Thank you for your comments! I have enjoyed each and every one of them, and have learned a ton, and that's the point of this blog, right? For us to educate and support one another. I've gotten some great responses, and I ask you to be sure to read through all the comments to my first post, even the ridiculous, ignorant and pretty much crazy responses too!
Having said that, I'd like to respond to a common question that I am getting, which is:
"Why don't you move if it's so bad?"
That's a great point and one that I have considered over and over again. The main reason why I don't move is economical. You have to have a job to move, right? Our jobs are here in Burbank, and we're unable to transfer. My husband is the manager of his department. He landed this great position the beginning of the year, working his way up over the last 10 plus years. I just went back to work this year. I LOVE my job, and although I've got great job skills, I need to re-establish myself in the employment market, as I have been off of work for over 8 years taking care of my kids. I would like to give it at least two years to show some sort of job stability. Also, as I said before, I'm going to school part-time. I've thought of stopping that and going back to work full-time, but I really think I should continue taking classes no matter what. I'm not looking forward to juggling home, family, school and work again starting next month, but it's all for the better, right?
The second factor that keeps me staying here is my kids. The schools are great in Burbank, and I don't want to uproot them until I know that I am going to stay put in the area that I move them to. I was moved around quite a bit as a kid, and I know how difficult that is on a child. This is a personal choice, that's important to me.
There are other points that keep me here, but those are the main ones. I agree, moving out of the area would be a great idea, but it's not happening at this point. It's something I contemplate regularly. I've studied cities all over the nation, but I always get stumped on how to go about finding a job when I'm 100s of miles away. And how would I pay for the transportation to that area to interview? And what job skills or education do I have that would land me said job? Lots to think about, and believe me, I'm thinking. I've often said humorously that I'll probably get my retirement home before I get my home here. That still may be the case the way the housing market is going.
ONE MORE POINT:
I stated this in one of my comments on the first article I wrote, but I think it's important I say it here:
Burbank was not as expensive when I moved here 17 years ago.
This is a very important point. You could rent a two bedroom apartment for as low as $850 and a house for $1100, as early as 2001. The price of rent jumped hundreds of dollars by 2005, and here we are. Lots of families with median incomes of $51K live here. These families were priced out of the market quickly. I'm not sure what's happened to some of them. A lot of families on my block are simply stuck in their apartments, or living with several other families to make ends meet.
I received a comment that because all of the tenants didn't move from their apartments when the prices were raised signified that the rents raised anywhere from $200-$300 more a month were accurate and true market value, so what was I complaining about, right? TENANTS CANNOT MOVE BECAUSE THE PRICE OF RENTS ARE HIGHER IN THE AREA. The point this guy missed is that the rents only recently have gotten as high as $1500-$1650 a month for a two bedroom over the last couple of years. AND that it's only because of the lack of rentals and the housing mess that these landlords are able to take advantage of the tenants and charge exorbitant prices for their rentals. Do you understand what I mean? I can see increases of maybe 10 to 15%, but my landlord increased my neighbors rents between 25 to 34% more a month. Could you imagine what it would be like to receive a notice that your cost of housing would increase 34% as of the very next month? How would you afford it? They can barely afford the increases let alone move to another place that's even more ridiculously priced.
Let's think of it another way, okay?
My name is Mary and I am a single parent of one child. I make $30K a year working as an Administrative Assistant. Okay, so by the time Uncle Sam takes his approximate 25% of my income in taxes, I have a whopping $22,500 a year to live off of. Okay, so now lets think monthly, alright? I have approximately $1875 a month for living expenses, correct? Well not if you're my husband, 'cause he forks out about $300 a month in insurance costs, (more and more businesses are requiring their employees to acquire some of the cost of health insurance). But we'll forget about the out-of-pocket insurance costs at this point, 'cause I'd have to recalculate taxes and everything to deduct them.
Anyway, she's got $1875 for all expenses, right? So her two bedroom apartment has been raised to $1500 a month. Yikes! That only leaves her with $375 a month, right? Okay, well maybe she can move to a smaller, one-bedroom in Burbank, right? That would only be about $1200, right? She'll have $675 for all of her other costs, right? We're talking car insurance, food, utilities, etc. If she's lucky, she'll break even each month. Do you get my point? More than 50% of her income goes to housing. What's worse is that most people don't even make that much money. You see job listings for $10 an hour regularly in the L.A. area. How the heck do people do it?
Now I realize that a few economic geniuses who think they are so much smarter than the rest us of L.A. ignorants will rip this scenario to pieces, but this is a true reality for most people. You need us to live in these neighborhoods to do these jobs. We have to live somewhere, and there's no way that we can commute from miles away, 'cause we can't afford the gas.
Whose going to do those jobs for you? My point in saying this is that a few folks have questioned why myself and others stay in Los Angeles if we can't afford it, suggesting that we choose to live beyond our means in this luxurious, "bad-ass" place even though we can't afford it. You should be addressing this question to millions of us Los Angelians, and not just myself, and here would be the most common, general response:
We live here because there are jobs here, and at one point we could afford it, that and a myriad of different reasons personal to each of us, and too vast to cover here.
We live here, because you need us to live here, so we can do those medial jobs you don't want to do.
But it's not just people in medial jobs that suffer...
Pretty soon, none of us will be able to live here, including teachers, firemen, policemen, etc., because we can't afford it, that or we'll all need Section 8 assistance to afford the cost of living, which you will pay for. Do you get my point?
I think it's important that we dig deeper and see how bad this situation really is in order to get out of this mess.
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17 comments:
Kelley -- congrats for starting this blog. It's a good way to 'share the pain' and to see what others are thinking.
Re: the aprtment costs -- the point the other poster was making is that apt rents are a business, unconnected to any person's individual situation. If rents in the area are $300/month more than you're paying, then that's the market value and you're not being overcharged.
When the landlord raises the rent, she seemingly gets a 'pay raise' altho that may not be true. She has to pay taxes, maintenance, and insurance and those costs keep going up.
But the point is -- however much she's 'making,' people are paying those rents. You wouldn't want to work the same job for less pay -- it's the same with your landlord -- she doesn't want to offer her product for less than the market will bear.
Personally I think the problem is stagnant wages. Real estate in CA is plunging in price and people still can't afford it without exploding loans.
Why are wages stagnant? Corporate CEOs pay themselves millions and pay their workers $10/hr or less. Ordinary people are caught in the middle of their greed and Wall Street's greed. The wealth of this nation is being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, which leaves less and less to circulate through the economy.
If you want to blame someone, follow the big money, not the small money. Your landlord is small potatoes. The big money is flowing to banks, hedge funds, corporate CEOs, and lobbyists.
You should move though, I say. Prices twice as high as other nicer places doesn't justify staying for good schools, for example. Schools are great in lots of other places too. Jobs too. I'd look around harder to see what else is available.
I lived in SoCal until age 10, and was actually mad at my parents when we moved to Montana and I realized there were far better places to live, that had been available the whole time.
I think you're too critical of your landlord. She's doing exactly what she should be doing, raising rents to the maximum the market will bear, as evidenced by the fact that you don't find anything that's better enough to warrant moving. She's not a landlord for charity. If you were selling a house that could command $500K, you wouldn't sell it for $400K just to be nice, would you?
Kelly,
life's too short to respond to the crabby people who spend hours kicking people in the groin online. i live in san francisco, i feel your pain. we have to focus the energy it takes to deflect greedy landlords and try and navigate the future, which sometimes appears to be that falling anvil in cartoons.
forget about the ones who don't get it. preach to your choir, who're dying to hear what you're saying. you're not going to convince the cranks about your point of view, so don't worry about making everyone like you. they never will!
but us apartment renters like you!
and you all who're backing up the landlords haven't seen the new breed. the old ones recently died off. literally. the ones who just wanted to cover their taxes, plus a little extra, but thought about keeping good tenants long term.
the ones who're rallying for the landlords have no idea what it's like out here in this "free market" (ha ha) where they've flipped houses and pulled out cash and now want to let properties languish while gouging renters.
they don't even respectfully paint between tenants anymore, and don't complain because they've got 20 more people waiting for your place.
i've been here for fifteen years and now that i'm forty, i'd love to be out of a tiny little studio.
so to all of you who don't know what it's like to be on the underside of an irrational boom, then pretend we're someone you know in person and don't berate us. it's hard to live like a normal person in the midst of a pop corn orgy of greed.
people sidle up to dying people in the hopes of getting the deed to the house. i'm not kidding. and renters have turned into jerks, subletting and trying to bottom feed as well.
it's really made greed good. and what worries me is what the bailouts say in response to this.
so some of us get you, kelly. this is unprecedented. at least in recent history. so some of what's shocking is us trying to navigate the new societal rules.
good luck to us all! even those of you who don't understand how harsh it's gotten. and kelly and i are young enough to fight. it's brutal for the under-educated, very poor, ill, or old.
what has happened to people? the way that people are so quick to judge and point fingers to you kelly is EXACTLY what the vibe is like out here. like "run or get out of the way or we'll run you over, suckah!"
is it so hard to err on the side of compassion and kindness? especially when kelly, and others, decided to actually be pragmatic and frugal? that's what's so frustrating.
and then for people to say "move!" and claim the "free market" reason, you have no idea. that's the problem: the game and the rules are different for different stratospheres of people. some of us played by "free market" and were patient. others counted on some sort of free market on the upside, socialism on the downside, where we all share in the downside.
i do have hope that the pendulum will swing back... IF government quits messing with it!
and kelly, go ahead and be pissed. don't let anyone try and shame you into defending YOURSELF when you did NOTHING wrong except live within your means and get stuck raising a family in a postage stamp.
--Erika
Of course landlords should ideally be decent people too. They can do that while they charge what the market will bear.
I'm a renter of a house. When my lease is up I expect my landlord to look around and figure out how much he could raise my rent without forcing me to move. I'll counter, playing up the prospect of me moving, and if we can't reach agreement, I'll move. There won't be any hard feelings on my part, even if he tries to gouge me. Business is business. I have kids too, and that will factor into my decision.
Suggesting that Kelley move can just be good advice from well-intentioned people. I'm paying $1800 for a nice 5 bedroom house with a big yard on a greenbelt in Bellevue, WA, a great clean safe city near Seattle, with lots of high-paying jobs. We're surrounded by 3 national parks here; it's a paradise all around in the summer especially. Why should someone struggle to pay $1600 for a 2-bedroom run-down apt. in an arguably worse city? There better be a good reason after a serious comparison, esp. for someone with kids. Of course each person has their own reasons for what they decide. My pit could be someone else's paradise, and vice versa. That's fine.
kj,
Thank you for your response. Please let me respond:
I think I'm not making my point clear enough and coming off as ignorant to how the market works. I understand that the market sets itself, but this happened as a result of the housing crisis. What worries me is that I was unable to move out and buy a home because I couldn't afford the mortgage payment. Now people are losing their homes left and right and putting pressure on the rental market. The prices of rentals is rising rapidly and those of us, who were smart enough to know we couldn't afford a mortgage in the first place are being forced to pay higher and higher rents. My fear is that at some point they will be close if not equal to the cost of a mortgage payment, and believe me, some places are! We do not have rent control in Burbank!
Can you understand the fear that puts in the minds of people like myself? Can you imagine the anger I feel at the greed that caused this housing mess that's impacting me? I'm ALREADY paying a price for this by having to pay higher rents and inflated prices, which is affecting everyone. Why the heck am I paying for these things? And, on top of that, the government is going to further stick it to me by bailing out those losers who created this mess in the first place.
Tell me how I'm so supposed to be happy about this?
So, if I'm a little angry with my landlord for jumping on the bandwagon with the rest of the jerks out there, then please excuse me.
I guess I go by an entirely different moral compass. No doubt I'll never be rich as a result of it.
heiwos,
Thank you for response too. I realize that moving should be a key thing to consider, hence my reason for saying so. I am considering everything, and believe me, there is a lot to consider. I'm hanging tight at the moment for the reasons mentioned in my latest post, but again, I am considering everything. Believe me, I probably know more about other outskirt areas then most people around my neighborhood.
Erika,
Thank you for your post. It was very well put, and I appreciated your support and that you understood my point. I expected people would ridicule me. There are many angry, unhappy people in this world, and people are quite judgmental. I do believe though that many of the comments were well meant, but some were just plain hateful. Is it going to help me get into a house? No. Am I going to let them get me down? No. I have been watching and studying this mess for years. I know what I know and I am focused on the big picture. I just used this blog to share with others my discontent with the governments latest heartwrenching scheme. It's great to hear from you and others. Please keep posting and let us know how and if San Francisco corrects itself.
BTW...I remember seeing the prices going up in the Bay Area in the beginning. I remember thinking, "Oh my God, I hope that doesn't happen here." At that time, you could easily buy a home in Burbank for $200 and a condo for well under that. Well guess what? It hit us, slowly but surely.
i had to join the tenant union because i was getting harassed. when i went there, the place was full. and they said there was a rise in landlord harassments. it's hard to prove and fighting it is like having another job so you hope to just find a few legal paragraphs to use as defense. it doesn't always work. it's gotten pretty bizarre.
here's a favorite article documenting a campaign of landlord horror (there are more follow ups, but here's the first about the Macy couple. it's like a bad movie):
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/24/BAIU10ALDM.DTL&hw=kip+macy&sn=003&sc=589
--erika
and to those of you who're suggesting people like us move, need to realize it's sort of insulting. i don't know about her situation with rent control, but we're locked in because my apartment is going for more than twice what i rent. time becomes a kind of imprisoning "equity."
and these neighborhoods become our HOMES. i love my neighborhood and take better care of the grounds than my slumlords because i don't want to be embarrassed by the messes outside.
to move, i'd have to move to the middle of the country and there's no work for me out there. or my people. as obnoxious as i am, normally calm midwesterners would track me down and bludgeon me to death like a baby seal.
so be glad that most artists are drawn to either coast. but now that everyone wanted to be in interesting cities, artists have been evicted. i'm still trying to find out where they are, but i think after traditionally being followed by the affluent, gentrifying set who took over places like greenwhich village a long time ago, i think artists will keep the new location a secret.
no one told me where, though.
so yeah, kelly, i'll let you know what happens here. and if i find where the superfreaks have gone to, i'll let you know in code.
--erika
I can certainly understand your frustration, but I don't get the hostility towards landlords.
Landlords have to pay property tax, they have to contract for repairs, upkeep, maintenance and improvements. Every single one of those things has increased in price dramatically in the last few years, mostly as a result of the housing boom.
Properties also have to remain competitive long term - so if all the other landlords raise their rent, and use the extra money for rehab and improvements - the landlords that don't will start to have properties that look pretty shabby, relatively speaking (this is also a good argument against rent controls)
Also, $1500-$1600 might be a lot to pay for a two bedroom rental based on historical rents, but it's certainly quite affordable to folks who have a "professional" level salary (yuppies). Even more so with dual income professionals - and I have to imagine there are a lot of those sorts of people around you - who can't afford a house.
So on the one hand you have decreasing supply, due to condo conversions of rentals, and on the other you have increased demand due to insane housing prices locking buyers out of the market. Throw in massive hikes in property tax and construction costs - and you don't need to resort to evil scheming landlords to explain the problem.
erika lopez said
"as obnoxious as i am, normally calm midwesterners would track me down and bludgeon me to death like a baby seal"
What the H are you talking about?? I live in Denver, and no one beats artists here. You don't sound quite sane.
Joshy, if you don't get it by what I've written throughout this blog, regarding mine and others hostility towards landlords, you never will. I've answered every one of your questions. I understand your points, but can't understand why you keep repeating yourself when I feel that myself and others have explained our points clearly?
I'll say it one more time: The rents are high because greed which created our current economic mess, i.e. the housing crash. People, like myself, are having to take on higher than normal rents and inflated prices due to the greed of others. We're not talking about slow, gradual, sane growth in housing rentals here. Prices have skyrocketed in many areas of Los Angeles and across the nation. Landlords are jumping on the bandwagon and sticking it to us. Yes, they may have higher costs now, maybe from speculative behavior they've involved themselves in, but still, us renters are paying a price for ignorant, selfish greed. Do you get what I'm saying? Oh, and the improvements you speek of are not happening in my building.
And I don't get the point you're trying to make here:
"Also, $1500-$1600 might be a lot to pay for a two bedroom rental based on historical rents, but it's certainly quite affordable to folks who have a "professional" level salary (yuppies). Even more so with dual income professionals - and I have to imagine there are a lot of those sorts of people around you - who can't afford a house"
Why would any professional level salary earner, that you refer to as a yuppies, plant their behind here in my building? Do you honestly think that's my lifetime goal? To stay here WITH an education and projessional position? Give me a break. The only thing I understood by your point is that some of these said professionals are unable to afford homes too. My point exactly. Regardless of our varied income levels, we are all paying a price for this mess. The housing crisis is non-discriminating.
Finally, it's not just landlords that are to blame. We're all aware of that, but that does not eliminate their negative impact and participation in this economic mess we're in. They're hitting home. They're the ones delivering the direct punch in our housing costs. They carry as much of the blame as the big guys.
I hate to get more personal about my landlord, but let me try to drive my point further. My landlord happens to work as a hairdresser with a friend of my neighbor and fellow tenant, who took on a $300 a month increase on her rent in March. This friend told my neighbor how our landlord was gloating about how she increased all of our rents, and how much money she's going to make. Yes, she has the right to do that and the current asking price for apartments allows her this "guilt-free" increase, yet she still stuck it to a loyal 15 plus year, wonderful tenant, and feels not a bit of remorse or concern for her well being.
Let me point out another lovely thing...she had to get us a new dryer this year, 'cause the other one broke. She decided this justified increasing the cost of doing laundry $1.50 a load. Nice, huh? I now pay $40 more a month for laundry. Still, she has the right, correct? So what the hell am I complaining about?
I really wish we could move on to the real issues here and stop with the finger pointing. It's really pointless!
Take heart in this Kelley: What's happening across the nation now is that, like you point out, people are selling their houses and renting, or delaying buying. This drives up rents. But as house prices keep falling, more and more homeowners will rent them out instead of sell them, which will drive rents down. Take a look at south Florida for a prime example. You can rent a house there on the beach for about $1300 now, what used to be over $2000. There's a bubble building in rents now that will eventually pop. In the long run you'll likely be better off than had you bought a house anytime in the last 3 years.
Kelly, I and others have merely offered a list of "real issues" that are causing your rents to go up. You seem a bit upset at me for that and if I have said anything to offend, I apologize.
I don't think the situation in CA is going to improve any time soon. I wish you the best, but I think the best advice anyone could give you is to get the heck out of CA. There are many place in the nation with rational housing/rental markets, excellent schools, and strong job markets. Research them, get a job, and go. Take advantage of the fact that you don't have a house to sell - many are not so lucky.
Josh,
I don't mean to keep coming to the defense of Kelly, as she is quite capable of defending her own opinion.
However, I would like for you to explain how easy you think it is to just up and move from California. You can't... It's not...
Unless you have family or close friends in the location you are moving to, you have about ZERO connections to get you up and running in this new place. What is the cost of plane tickets (I guess if Kelly wanted to live in Phoenix or Vegas it would be drivable) to go on your job interview? Plus hotel room(s).
Also, think of the hiring manager that sees your resume (with the 5 billion other resumes they are getting in the recession) with an address in CA. I would file that in the "if-we-are-desperate" pile, regardless of qualifications. They will most likely have plenty of qualified candidates in their area. Now, if you had a friend's address to use, your qualified resume would really get looked at. There will, of course, be some exceptions to this, but what I said before would mostly be the rule. How long before you finally get the interview with your out-of-town resume?
Now figure in moving expenses. Then figure that you are going to have to rent when you move there because, unless you already live there, it is harder to get a mortgage. You need to spend more money looking for a rental as you stay in hotels to rental hunt. You would need to do the same if you are buying. Basically, you would need to save up quite a bit of money just to make this move, and get lucky on top of that. And most likely you would be leaving your rental in CA to go rent somewhere else. AND your rental price will probably be in the ballparkish of the place you are renting in CA, because are you really going to uproot your children and family to move to the ghetto so you can have cheap rent in a town you do not know. Probably not. You will probably rent in the nicer area because you could afford to. And if you cannot afford to, you would be a fool to move at all, because you would not be moving to a cheaper area to live.
All of those things need to be taken into consideration. Plus you are going to want to have your down-payment (now that you actually need them) in hand so you can get out of your rental and into the home you want to buy. In a fairly priced area, a decent house will probably cost around $125k. So 20% down is going to be $25k. Plus moving expenses. Plus some cushion. The problem with all of this is that, when rents are going up, the price of gas is going up, the trips to Safeway are going up... it gets harder and harder to save. How long would it take Kelly or me to save up the money to truly make a move like this? I don't know about Kelly, but I am at least 3-4 years from having enough to make this happen. And guess what? If I can save this amount in 3-4 years... I am getting the hell out of CA.
Unless the housing prices come down to where the money I saved to make the move can afford to buy me a house in my area. Then I don't need to move at all.
Of course there are several other options.
-The central valley CA house prices have been DEVESTATED already and there is more to go. If there is a job for me in the central valley, it would be a much easier move and I would stay in CA.
-If you are a nurse, teacher, fireman or policeman... it would be much easier to find a job as those jobs are very easily transportable. I'm not in that boat, and I bet Kelly isn't either.
-Continue to rent and suck it up. At least while you are renting you aren't losing your downpayment or equity. It is really nice to be able to call the landlord and have them fix the roof or toilet and I don't have to pay for it. (provided you do not have a slumlord).
re Damenace72
I've found that one of the biggest impediments in life are the words "I can't". Sounds glib, but a friend of mine has been saying "I can't" for 20 years and I think it's no coincidence that he's been stuck on the bottom rung that whole time.
Moving can be to another rental, in a cheaper city. If someone wishes to move and doesn't have the money, they should cut expenditures to the bone until they have the money. I've met plenty of people in self-described dire financial situations who still went to restaurants, or didn't make big inexpensive meals at home and freeze the leftovers.
Your post emphasizes the importance of building an emergency nest egg of cash as soon as possible. Ideally people should live on no more than 75% of their take-home wages, so that the nest egg keeps growing. IMO, if one is not buying used for most durable items, even clothes, they're not frugal enough to have a valid beef about how expensive things are.
Gotta go now and buy a $50 bunk bed for my son on craigslist. When he outgrows it I'll sell it for $50.
Joshy, I'm not mad at you. I'm more annoyed, because I really think you're missing the whole point I'm trying to make. You sound like an angry landlord, whose feeling guilty and doesn't like being blamed. Thanks for your response though!
Damenace72...Bravo! I couldn't have said it any better and I thank you for that.
Heiwos...I agree with what you said about "I Can't." "I Can't" is a terrible thing to say to yourself. I used to sit around, when I wasn't working, wondering why I wasn't able to live the life of others in my neighborhood, driving big SUVs, with yards for their children and money to burn. I was really struggling and watching my dream of home ownership disappear. This was a few years back, mind you, and it really hit home last year. I finally got the point that I had to make changes in my life and stop focusing on a life I would never have. What did I do? I went back to work and to school, of course at a time I thought would be appropriate for my children. The only thing I wasn't banking on when making these changes was my inability to move and the financial hardships I would have to face. I thought things would be much more affordable once I went back to work and my husband was promoted. Ha! Anyway, that was a tough one to lump, but although I'm stuck at this point, deep in my heart I know that the "I can'ts" in my life will change into I cans." If I wasn't an optimist, I'd have thrown in the towel in years ago. I bounce back ridiculously fast at this point in my life.
Really what you're hearing from me...is I can't right now, and boy does that make me mad considering all the changes I've made in my life. That's the frustration you're hearing from me.
heiwos,
I like your kind of thinking!
In case you are thinking I am saying, "I Can't"... I'm not. I was illustrating the true situation of moving out of CA. One I have already faced and decided to stick it out until I had more money.
If I wanted to up and move right away, I could. But the risk is too great in my opinion, until I have enough money saved up. The risk of purchasing a home 3 years ago was too great for me too. Looks like I was right on that one.
Basically saying "you should just move" is a lot easier said than done... safely anywyas. I have kids. I play it safe.
True, I could take a risk. But I am comfortable and my 3-4 year plan seems just right for me for now.
Some of the most successful people in history take very big risks. I think they had some very big failures along the way as well. I just have a very low tolerance for risk so I play it safe. I will probably never be super successful, but I am OK with that.
Great idea on the $50 bunk bed! If it was my family, my boys would have destroyed it by the time they were done with it so I couldn't resell it like you. But all the more reason I wouldn't spend good money on one.
Dear poor, humorless KJ,
you said: "What the H are you talking about?? I live in Denver, and no one beats artists here. You don't sound quite sane."
--Do you see why people like me don't want to move from the more artistic coastal regions and live where folks have challenged senses of humor and think i'm insane? and dear KJ, i'm considered the conservative one here in san francisco!
and my boyfriend lived in denver before he moved here, and denver was like visiting finland where everyone's shy and quiet and keeps to themselves. he's swedish and an outdoors guy, so he loved it there even though no one talks to anyone. i was in a cafe and asked a few people if they knew a backgammon rule and they looked at me...
LIKE I WAS INSANE.
so making YOU move here to a place where people chat to each other on the street would be pure agony and terror for you, i imagine.
what's interesting to me is the reactions to me, to kelly, and all the little fighting is a microcosm of the overly individualistic "me" approach that got us into this economic situation.
and kelly, as a writer, it's great for you to use specific details regarding your own situation with your landlord. i find it fascinating how shameless your landlord was in admitting making money and gouging you all.
maybe i'm INSANE and have been living in california too long, but i believe in "this life" karma (meaning we don't have to wait for any upcoming lives or whatever). what will be interesting is to learn how to navigate past such people in the future and not be at the financial mercy of them.
i think it's great you doing this blog. and damenance 72, great post.
i feel like kelly's gone out in public with very acceptable rage for playing by the rules and feeling duped (as many of us do), and it seems like she's being attacked/distracted by tiny and silly paper cuts with guilty landlords explaining themselves and being told to move. that's an "america; love it or leave it" attitude.
i'm only forty and feel like i'm old fashioned with WWII values over here. what happened to hanging in there together and being fair and just and frugal and sensible and thinking of the long term?
as INSANE as i am, i pray that this country finds its way to returning to values of integrity and consideration for neighbors, as we realize it affects US as well.
anyhow, over and out. don't worry, i won't write long rants on here anymore. i have another INSANE book to write so that i can make a little scratch.
kj--as insane as you think i am, i think the country's gone insane. and you sound like a sweetheart. who are you to judge me? this is what this country's turned into. mean, unhappy, vindictive people.
god bless kelly for even trying to explain anything to some of you all who only see one way. it does get to the point where you wonder, "why bother?"
over and out and best of luck to each and every one of you. and kj, i hope you find it in your heart to be able to accept different kinds of people and opinions in your world. and lighten up, baby! it's gonna be okay.
(smile)
erika lopez
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