To Rent or Buy? A Difficult Question
Although home prices across the U.S. are pretty much at their lowest point in decades, many Americans still cannot afford to buy. With an almost 9% unemployment rate and who knows how much underemployment, the housing market remains sluggish, stagnant, moribund. The glut of underwater and foreclosed homes currently for sale simply adds to the misery of the current housing predicament.On the other side of the equation, renters are also feeling financially strapped. “’In the last decade, rental housing affordability problems went through the roof,’” states Eric Belsky of the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, in an article by Mary Ellen Podmolik in the Chicago Tribune.She reports that about a third of Chicago-area renters and a quarter of national renters – about 10 million households – are spending over half of their pretax dollars on rent and utilities. These Chicagoland renters are feeling “severely burdened by their rental costs, compared with only 20.4% in 2000”.The Harvard study also indicated that the long lead-time needed to build additional apartment buildings could put “financially strapped consumers in even more dire straits”. The study also showed that, across the country, these issues are not only a problem for lower-income renters; between 2007-2009, just over one million more middle-income renters had to deal with at least some housing-cost burdens, and that they spent 30-40% of their incomes on housing. The rule of thumb is to spend only about 30% of income on housing.With more former homeowners morphing into apartment renters, this aspect of the housing crisis will almost certainly continue to escalate. And, in a slight twist, with unemployment easing somewhat, those who have had moved in with family or friends, are now looking to rent their own place, putting still more strain on the rental market, which, by the way, is great news for landlords .Belsky went on to opine that “…more people have less money to spend on [such] necessities as food, health care and savings.”So, whether you are trying to keep your mortgage “above water”, have had your home foreclosed or are feeling shell-shocked by rental prices, you may be considering filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 personal bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy attorneys at Legal Helpers are experienced and knowledgeable in the field of all aspects of personal bankruptcy protection. Call us toll-free at 800-260-1402 today for your initial free consultation or log onto www.legalhelpers.com for more bankruptcy information.
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