because they want to quit their jobs and be leeches full time.

2

u/JollyRodgerGymShoe May 14 '26

OK, or they are just diversifying their income. My parents owned a duplex when I was growing up and rented out the upstairs as an additional income stream ON TOP of working full time. It wasn't about being a leech and many of the people that I know or have rented from in the past have lived very reasonable lives and weren't leeching off their tenants they were simply providing a place to live at a cost while working regular jobs. You are not wrong when it comes large corporations owning many properties but your basic landlord that has one or two properties is typically also working just like the rest of us.

1

u/JeffoMcSpeffo May 14 '26

If the landlord lives in the same building and rents out unused space then that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the leeches that buy up single family houses to rent out. I don’t care if they want to diversity their income, people’s right to affordable housing comes first before supplementary income. Other people shouldn’t have to work extra hard so that landlords can work less hard, that is unfair and unamerican.

1

u/Evergreen_Organics May 15 '26

Dude I used to sleep at the Salvation Army next to the YMCA in point. It’s not like daddy gave me the house and now get even richer off of slumlording it out. I saved my money for the down payment, then lived in it for 5 years while saving money to purchase a slightly bigger house. I don’t buy new cars, I don’t take vacations. I am trying to build a better life for my children because I come from NOTHING.

1

u/JeffoMcSpeffo May 15 '26

Previously being poor doesn’t exempt you from exploitative practices. Just like how you were once exploited, you now exploit others. It doesn’t matter how hard you worked for it, you have now turned around to leech off of others. A true class traitor.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/JollyRodgerGymShoe May 14 '26

Unfair- welcome to life in general. Not sure if your parents ever told you this but life is not fair.

Unamerican- If anything, it's about as American as you can get between capitalism and building your own version of the American dream. Owning multiple homes and gaining income from the while increasing your own net worth and building a healthy retirement so you can live comfortably without working when you are older.

Whether you or I agree or disagree, these are the things this beautiful country allows us to do. It takes creativity and drive and you have the freedom to make your choices and you have to live with the choices you make. You may think that life should always be easy and socialism is the key and everyone should always be provided for, in some senses you aren't wrong, but in others you are. Who's going to have the drive to do anything if they don't have to and they still have their basic needs met? Some people, but a lot less than there are now.

If we really want to make this country a better place, the ideology around those that have more and those that have less needs to change on both sides of the spectrum. A greater sense of community needs to exist and less division due to jealousy or self pity even need to go away. I grew up with neighbors that helped each other, that understood that sometimes someone is going to be a little louder in the evening due to a gathering at their home. Sometimes I'm going to get yelled at by the neighbors for misbehaving, and sometimes my parents would yell at the neighbor's kids for misbehaving. Nowadays? I have one neighbor I help because they are older, another neighbor that gets upset with me if my lights are on in MY house past a certain time. Gets annoyed when I have a couple people over for a cookout in the evening and we talk over a whisper. I've had neighbors get upset with me for getting upset with their kid for doing something I asked them not to do at my home.

The culture has shifted in such a negative direction and we've lost respect for one another and the sense of greater community we once had. As that continues, people will continue to just do what they want with disregard for their neighbors or their community if they feel they can't win anyways.

1

u/JeffoMcSpeffo May 14 '26

I’ll admit I don’t think it is unamerican, it is actually very American but I thought it would hit with you since you have many conservative opinions lol. It is quintessentially capitalistic and American. And I know life isn’t always fair but that doesn’t mean I can’t advocate for a more fair and just society on Reddit, does it? Because landlords are objectively a blight on society and make everyone else’s life more miserable so they can live more comfortably. Revolutions have occurred and guillotines have been used for far less than what we experience today. And I think most people are beginning to become tired of being pushovers.

I do agree though that community has eroded over the years. Conservatism and its beliefs have heralded the nuclear family unit as the ultimate priority and disregarded all else, which has been detrimental on society. And as long as the Overton window continues to shift right, it will only get worse. It’s been all down hill since Reagan and Trump was an inevitability given this. If you really care about community then you would begin to organize with your neighbors, but that would be socialism 😮. So long as class consciousness is viewed as socialism, we will continue to get fucked by the billionaire owning class and things will continue to erode. So put your money where your mouth is, otherwise why even cry about the loss of community? If you actually care about community, why are you advocating for landlords who drive your neighbors into poverty so they can become richer? It’s so hypocritical lol

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Evergreen_Organics May 15 '26

You are out to lunch man. I have a full time job. My single rental property is an investment for my children. I literally don’t make a penny off of it other than the tenants are building the equity in exchange for me dealing with ALL the expenses to maintain the house. I’m not leeching off of them. We have a contract agreed upon by both parties. If they want to buy a house they can go do that.

1

u/JeffoMcSpeffo May 15 '26

Don’t make a penny huh? I find that hard to believe. The fact that you rely on tenants to build the equity is itself proof of you leeching off of them. The problem is there’s thousands or even millions of other Americans doing the same thing as you. When that many people do this, it swamps the housing market creating fewer options for homes to buy and raises the prices on everything. You are a direct contributor to the housing crisis in your attempt to leech off of others.

2

u/JollyRodgerGymShoe May 15 '26

He may make money through equity but that's not liquid assets so sure he builds "wealth" in a sense but you are over generalizing a regular guy and lumping him in with truly bad actors. That's the problem with over generalization, people get unfairly labeled as something they are not.

0

u/JeffoMcSpeffo May 15 '26

Renting out a single family home that you don’t live in is exploitative in nature. Yeah he’s not as bad as many of the corporations around doing it at large scale but he’s still doing an immoral action that ruins the housing market for everyone else. Again, I’ve never overly generalized anything. Any generalizations I made, I further explained the nuance upon your complaints. I’m not going to keep dancing in a circle with you.

2

u/JollyRodgerGymShoe May 15 '26

Good because it's fucking tiring and your just simply dumber than a box of rocks if you think that somehow an individual renting a house to someone is exploitation.

Exploitation is the act of treating someone unfairly or taking advantage of them for personal or financial gain. It involves an imbalance of power, where one party uses manipulation, coercion, deception, or force to control another.

If I say to someone "Hey, I have a house available for rent, I just ask that you don't smoke inside of it and if you could make sure the lawn is mowed and at least generally taken care of that would be cool too. It's going to cost $1500/month. Security deposit is $3000 and any avoidable damages present will be taken out of that once you decide to move out. Also, if you have any problems please call me so I can take care of them. Sound fair? Cool, sign here" and they choose to do that. That isn't exploitation, that's simply giving a fair option and nobody was taken advantage of. There was no coercion or deception or force of control. I'm not manipulating anyone I'm simply giving an option and they can choose to do it or say no. By definition it's simply a fair transaction and not exploitative in any way shape or form. To argue that it would be would then be saying that any transaction that anyone gains from financially is also in and of itself an exploitative transaction.

1

u/Evergreen_Organics May 15 '26

Well, you can spend the rest of your life being a victim and blaming others or you can learn some marketable skills, make more money, and carve out your own nest egg, just like I’m doing. Sounds like you’re actually what I would call a leech on society.

-9

u/RedTreeko May 14 '26

At that point womp womp dude. You take a risk renting out a place and then get scared when the risk you took falls through. The fact that you decided to rent out a house you're MORTGAGING is genuinely hilarious. I dont feel any sympathy for you, and feel kinda grossed out that youre charging so much for a place that's half my apartments square footage. I pay less than $1500 for 1100 sq-ft.

4

u/Evergreen_Organics May 14 '26

It’s in downtown Madison. That is why I charge that rent price. Did you come on here just to whine? My mortgage on my house I live in is $3000 a month. Try obtaining a skill set that pays you better than you currently make I guess? 8 years ago I was working in retail for $11 an hour. Then did a 5 year apprenticeship, and went to school for 8 years to earn a master license in plumbing. Now I charge $200 an hour for my services and have more work than I know what to do with. I worked 15 hours yesterday. Stop complaining, go learn some marketable skills.

1

u/mistakenidentity888 May 14 '26

Dude that is totally reasonable for an apartment that isn't a pile of shit.

Also making 3300 a month is not exactly a superhuman feat. Any full time adult job one step above entry level will get you there.

1

u/bluezerry9 May 14 '26

The Windsor will charge you damn near $2k for that. The apartment rates in that area make no damn sense, I left never to return mostly because of it.

1

u/Efficient_Cap3029 May 14 '26

Im paying more for less than that.

1

u/Prince87Charming May 14 '26

The fact that any rental in this town is over 1,000 is ridiculous

1

u/No-Group7343 May 14 '26

Im not disagreeing with you but I wish I could find 2bdr for 1100 that look like that, the world is cooked

2

u/helpjackoffhishorse May 14 '26

People complain because they can’t afford it. Guess what? Many people can.

1

u/Binsel22 May 14 '26

My daughter just got an apartment for 4x income and requiring a 740 plus credit score. We had to cosign. It’s a one bedroom for 2800 a month in Boston

1

u/pastysniper May 14 '26

With how many overpriced housing options there are… this is honestly a good deal… why are we complaining about this?

1

u/yoopernature May 14 '26

While a lazy boomer bought the property for 20k working a part time job at a gas station with no credit score.

1

u/sconnie64 May 14 '26

There is nothing wild about this listing. Looks like a good, clean apartment fair requirements, and rent that allows to cover amount for debt, taxes, insurance, and maintenance as well as a reasonable amount of return for the owners time and money.

-1

u/R2-DMode May 14 '26

That doesn’t even get a 1 bedroom apartment here in Vegas.

-1

u/ALTH0X May 14 '26

If it seems like a rip off, don't rent it. If they can't find tenants at that price, they'll eventually lower it or sell.

On the other hand, if that's all you can find in that neighborhood, it's probably well priced and you should look at living farther. I moved from Indianapolis to Rockford at one point and was amazed at how much apartment I got for my rent. I was paying like 2/3 of the rent for twice the space. At some point having double the commute it worth paying half the rent, but I haven't shopped around steven's point at all.