October 24th, 2008 by AllStudentRentals.com

In most cities, landlords are a little hesitant to raise rent prices by a substantial amount each year. For the most part, they realize that renters have a number of options to choose from, and as a result they want to avoid alienating people by jacking rents whenever they please. Generally, the rental market is controlled by the renters, they have the majority of the power. However, if you live in a college town, this is simply not the case. Property managers in college towns realize that there is a limited supply of quality off-campus housing, and that the supply of college students needing housing is going nowhere but up.

As dorms become crowded and university housing systems are overwhelmed by enormous freshmen classes, the push to find off-campus housing for hundreds of thousands of kids across the country is growing rapidly. Finding an apartment is no longer a matter of searching for what suits you best, it has become, in some cases, a desperate search for anything that you can afford. Property managers in college towns know that decent (and I use that term loosely) apartments and houses are in incredibly high demand and that kids, flush with their parents money, are more than willing to pay for it. I’m not about to say that all property managers are exploitative, however, they certainly know what they have and what it is worth. I have seen average rent prices in my town go up by more than 50% in some cases, to the point where some average 1-bedroom apartments rent for more than $800. I know this doesn’t seem like much for those of you who live in more metropolitan areas, but considering that not long ago in my town you could get a 1-bedroom spot for less than $400, $800 seems like straight extortion. I understand that as things like inflation, gas/commodity prices, insurance premiums, and other expenses all go up that property owners must raise their rents, but I see it happening every semester.

The one factor that doesn’t help this situation at all is the fact that the economy has no real negative effect on the rental housing market. When the economy is great, lots of people need places to rent because they have jobs or they are in school or whatever. When the economy sucks, even more people need places to rent as thousands of former homeowners experience foreclosures and mortgage defaults. No matter what, the property owners collect money, and they are collecting more and more of it each year. It may seem incredibly unfair that rent prices are rising with seemingly no end to how high they will go, and the truth is, that it IS incredibly unfair. However, it is the nature of supply and demand. There is a limited supply of decent housing, especially in college towns, and those who are willing to pay a lot for it will inevitably drive the price up. What can you do? Nothing. Paying rent is one of those things that cannot be avoided. There are ways to get the best for your money however. AllStudentRentals.com was designed to provide renters the opportunity to view hundred of potential properties and find exactly what they are looking for without having to call dozens of property owners, drive around town, and essentially waste time. You can search by price, style, lease term, and dozens of other criteria, so at least you will be comfortable while you are getting raped by high rent prices.

One last thing, to illustrate the idea of raising rents and offering nothing, consider the situation at the house I recently moved out of:

Myself and three others were living in a relatively new 4-bedroom house that was close to campus and in a pretty nice neighborhood. We were paying $1700 a month and the house had all of the things you might desire including central air, washer and dryer, dishwasher, a big backyard, etc. When we moved out of the house, we found out that not only was our landlady raising the rent to $1850, she was also taking out the washer and dryer. It’s as plain as day, more money for less shit. Ridiculous.