I have been looking for an off campus housing location for a three month contract for some time since the beginning of the quarter. And I have not been having much success in the matter since my requirements concerning the length of the lease is a non-standard one.
In any case, while having to deal with the off campus housing market, one does wonder what the market looks like in an overall perspective. The market is quite sensitive to the demand since the demand is rather seasonal because of the relations with OSU’s quarters. And therefore the rent changes significantly according to the date in which you want to start the lease.
At this point, one does wonder what is the overall supply situation looks like. Do you think that there is a supply surplus or shortage? The seasonality does make it rather difficult to estimate as a consumer because during the periods where one may think that the demand is low the supply is low. There are not many openings. On the other hand, in the fall quarter when the demand is high there seem to be a surplus of supply.
One reason for this may be because the majority of the leases are 1 year contracts. While it may be a customary practice, it is a practice that influences the market and creates restriction the free market’s function. And like many other external restrictions, it creates a black market dealing with subleases. So what do you think? What is your opinion? Anyone want to try to plot out how the supply and demand curves are changed because of 1 year contracts? I think I’m going to do a series concerning the off campus housing market so see you in a later post.
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Your best bet is going to be to sublease because the landlords don't particularly care for short leases as it isn't really worth their time. Although it would be better for them to fill an empty unit and gain some money rather than leaving it vacant... they would much rather get someone into a longer contract where they are nearly garunteed that persons money for a year...unless that person doesn't pay which breaks the contract, whole different conversation. Also keep in mind that the same landlord won't always charge the same amount for the same unit...also not cool... But to plot the change in supply and demand curves because in the change in contract term you would need to provide numbers. In general though I would suggest that if you are looking for a 3 month lease in the summer both the supply and demand for subleases will increase. Some apartments do make 3 month leases available year round, so there will always be a supply of them.
ReplyDeleteA question I have that may possibly piggy-back off of this one is why many apartments in the area are way more expensive that a mortgage would be? I understand liability and risks are an issue, but I really don't understand how I could own a house more than twice the size of my townhouse for cheaper than I am paying here. Granted this is all under the assumption that I would be approved for a mortgage... still seems like we are all getting "worked" over by the high apartment prices.
ReplyDeleteAlright, well to answer Jason C's second question I would start off by saying that the reason we are most definitely getting ripped off by the landlords with their high rent is because of supply and demand. I mean there is only a set amount of housing available with an ever increasing amount a demand (students). The price of renting is also drastically increased by the fact that the landlords know that most if not all students could never hope to be able to secure a mortgage with their financial status. In order to secure a mortgage you are going to need at least 15% if not 20% down in this current market for a bank to even consider lending you the other 80-85% to actually buy the property. There are only two mortgage types that will allow you to not have a down payment and that is VA loan and a FHA loan, which most students could never hope to qualify for. I don't know how much you know about mortgages but you cannot just take the price of the house and divide that by the 360 payments or 30 years worth of payment you will be making to pay off the house, you must also include taxes, insurance, and interest. Which will easily double the price of the house itself. Let's also consider that to buy a house you are more than likely going to have to drive to campus, and that starts an entirely different problem. Landlords take all of this into account when they decide that they can charge an arm and a leg for a house/apartment that isn't worth 1/4 of your monthly payment.
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