Posted on: Tuesday, April 19, 2005
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ABOUT WOMEN
Fighting the rental war again
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By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
Wanted: A charming two-bedroom detached cottage with covered parking, W/D, A/C, full kitchen, bathtub and a living room large enough to host poker night. Also includes garbage disposal, full-size refrigerator and a back yard with room for a kayak, paddleboard, one-man canoe and a dozen surfboards. Lots of street parking. Safe, quiet, close to town. Steps to the beach. And all utilities included.
For under $1,000 a month, please.
Ah, the dream of a renter.
And my recurring one in recent weeks.
For the sixth time in four years, I'll have to move again. And thanks to a super-hot real estate market, I doubt I'll find something even remotely comparable to what I have now.
Two-bedroom detached house in 'Aina Haina. Washer and dryer. Covered parking. Big kitchen. Quiet cul-de-sac. Neighbors who give us mangoes and mochi. Close to McDonald's. All for less than $1,200 a month.
That's less than the going rate for a studio near Diamond Head. Or a two-bedroom home in Kailua. Or even a decent house in La'ie.
My options are pathetic: Either find a way to cram a lifetime collection of clothes and books — and a boyfriend who collects broken paddles — into a studio and save money. Or dish out an extra $200 a month to live in a functional space with a washing machine that doesn't need quarters to operate.
Because forget buying.
If we can't afford more than $1,200 in rent, how are we supposed to buy a home for more than four times our combined annual salaries? Or fork over a 20 percent down payment when we've only saved enough money for our next trip to Vegas?
Welcome to the paradoxical world of Gen-X renters.
We're fully employed with IRAs and financial planners. But we couldn't save the way our at-home counterparts could. We dished out monthly rent checks while paying for an education, car, trips and sometimes entire collections of shoes we didn't technically own.
Our salaries aren't keeping pace with inflation or the cost of living — and now the price of real estate.
The median price for single-family homes on O'ahu reached an unfathomable $550,000 in March, up 25.3 percent from a year earlier.
Even as a renter, I'm screwed. Mortgage-paying homeowners are jacking up rent to ease their financial burdens. But they get the tax break and we don't. And now we're paying more in rent than ever.
Sure, I could've saved more money, resigned to a life without cable and magazine subscriptions. But it's not like I'm throwing cash at Tiffany jewelry or Prada bags. I live within my means. I just don't make enough money to live within my means in my own house.
So until then, we'll keep spending our paychecks on Vegas trips. Winning Megabucks may be my only hope.
Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.
