My Own Apartment Complex

To preface this....
Looking for an apartment sucks.
Seriously it does.
Especially if you're ready, after 8 years of roommates, to finally move out and live by yourself.
Especially if you're working in a retail job.

Because guess what?
Unless I want to use up an entire month's worth of paychecks to pay one month's worth of rent. And not be able to save money, not be able to buy food, not be able to have anything extra in case there other problems like you know...problems with the car.
I can't afford such a living.
It's completely foolhardy to go for such a thing.
Yet that's basically the cost of rent in my area. Seriously. Why?

My frustration stems from this problem....
Is that it's not just rent you end up having to pay for when you're renting an apartment. No it's renter's insurance. It's utilities. If you're lucky it's just gas and electricity. If you're not then it's water, trash, sewer, who knows what else. It's paying extra in order to get an internet connection, to get cable. It's paying extra to be even able to park at your apartment complex!

It's the most greedy thing ever! Forcing you to pay money for all these little extras when you're already paying to live there. Why force you to pay more? Why try to milk as much money out of your renters as possible?
It's stupid. Completely greedy stupid.

Especially if you're living in a college town.
Where people are poorer than dirt, working retail jobs to make ends meet, to go to school. To get their degrees.
Why make their life miserable in adding rent on top of that?
Why?

Why isn't there affordable housing for those people who don't want to live with roommates, who just want to be out on their own?

So.
I've decided.
When I get rich (you know from when that book I will eventually write and get famous from.)
I'm going to build my own apartment complex.
And I'm going to make it amazing.
It's not going to be some inexpensive super flimsy walls that let in every sound sort of deal.
No, they will be thicker walls/floors/ceilings. Like two feet thick or something.
(I'll get the contractor to tell me how thick of walls need to be to be nearly soundproof.)
The windows will be thicker too. So you don't hear every single little thing that happens outside the window.
The rooms will be tall. Have those 9ft ceilings everyone is always raving about.
The kitchen will come with all the necessary things. Fridge, Stove, Oven, Microwave, Dishwasher (a good kind, not the crappy ones that require you to clean the dishes before you can clean them.), and lots and lots of counter space. Lots of drawer and cupboard space for your food and dishes. A nice pantry.
You know. Space.
A good sized living room. You know where you can comfortably put a three seater and two seater couch in there. A TV without it feeling cramped.
(Who knows how big this floorplan will be in the end, but at this point, why not?)
The dining room....
I so hate having the kitchen and the living room all part of the same floorplan. I mean, the noise of the dishwasher alone, the sink being on, or trying to cook a meal....It drowns out the TV.
So there has to be a way to arrange it so that the apartment will still feel spacious without it causing a lot of noise from the kitchen area.
The bedroom would be big enough to fit like a Queen size bed. A desk. A bookcase.
A walk in closet would create the space needed for clothes.
Laundry. Oh yes. A washer and dryer in every apartment. Probably in that Walk In Closet, so you don't have an excuse not to put your clothes away once they're clean.
Then the bathroom would have a sink, toilet, a tub/shower deal. With enough space to not make it feel cramped.

Yes. Super nice apartment.
Ground floor would have their own mini yards (probably couldn't afford to do more than like 6-10 square feet?) to let their dogs outside.
Floors above would have a deck, wide enough to fit two deck chairs, maybe a small grill.

Parking? I'm thinking underground for tenants. Above ground for visitors.

So.
I probably won't furnish the place, beyond providing the kitchen appliances and washer/dryer.

But paying for utilities? Already included in the rent.
Paying for a parking spot? Nonexistent. You get a sticker to show you belong there. An assigned parking spot.
I'll probably have to figure out some sort of system for towing cars that shouldn't be parked in my complex. *shrugs* We'll figure that out when we get to that point.
Paying for internet/cable? Included in the rent. Maybe I'll invest in a Netflix account for all the apartments....hmmmmm that's something to look into....*shrugs*

I'll have security cameras. Special keys, possibly even locked buildings. At night I'd hire a security guard to walk the premises.
The office hours would be Monday-Saturday. 9am-9pm (without closing early) so that my tenants can come with problems at any time.

Pets?
Sure. Bring them in. I'll give you permission to keep two animals without extra charge. But after that, I'll add in a little fee. Like $5-$15 extra depending on the size of the animal they bring in.
(I'll have to enforce a way to make sure their dogs are quiet...if they bring dogs.)

And guess what?
Rent will be affordable.
Why? Because I'll already be rich. I'll be making money in other places. I won't mind pushing money into my apartment complex.

And because I would own the place, I can afford to be as picky with my tenants as I want.
Which would probably basically be "No smoking, no drinking, no drugs, no wild parties, no weapons." and I can hold the right to evict them if they break this contract.
Yes...probably need to brush up on rules on what I can and can't be picky about before I get into all that...

But back to rent.
I know I can pick and choose my tenants based on how much money they make in a month, based on their credit history, based on their past history in paying rent to other places.

So why not use that to my advantage?
I know apartments already vary their prices depending on the size of their rooms. More for bigger, less for smaller.
So I'll do the same.
But the system would be different.
Since I can request to see four weeks worth of rent I can see how much money you make in a month.
I can build my apartments to be different sizes.
Everything is included. But perhaps the bedroom would only be able to fit a twin bed instead of a Queen. *shrugs* The rooms would be smaller...so you'd be paying less in any case.

So that those part time retail workers will be able to afford to live in a nice place without having to find a second job. (and the smaller apartments would only be available for part time workers, who make under a certain amount a month.)
Depending on where I end up building my Apartment complex....
I would go around and get a general idea of how much money part time employees can make in a month, and then charge half of that as rent.

For the bigger apartments?
How about like $800 a month? Those apartments geared towards the full-time workers, who are still in the lower end of things. Perhaps full-time retail or something...
(Can I choose my tenants based on what type of jobs they hold? hmm....)

I could have prequalifiers. "Must be a Student to live here." "Must have a job to live here."
I could also have rewards. $100 off monthly rent if you're a full-time  student.

But even more importantly.
I wouldn't raise the rent on my tenants who have already been there a while.
Perhaps I'll start the rent at $800.
My lease would follow other leases. You know... 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months. Doesn't matter how long you sign the lease for, rent will always start out at the $800 mark.
But the longer you stay, the less rent becomes. Say like every 6 months you stay in my complex -and don't destroy my apartment/keep it in good condition- I'll lower the rent. Probably something like $50. So if you stay a year, you would be paying a $100 less. (maybe I'll have to lower it to $25 off every six months...hmmm...)
In any case. The longer you stay, the better for you because the lower the cost of rent!
Of course I'll have a cut off. (Can't have you living there for free after all.) Like once you reach $500 a month, it won't get any lower than that. I still need some money to make the repairs that inevitably will need to happen.
Every six months I could check out the apartment. And if I decide repairs are needed, then rent won't go down that six month period. You'll be paying to have the apartment fixed by keeping the rent at the same rate... yah...something like that.

Maybe I'll have a rewards system too....like report a problem in your apartment to me before I discover it and I won't hold it against you the first time. (accidents happen.) (repeat offenses may expect a fine...or eviction if they're bad enough.)

Sounds pretty good doesn't it?

Yah. Everything provided. Rent covers the cost of everything. And that rent can go down the longer you stay in my complex and you're good to my apartment I'm renting to you.


Admittedly, when I get rich. when I build this apartment complex.
It could all backfire on me.
Things could go horribly wrong.
I'm aware of that.
There are probably hundreds of thousands of unseen problems to renting out an apartment complex in this manner.
Perhaps I'll have to marry a business minded man to be ensure I have the right permits and follow the right laws and such....

But why not try it out? Why not see how this goes?
Why not give those people a chance?

Like I said. When I get rich.
It won't matter if I make money off of the complex.
I'll already be making money through other ways.
What will matter is that I'll give the young adults in today's world a chance to save money. To be able to save for college, for that car, for that dream home. Without worrying about how they're going to live in their current apartment.

Perhaps it's an idea that will fall flat on its face.
But I won't know until I try it out right? :)

Ha.
Now I'll have a response to that 'fun' question of "What do you plan for your future?"
Well dear questioner, my plan is to get rich through publishing a book (or seven) and with my money earned build an affordable apartment complex for the single part-time working class in our country. :)

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi