Wow. What was it before ?

Only went down $21 but it’s still a pleasant surprise considering I was expecting to owe something.

Thank goodness for small miracles. My first thought is maybe they violated rent control with the last increase.

My guess is they raised it beyond what rent control allowed or they got sued and are trying to cover their asses.

That's absolutely wonderful and I'm so happy for you!!

I can only imagine how you were feeling when you saw a letter from them and having to open that letter!?!? I would had butterflies in my stomach!!!

At least it was a pleasant surprise I'm sure l!! A great way to start 2023 🙂

I smell a recession.

Do you smell a recession?

The stench is growing

No, inflation is easing and economy is growing. Sorry if that disappoints you

Your rent is a function, in part, of property taxes on the unit. Municipalities often estimate annual property taxes at the beginning of the year, and make corrections to the landowner's final tax bill of the year.

THATS NOT HOW INFLATION WORKS. THANKS OBAMA

This is true but 99.9% of landlords don’t change rents to reflect their increase or decreases in taxes. This landlord for sure increased to much and is trying to cover himself

No I can't get past the smell of what the Rock is cooking

Hope youre being sarcastic

I want the housing market to fall flat dead, personally.

Both of those statements are factually and empirically correct

That’s what I think. Last renewal they tried to raise our rent something like $189. We call and complained and they only raised it like $80. I feel they got caught but other tenants and are now trying to “fix” it. We noticed the letter on quite a few doors today.

Yea. Definitely expecting it to be a bill. Very relieved.

Yea that’s my thoughts. Calling them next week to dig into it.

That’s my thoughts.

Hey even if only $21 thats an extra 3 Taylor ham egg and cheeses a month

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Wait, your rent was $2191? What kind of maniac landlord sets rent like that?

If I were to guess, they probably violated rent control laws and realized the mistake.

it’s pork roll ya got damn snart fiffer

Damn…that’s more than my mortgage.

NJ landlord lol. I’m actually essentially “grand fathered” into this rate and if I were to move out and right back into the same unit my rate would go up $600.

Same thought

My rent has 67 cents on it haha.

Every year my landlord doesn’t raise the rent I consider it a small miracle.

Upvote for correctly calling it Taylor ham.

I hope you don't have to pay by check at least

Haha what year was that in? My current rent in Hoboken starts with a number I don’t love

a festivus MIRACLE

Ome thousand seven hundred eighty nine and 67/100. Hard to even fit in the check. It's a great apartment way under market with a parking space. Guess there has to be one wierd quirk.

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That’s probably exactly what happened lol

RIP Biggies

They’re gonna change this date to a State holiday

Look at this fuckin goon

Since I've been in my apt my rent has gone up either 3% or 3½% per year (though there have been more than a few years where it didn't go up at all). But this year it went up like 8%.

"Please don't ask any questions ".

spk included; who'd ever move?

Do you live in a town/municipality with rent control laws? A lot of assumptions about your landlord breaking some law but very few places in NJ have any laws about increasing rent. There is no statewide law. Fuck landlords but it’s a weird assumptions to make for NJ.

Those letters come directly from rent control offices listing the months and overpayment. Do you know how old the apartment is, how many units are on the property and of the owner lives there?

They your unit if not subject to rent control ordinances, as the price is not tenant dependent. If you're unsure, you can reach out to your municipality and ask them.

Yep! They probably owe OP some money too.

Or your landlord was visited by three ghosts.

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That would make me happier because at least it seems like they are basing it on something. Instead of something random.

I can see who is from North Jersey

Wow mine just went up almost $100

I have literally never heard of that happening! Clearly 2023 is going to be your year! Definitely need to pick out those lotto numbers. :)

It is the season of ghosts visiting

“Taylor ham egg and cheese” doesn’t even sound right lol.

Were they illegally overcharging you before? (It's probably not Christmas cheer)

Same. I'd probably knock off at least 5 years from my mortgage if I was paying $2100 a month.

assuming op lives in a town that has rent laws that allow it to only be raised by a specific percentage each year. that number is probably what you get from last year's number + the allowed percentage.

I don’t know how people can afford to rent and do anything else.

Rare W!

RIP Biggies!

Look into it and get some money back

Awesome.

It's based on the max 4%. My town has rent control thank God or this year woulda been brutal

My rent's a weird ass number because there's a percentage cap for how much they can raise it every year. When I moved in it was a tidy $1150.

That’s our thought. Going to follow up next week to see if they actually owe us.

Oh ours goes up almost $100 every year. I have a feeling they over raised us last year leading to this reduction.

Apartment is only 7 years old. We’re the original tenant in this unit. About 60 units. No way he lives here. He has multiple complexes.

Happy Holidays!

Welcome to New Jersey! It's nice to have you.

Yea we’ve been here 7 years. Almost every year was around 3% then back in June they tried to raise it about 8% as well and we called them out on it and they dropped it back to about 3-4%

That’s the neat part. You don’t.

Yea. No wonder we struggle to save up 20% for a down payment.

Been here 7 years. We’d have a pretty nice house half way paid off by now.

Bugger. I didn't say anything.

Yea my rent is $1454 and I’m in NJ

My rent is $2850 for a 3 story condo. It’s weird how low some properties are.

I thought it was high.. So I lowered it...

It’s a Hanukkah miracle

If it's than ~33 year old, it's not subject to NJ rent control ordinances. It sounds more like he's not at maximum occupancy and want to keep as many tenants as he can

Is it a home? 3-4 bedrooms, wth?

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That's like unheard of in NJ. Cherish it lol. I'd frame that bad boy lol

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rent goes down 21 dollars. fees go up 21 dollars.

You don’t need 20%, look into FHA loans. Can put as little as 3.5%, which means your monthly payment will be high of course between the low down payment and mortgage insurance until you hit 80% LTV, but still. You have first time home buyer options ! (I’m assuming you don’t know this already… sorry for bothering if you do. Happy holidays!)

not pictured: lease is up January 2 2023

What if it's not produced by Taylor's?

Because owning a house is just more than a mortgage for Maitnenance of everything. I’m a single person paying $2k in rent, if i was to buy a property that has a $2k mortgage it will 100% need work on it in my area. I’m lazy my dad busted my ass in back yard growing up , I’m done doing lawn work anymore, for me to take care of a whole house and lawn by myself would be too much for me honestly my apartment is good enough if I buy I’d buy to rent out and not to live in

This happened to me once because the landlord accidently overcharged on a rent stablized apartment and I couldve taken him to court and got back 3X what I paid in rent

June 26th is my 23rd birthday! That is all the relevant input I have

From a late-20s point of view:

When you’re paying $2k/m rent, where do you have space to save for a house down payment, closing costs, etc?

The student loan pause helped so many young people save significant money for the first time ever - then the housing market skyrocketed. Now, house prices are coming down, but interest rates have skyrocketed.

It’s eerily just out of reach for many people my age due to these factors and even as we progress in our careers, it becomes just slightly more out of reach. unless you have parents that can gift you the down payment, you’re stuck struggling

South Jersey here. Still fight the Taylor ham battle.

Your comment just made me actually laugh out loud. What kind of maniac. Ha

Noted! Looking into this.

Yea sadly we’ve been on/off looking for 4 years now. We originally were content with the FHA/4%. But between our house goals and last years cash offers ours down payment goal has significantly increased. I do regret not settling on something simpler years ago but live and learn. We’ll get that house eventually.

We rent a 2 bed 2 bath with garage for 2.2k. A similar house in the area including property tax, insurance, interest rates, etc… Easily 2.5-3k. And thats a house built 60+ years ago needing a lot of maintenance (which is free in an apartment). Also consider good luck saving for a down payment while paying 2k a month. It’s not easy getting out of the life if you want to. Also the rent life definitely comes with benefits for those that don’t mind paying rent and never gaining equity such as the no lawn care, maintenance, repairs, etc.

We pay $2200 to rent a house in Jersey City. If we bought a house, we’d realistically be able to afford one in CNJ (MAYBE) with a 45 minute commute both ways. (Adding extra time for dropping kids off at day care/school)

We’d rather save those three hours a day in commute time to spend time with our family than putting equity into a house in the burbs.

Absolutely it’s short-sighted. But it makes sense in terms of time. There’s only so many hours in a day ya dig

I lowered my 2 of my tenants rent by $300/ month during covid. I have not increased it back. I have never raised their rent. I cannot possibly do that due to inflation now. I could use the money, but they could use it more.

Even if the pork roll in question is produced by Taylor Provisions, it's not "ham" and legally cannot be marketed or sold as such. That's why it's called pork roll.

christ man you're making me glad I bought last year. My mortgage is 1550 for my 3 bedroom in Hamilton nj

I hate to admit the bitter jealousy that fills me when I read this. Lololol

Okay and what do you call Q Tips then?

If you call a band-aid an adhesive bandage and a Q-Tip a cotton swab then I won't argue with you but if you don't then you're a hypocrite

That was a shameless cheap mortgage plug

We pay 1600 such a robbery eveything here is falling apart but we don’t have the funds to move out again all of here works and contributes I would expect a second bathroom for the price we pay

Our mortgage payment is such a specific number lol. Ie ends in like $XX46.21 or something like that. I have to round up my payments to the nearest whole dollar (5s or 0s only dammit) for my own sanity. My husband thinks I’m nuts, I am, but when we get our statement at the end of the year I get to boast and say look I paid an extra $200 down on the principal just by rounding up! 😆

Im in new jersey also… my rent is 2350

buy a house a pay a mortgage .. you'll get another unexpected surprise by paying less then that and owning it at the same time

Cuz you forgot salt, pepper, ketchup...now it's fixed

A good pork roll egg and cheese does not need salt pepper or ketchup

You sound like a rare gem. Keep being a good person. But also look after yourself.

In this market, even no increase is a net win

Ignore the "mortgage or bust" people. I can't find a similarly sized house that, after mortgage, PMI, property tax, etc, is cheaper than my current apartment in a multifamily home. It's always at least $600/mo more, often more than $1k more. Maybe if you move to East Bumfukkit in South Jersey, but at that point you might as well move out of NJ entirely.

Perhaps municipal property tax decreased (yes, it does happen) and the landlord is making the legally required adjustment.

Good luck finding a mortgage under $3.5k in my area unless you put 50% down.

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OP if they’re willingly lowering your rent, they probably fucked up big time and owe you money lol

I’m not a mortgage or bust person. OP said they wanted to buy a house.

Wow bought in 2020, my mortgage is 1900, 3 bedrooms

Is that a single bedroom or 2?? Rent is so ridiculous and it's been that way forever

Surprised by the cheap rent prices I’m seeing in comments.

I own a 2 family, granted in nice neighborhood and it’s new construction, but my tenants pay 2500 and 3000 respectively.

Edit: FWIW, that barely covers the mortgage and leaves me with about $150 “profit” which is spent in repairs or snow removal and the cost of that goes well over that amount.

Q-Tips or cotton swabs interchangeably. Same for Kleenex and the like, it depends on my mood and what’s fresh in my mind, I guess. Though with Q Tips, It says Q Tips on the tin in big letters. It hasn’t said “Taylors Prepared Ham” on the tin since 1906. Taylor’s themselves have called it pork roll for over 100 years on their packaging. That’s all assuming it was made by Taylor’s. Sometimes it’s made by Case or Mercer Meats, in which case it’s not Taylor’s and it’s not Ham.

Yea we missed the boat on buying then. Hopefully next year we’ll get out of the rent life at a somewhat reasonable rate.

Yea we shopped for a house the past year. For what we’re currently paying we’d get a rundown 2 bed 1 bath shack in the sticks that’d probably need a new roof within the first week. Rent is expensive but still the better choice until rates come down or we have a major down payment.

goodness gracious