Rent — Blog — Healy Chen

Unfathomable money level

Today I was reading a thread on r/sanfrancisco about a two-bedroom two-bath rental in the Sunset district costing $6,500 per month. That is both incredible and unfathomable. That amount of money is a bit more than my own monthly take-home, and I honestly do not view myself as making peasant money. A reality where people can spend that much on rent alone is difficult to conceptualize. $78,000 a year just to put a roof over your head.

But obviously there are plenty of people capable of spending those amounts. You watch enough Caleb Hammer and you begin to believe there’s lots of folks out there struggling financially and making stupid decision. On the flip side, there’s lots of folks making really good money and can spend with impunity. Look at this guy who casually spent $635K on a special edition Acura NSX, a practical museum piece because each additional mile is ruinous to its now record-setting evaluation.

Imaging spending house-level money on a vehicle you won’t drive! Meanwhile, I don’t think I’ve made that much money total in all my years of working. I might as well be on a separate planet.

I can see how someone in similar financial situation as me can easily get nihilistic about it. Cost of living is insane, housing prices are beyond the stratosphere, and then there’s social media indicating that it’s only you who is the broke one. Given those circumstances, I too would YOLO what little money I have into options markets or prediction markets. At least that gives me a puncher’s chance to attain the life that seemingly everyone else have. Because working a normal job isn’t mathematically going to get me there.

Maybe I should start lining up at Target on a weekday morning for the latest Pokemon cards release, hoping to score a card worth reselling. Or line up at Harbor Freight for the latest limited tool drop to then resell on eBay for profit. What’s the quickest way to multiple X my money so I can afford life.

I understand those that do. What are we supposed to do when the median rent price is higher than our take-home?

Inflation everywhere

I’m pretty certain my auto insurance rates are going up in the next six months renewal. Isn’t everything? Inflation is an absolute bitch, even for someone like me who have only myself to feed/take care of. Just last week I noticed the prices at Panda Express (the best go-to Chinese food in a pinch) have gone up another 30 cent. It must be the great egg shortage going on right now. Maybe don’t use eggs in the fried rice for the time being…

Rent have gone up this year as well, not because my friend/landlord hates me, but because of energy prices. Anyone in California using their central heating a lot during this winter have had a bit of a sticker shock recently. The prices of natural gas is stupendously high, so much so one friend of mine have stopped heating up her entire apartment. Price of electricity have gone up as well. Since my rent is inclusive of utilities, no surprise that it has rightfully increased this year.

At least my BMW M2 can be insured. This article on Jalopnik says in certain areas (of high crime), insurance companies are refusing to cover Hyundai and Kia vehicles. Because those cars are incredibly easy to steal. Understandable, really: insurance is simply risk management. If certain drivers with bad records can be denied insurance, so can cars that are heavy theft magnets. It’s not worth the risk for the underwriting companies.

Of course, it completely sucks for the owners of a Hyundai or Kia vehicle made before 2021. You either cannot get insured, or have to pay an abnormally high premium. Even if you want to trade the car for another brand, it’s not so easy. The great supply chain shortage is still effecting the car market. Customers are still paying over sticker for new cars, and used cars prices are still heavily inflated compared to pre-pandemic. Talk about rock and a hard place.

I’m low-key glad my parents’ 2018 Hyundai Tucson was a lease.