I Couldn't Believe She Actually Said This

Can somebody explain to me how my rent goes up when the lease renewal comes and nothing about my living has changed? Nothing's been renovated, nothing's been updated, I'm not getting anything new. Also, my pay hasn't gone up, but you can jack my rent up hundreds of dollars? Make it make sense.

Yeah, I can explain it to you. Your rent keeps going up because of two big reasons. First, there are just not enough houses or apartments in cities and states all across country. So landlords have a lot of leverage to jack up the rents on you. And second, we know that huge corporate landlords and private equity investors slap all sorts of extra fees and jack up rents just because they can. They are sitting in an office on Wall Street worried about their bottom line, not worried about whether your refrigerator gets fix or your heating works.

For those who didn't ride the economics class on the short bus, this is how it actually works. First of all, if you don't fix the appliances, people will actually move elsewhere. You have to have a better product than everyone else. That's the beautiful thing about a free market. Second, in almost every state, if you don't get the appliances fixed, you don't actually owe your rent. As long as you are current on your rent, you do not have to pay if your landlord is not fixing everything. That is a law in almost every single state. And lastly, your expenses go up and the rent goes up because the government keeps printing money. So inflation is still a thing whether or not you get a raise or not. And they keep increasing the regulations, which means it's more expensive for us to repair the property. Taxes go up, utilities go up. If the expenses go up, the income must go up proportionally. It is a government problem, Elizabeth. If you guys stop jacking our expenses, then it'll be cheaper for people to rent. Or just stop printing so much freaking money, both parties.