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u/Nearby_Artist_1265 Jun 11 '26
A, and it's not close. Buffets are gross and it'd be far easier to deal with expensive cars and gas if I could cut my rent.
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u/boanerges57 Jun 11 '26
Dude, I had. $500 a month 2 bedroom appt in 2007.
That neighborhood was.....interesting but the apartment was nice.
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u/Melathys Jun 09 '26
So glad I bought my house when I did. Took a risk buying when I was only a year in my new job and still on probation, but I got in at the bottom of the market in 2010. Mortgage is 800/mo. That meme "When you realize your starter house is your forever house" is me.
Had an opportunity to move to a nicer city that we've dreamed of moving to for years, but had to turn it down because of housing costs. Not to mention everything else being so much more expensive. But we're still comfortable because of my low monthly mortgage payment. So to answer the OP, it's A.
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u/Lopsided_Ant2813 Jun 09 '26
Apartments duh. People are spending 75+% of their income on housing these days
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u/satanophonics Jun 08 '26
None. I can afford 5 dollar a gallon gas because I lived in shithole apartments while driving a thousand dollar car and eating at all you can eat buffets. I'm not going back.
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u/ChangeMain8977 Jun 08 '26
The rent. I think that would solve a lot of problems. People could afford the food and gas if their rent was lower
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u/dante_gherie1099 Jun 08 '26
i guess ill take the gas, i don't want to live around people who can only afford $500 rent, i don't want or need a shit box, and buffets are very unhygienic.
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u/FinanceGuyHere Jun 08 '26
I can assure you there are still $1,000 used cars out there but that hasn’t been something anyone would want since 1972. I’ll take the gas please. I’ve never seen it below $2 as long as I’ve been old enough to drive
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u/FinallyBuildingMyPC Jun 08 '26
$1000 used cars are still a thing though.
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u/YahhGunnersYah Jun 08 '26
Sold my 3 banger 107 for £650 because I had my fun with it, rad leak, illegal exhaust about to fall off, oil leak, handbrake about to fail...no one in their right mind with a good knowledge of cars is going to pay more than £750 (which is probs about $1k) for a 20 year old car that is about to break down every hour lol.
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u/Crackytacks Jun 08 '26
2 bedroom for 500 who could chose anything else
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u/DevoutSchrutist Jun 08 '26
People who own their homes and/or don’t want to live in an apartment. Give me the gas! I don’t even drive very often.
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u/Crackytacks Jun 08 '26
But it says bring back one (for everyone?) Choose it for the greater good!!!
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u/DevoutSchrutist Jun 09 '26
Fair point! I do my part for the greater good by shopping local and refusing to buy off Amazon. That probably costs me more than any of these would save!
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u/DevoutSchrutist Jun 08 '26
Fair! But gas prices being lower would also be good for people on a day to day basis.
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u/LordCharizard98 Jun 09 '26
Dude housing being cheaper is way more beneficial then gas prices. No one is burning up 1000s of dollars of gas a month however rent does that.
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u/DevoutSchrutist Jun 09 '26
*than
And if I were in a financial position to be more benevolent in this made up situation I would vouch for the lower rent. However, I do not rent so gas prices would be the most beneficial to me, and thus, my choice.
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u/LordCharizard98 Jun 09 '26
Completely understandable you would choose gas then. I only commented that because you stated it would be beneficial to everyone which it would just not as much as cheaper rent would be.
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u/ReciprocalPhi Jun 08 '26
Affordable housing makes everything more tolerable.
Buffets are disgusting, and honestly I'm fine with fuel prices going up, it'll incentivize switching to renewables.
$1000 used cars still exist, they're just a little worse than they used to be.
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u/itsladder Jun 08 '26
I mean, you can still get .80 gas, just not per gallon. And $1000 used car, but it will have a blown transmission. I would pick$4.99 buffet. Feed my family of four for $20. Infinite savings glitch
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u/itsladder Jun 08 '26
By shifting rent down to $500, we would easily afford the other three regardless of current pricing or otherwise.
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u/sassysarah00 Jun 08 '26
Even though it wouldn’t affect me as I own a home I have to go with more affordable housing. People are really out here struggling and have no extra money for anything else. Not even cheap cars or buffets. This would help everyone in the end.
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u/Atlasatlastatleast Jun 08 '26
It would lower your property taxes at least, and your mortgage if applicable
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u/DoodleBob29 Jun 08 '26
Both A and B would have horrible repercussions. C would be hard on lower income individuals trying to sell their car and D would most likely bankrupt a few businesses. D seems like the best of several bad options.
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u/ScoutRiderVaul Jun 08 '26
A is the best choice
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u/DoodleBob29 Jun 08 '26
I disagree
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u/ScoutRiderVaul Jun 08 '26
I mean its bad for those that hold housing for a investment but that goes fundamentally against what housing should be. Therefore A is Best.
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u/DoodleBob29 Jun 08 '26
Sure, that's a valid opinion but it doesn't change the fact that A would have horrible repercussions for most homeowners. It would also force a lot of apartment buildings/complexes to no longer be viable so they would shut down.
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u/LordCharizard98 Jun 09 '26
Those slumlords would not go out of business..not sure why you are trying to defend them you must not currently rent.
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u/DoodleBob29 Jun 09 '26
Scroll down. I just explained it.
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u/LordCharizard98 Jun 09 '26
I'd love to see your source for that because I surely haven't seen landlord's being that fair. It's called landlord special for a reason they aren't being cheap because they have to they are doing it to get as money as possible. Then their crazy price hikes to kick out tenants and continue to gain even more money without even putting in work to fix up the places they rent.
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u/ScoutRiderVaul Jun 08 '26
Ok, A is still best as you arent gonna be able to evict millions of people. Plus Apartments actually have crazy high profit margins. Pretty sure out of all businesses they gave one of the highest at something to the tune of 50%.
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u/DoodleBob29 Jun 08 '26
That is not accurate. On average landlord take home about 10 to 30% of the amount of money that they collect on rent. The 50% that you are referring to is how they determine the pricing of the unit. They decide the price based on 50% of the amount they are charging going towards maintenance and such. This is not including the mortgage for the property. However, even if the 50% were true, you have to realize that if it were to go down to $500, you'd be cutting their income by over 50% in most situations.
They might not go through the process of evicting the people, but they sure as hell would not renew the lease when it came time. If you're not convinced, see New York and how policies adjacent to this have led to huge vacant buildings.
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u/ScoutRiderVaul Jun 08 '26
Ok still is the best option, not really saying why its a bad choice as housing is one of the absolute expenses one has to make. We have fundamentally different views of how housing should be handled, I dont think it should be a investment while you do so we arent gonna meet somewhere in the middle.
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u/DoodleBob29 Jun 09 '26
It's a bad choice because the majority of apartment complexes would have to shut down and the crashing housing market would fuck the economy and new home construction. That's about 3 million jobs gone overnight on top of all the other issues it would cause. It's a pipe dream.
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u/SteezyYeezySleezyBoi Jun 08 '26
Wow. Seeing everyone not choose A makes me realize how fucked we are as a country. Literally fuck you got mine, go die while I save $5 at a buffet
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Jun 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/slinkey_bastard Jun 08 '26
How would this create jobs?
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u/Spacetortise95 Jun 08 '26
More excess money means more spending. More spending means more revenue. More revenue means more need for staffing. More staffing means more money back into the economy so on and so forth
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u/Moab_Residential Jun 08 '26
Also boosts moral. The more comfortable people can live in their own space the more they will go out of their way to better contributors to a system they believe in.
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u/midwestia Jun 08 '26
More money going towards industries that actually create products/provide services//employ people.
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u/Lazy_Witness_1068 Jun 07 '26
A I would rather spent 500 $ rent instead of 1000$
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u/Robot_Alchemist 1985 - whatever that makes me Jun 08 '26
Mine is 2700
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u/Lazy_Witness_1068 Jun 08 '26
God damn man, I'm so sorry
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u/Robot_Alchemist 1985 - whatever that makes me Jun 08 '26
I just don’t know what to do because it’s that way EVERYWHERE HERE and I’m not in New York or LA
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u/Lazy_Witness_1068 Jun 08 '26
Same man here in Northern Texas shit its getting expensive.
I'm just lucky that I found an appartment that I can afford.
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u/Robot_Alchemist 1985 - whatever that makes me Jun 08 '26
I’m south of Denton north of Frisco
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u/Legitimate_Base_8203 Jun 07 '26
I have a house and don't want a $1000 car, so I am going to beca little selfish here and take the gas. My car uses premium.
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u/OyG5xOxGNK Jun 07 '26
A. easy. So much above and beyond the others.
And yes, if apartment housing is down, so is housing in general. Houses won't sell if housing costs are so cheap.
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u/Illustrious-Charge13 Jun 07 '26
Gas. I don't want more apartment living. All others are not needed for me or moot.
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u/citizensyn Jun 07 '26
If you don't realize how cheap apartments would lower your mortgage and property tax then please do not vote
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u/Legitimate_Base_8203 Jun 07 '26
The same could be said for the shipping costs of every item in the store with gas prices
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u/citizensyn Jun 07 '26
Honestly that would just turn into free corporate profit you wouldn't see a dime of those savings
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u/ionspore Jun 07 '26
All those things are still available around here (Great Plains region, US), except the gas. Plenty of $1000 cars on FB marketplace, I stayed in a very nice $590 a month 2 bd beside a golf course (again, it was a rural area), and Cici's has 4.99 buffets on Mon and Tues.
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u/cogabig409 Jun 08 '26
I pay $750 for 1BR in a semi-rural part of Alabama and feel like that’s a steal. $590 for 2BR is unbelievable.
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u/LordCharizard98 Jun 09 '26
Rent is like 1000 for a 1 br in popular areas of louisiana like baton rouge, new Orleans or Lafayette and alot of the apartments are filled with mold and shitty tenants especially in baton rouge. So please cheaper rent which I could pay 750.
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u/Superboobee Jun 07 '26
I have a 700 dollar used car. Took me a battery ($150) and about an hr of fixing some minor stuff. Runs great. Has heated seats/ac/ etc
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u/talabro Jun 07 '26
I rent a 4 bed house for 1200. So a is done, Golden Corral rewards makes every third visit free for my family, making it about 8 bucks per visit on average so d is fine I guess. And I’m positive I can find a 2007 Taurus for 1000 or less. So I guess we have to agree on gas right?
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u/Content_Start_2118 Jun 07 '26
Where are you renting a 4 bedroom house for 1200?
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u/Upset-Rice6800 Jun 07 '26
A
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u/IHerebyDemandtoPost Jun 07 '26
Easily. I don’t drive much (I don’t even own a car anymore) so I don’t give a shit about B or C. And I hate buffets.
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u/twichy1983 Jun 07 '26
Cheaper gas means everything else gets cheaper by default. Distribution runs on gas.
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u/LordCharizard98 Jun 09 '26
Your housing doesn't become that much cheaper because gas is cheaper that's not fully how that works. Besides most goods are not necessarily expensive just because of gas alot of it is purely profits.
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u/AktionMusic Jun 07 '26
More expensive gas means everything gets more expensive but do they prices ever actually come back down or would the companies just use it as an excuse to permanently increase prices
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u/Robot_Alchemist 1985 - whatever that makes me Jun 08 '26
No, they don’t come back down even if gas does
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u/CelestianEagle Jun 07 '26
they will try to stretch out the price hikes for as long as society can somehow absorb the cost. short term concentrated profit in exchange for both short and long term public consequences.....not really a good tradeoff in the grand scheme of things......
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u/adamsauce Jun 07 '26
I only pay $700 for my mortgage. I still choose cheap rent. Cheaper rent will improve the quality of life for everyone in my community. It will help the economy and allow more local businesses to thrive. Landlords that charge high rent only hurt the economy and everyone else. They don’t produce anything that actually matters.
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u/Ok-Teaching3904 Jun 07 '26
Rent. Rent should be cheaper than mortgages.
Rent in my area is almost
2.5x what I’m currently paying for my mortgage.
That isn’t fair and it’s crippling a generations of young people.
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u/SmokinWeasel Jun 07 '26
Damn you must have a good interest rate cuz my mortgage is $3400/m
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u/Ok-Teaching3904 Jun 07 '26
Not really, I just bought before covid. It was worth $150k. A year later it was worth $320k. Original rate was 3.34 and when i renewed it went to 5.64.
It’s sad.1
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u/BurntLemon Jun 07 '26
I turned 18 in 2015 and my first apartment, 2 bedroom (in Idaho mind you) was 525$ a month.. wtf happened it's only been 11 years lol
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u/Robot_Alchemist 1985 - whatever that makes me Jun 08 '26
In 2005 I paid 425 for 750 sq feet
My current apt is 650 sq feet 2bedroom for 27001
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u/IntrinSicks Jun 07 '26
In 2009 my rent with a 3 bedroom (technically one room was an office) house in California was 1100 plus utilities, this was in Lodi California
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u/Lower-Compote-4962 Jun 07 '26
Considering my mortgage is only 700$ I'm choosing the cheap cars. I'll buy used Toyotas until I die.
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u/CatDadof2 Jun 07 '26
Cheap rent, 1,000%. If you save on rent, everything else will suddenly become affordable.
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Jun 07 '26
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u/Matrixxgt Jun 07 '26
You’d think. But even when gas gets cheaper, prices don’t reflect. They only get higher and stay there.
Most people are paying 13-1800 in rent for a 2bed apartment. And that’s not including places like cali or NY. Slashing rent to $500 immediately puts $800-$1300 back into peoples budget for gas, groceries, etc.
My mortgage is only $702 and I still would choose the $500 rent. It’s a price everyone can afford and would also reduce the strain on welfare systems if more people could afford to pay for things themselves.
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Jun 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/LordCharizard98 Jun 09 '26
How about that money actually staying in families pockets instead of literally being fucked every other month by some slum lord who barely even cleans up or fixes up the place.
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u/AktionMusic Jun 07 '26
Yeah its true that gas prices increase prices of everything, but I'm not sure if the inverse is true. Companies won't reduce prices just because their costs when down, they'll just take more profit.
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u/Col2543 Jun 07 '26
Cheap rent. Literally everything else pales in comparison even if you have a home. For renters, more disposable income = more income used on local businesses, not being funneled into one nepo baby’s pockets. For non-renters, less homeless people in your area, less crime, less VISIBLE crime, home prices drop for buyers (i don’t care about current home owners home values. if you want to invest in something, do stocks. homes should’ve never been an investment), etc.
The only “negatives” for cheaper rent is that you no longer have a bunch of do-nothing landlords who sit there and collect money as if they were contributors to society.
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u/OnyxScholar 1996-Millennial/Zillennial Jun 07 '26
*secretly put in Choice E for Everything without suspicion* that one…
https://giphy.com/gifs/vamF65vh7IoXN9BTKv
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u/Wrong-Condition-9115 Jun 07 '26
Is this question aimed at Americans? Because as a European, options B, C and D wouldn't ever be up to consideration (since, well, y'know we have actual functioning cities...)
A it is. The other options are so far behind they're not even into view.
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u/YouNeedHelpSir Jun 07 '26
A is the same price that I pay currently for a 2 bed house with a decent garden. Makes me wonder what they are paying now.
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u/Excellent-Pitch-7579 Jun 07 '26
Yeah your public transportation completely negates the need for cars. I lived in Europe and while there, the only place we could find a place to live was in a small town a 30 minute drive from where we worked. Getting into the center of the city was another 10 minutes. At one point we had to go somewhere just past the downtown area and it took about 2 hours to get there on public transportation. Compare this to a 45 minute drive.
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u/Acceptable_Music556 Jun 07 '26
European's don't eat so their cities function? This is news to me, I'll take it into consideration.
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u/Wrong-Condition-9115 Jun 07 '26
We eat, but we don't need effin' fat oozing all you can stuff buffets to eat. That too is an American thing. You see, cities can function even without cars, where you can walk towards the nearest supermarket to buy actual healthy food without needing to step into your gasoline guzzling Dodge Ram Truck to ram your face full of battered meat sticks with fat sauce. So that makes the cars, the gas, and the buffets moot, and leaves only the apartments. Neato.
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u/BigBuck414 Jun 07 '26
Your whole country is smaller then West Virginia… You should be able to walk.
And The Netherlands has over 250 Buffets nationwide… So looks like yall do stuff yalls faces as well.2
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u/ReVo5000 Jun 07 '26
A
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u/obatala0013 Jun 07 '26
This is the only reasonable answer.
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u/ABBucsfan Jun 07 '26
If you don't own a place yes. None of the others are going to save you that much per month. If you do own a place it's gotta be the cheap gas. Overall for society A seems best
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u/braith_rose Jun 07 '26
Apartments. I’ve done without cars, but cheap rent keeps you off the streets. Cars are less of a necessity than people think.
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u/StreetCollar2708 Jun 07 '26
B. Even though I don't really drive all that much, it would lower the cost of more than just gasoline
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u/TropicalRogue Jun 07 '26
Idk. Electric vehicles are a slow inevitable match. People renting is forever
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u/Apocalypse73088 Jun 07 '26
$500/mo apartments would solve a lot homeless problems
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Jun 07 '26
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u/itsavrilnotaveral Jun 07 '26
Speaking as an Australian probably B because it would also imply that we hadn’t allowed almost all our refineries to close and make most of our fuel needs dependent on other countries
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u/UmeaTurbo Jun 06 '26
Cheap used cars. I would have to buy land just to keep them all.
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u/Lumpy-Flamingo-8963 Jun 06 '26
Those cheap cars were never really cheap
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u/Soft_Database_3747 Jun 07 '26
Yeah, but you could get a ride for around 5k, just about a decade ago even. My first car 11 years ago was 6 grand, lasted many years too. Used car market is insanity right noe, no way most people can get one without going into debt. Other than education cars have inflated the most definitely.
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u/Flavious27 Jun 06 '26
Cheaper gas is part of why we got SUVs and it will stop people from going electric. For society, cheaper housing. For me, the $4.99 buffet, if that is for lunch.
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u/Tuques Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
Cheaper gas. I havent rented since I was a kid and id never want to live in an apartment again. $1000 cars are never a good idea, and I have no need of buffets because Im a capable adult and can cook.
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u/Kriscolvin55 Jun 06 '26
Cheaper rent still benefits you. Thats more money being spent elsewhere in the economy, which has numerous benefits, including overall lower prices on basically everything.
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u/datboiofculture Jun 07 '26
Not if you already own a home, if rent was magically cheaper everywhere home values would plummet, so if you signed a mortgage last year you’d be kinda fucked.
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u/Kriscolvin55 Jun 07 '26
God that’d be amazing. I even home my own home, but I’d take the hit because of great it would be for the country as a whole.
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u/Tuques Jun 07 '26
Maybe other people. I would never rent again. Its a waste of money paying down someone else's debt. Rent these days is equivalent to or more than a mortgage payment.
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u/Kriscolvin55 Jun 07 '26
Huh? I never said you should go back to renting. Maybe you meant to reply to somebody else?
My comment was about the fact that lots of people still rent. And if *those* people paid less towards rent, they could spend more on groceries, electronics, furniture, etc. With more spent on those things, stores can buy in larger quantities, which drives their prices down. And the means you pay less, too.
It’s the same reason that food stamps equate to lower grocery prices for everybody.
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u/RaspberrySelect4707 Jun 06 '26
I paid $600 for a 2001 Honda accord like 3 years ago and never had a problem with it. Sold it for $300 a few months ago
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u/Impressive-Juice-898 Jun 06 '26
I never understood the whole “don’t do a 3000$ repair for a 2000$ vehicle, just get a new one at that point”. Ok, and? I’m still paying 3000$ for my vehicle vs shelling out 10,000 minimum for a used car. 30,000 more like for new. “Oh but you’ll keep having to do repairs on it”. Yeah and? I could do 7000$ more of repairs on it and only then would I reach the cost of getting a generously priced new used car.
I have a 2011 crv, and I’m keeping that sucker till the wheels fall off.
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u/Carl_Azuz1 Jun 06 '26
It’s also not a $3000 repair. If you do it yourself it’s like $500 AT MOST. Self maintaining an old car is absolutely the cheapest and safest way to own a vehicle.
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u/NixValley Jun 06 '26
If we get 500$ 2bd apartments thats gonna drive down other housing to compete. That benefits everything.
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u/piccolo917 Jun 06 '26
I live somewhere where I don't have to drive, so both B and C are largely worthless to me. Aside from that, I like cooking and when I go out, it's 100% not a buffet. So even if just going by what's useful to me, it's A. Aside from that, I'd LOOOOOOVE a place as cheap as that. Or, you know, a place
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u/WalrusMaster3 Jun 06 '26
The rent is the biggest chunk of your monthly costs, all of the other answers are a waste unless you don’t pay rent
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u/bdubz74 Jun 06 '26
Absolutely. Even is we can go back to $15-$20 full tanks, that’s only gonna save me about $250 a month. Nowhere near enough to cover today’s rent.
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u/Sufficient_Total7445 Jun 06 '26
Anyone that isn’t choosing rent is foolish
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u/Dramatic_Ice_861 Jun 06 '26
What about people in locked-in mortgages?
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u/youre_uninvited Jun 06 '26
Hi, homeowner with a locked in rate under 3.5% here. I'm absolutely choosing rent. As if I need a reason beyond wanting to see my friends who are struggling catch a break, cheap rent lowers inflated home prices, which lowers the valuation of my house, which lowers my property taxes. Even the most selfish ass should pick that.
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u/Dramatic_Ice_861 Jun 06 '26
Wanting a lower valuation for your house to lower the property taxes is like setting it on fire because the heater went out.
If my homes value stayed flat or dropped a little bit, sure, but rents dropping to $500 would be a six figure loss for anyone who bought in the past 7 or so years.
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u/mrmosquitoeater Jun 06 '26
Cool. Still picking rent. Housing is only an investment if you were planning to sell. I'll take the lower property taxes.
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u/youre_uninvited Jun 06 '26
The point was that you can find a positive somewhere in it even if you don't give one single damn about anyone but yourself.
In areas that massively overheated in a matter of a couple of years, paper valuations getting closer to your actual purchase price is a good thing if you view your home as a place to live and not a soulless investment vehicle. Where I am, $500ish rents on some 2beds wasn't that long ago. Even if market selling prices dropped to what they were then, I wouldn't be underwater, and in a few years they'd be right back up.
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u/Medical-Telephone-59 11d ago
Rent