Rent’s always a bit of a sensitive issue, isn’t it, Pandas? It’s not something that you often talk about with just anyone—only those closest to you. However, that doesn’t apply to any apartments you might come across that throw the cost-quality balance completely out of whack! Things like being forced to live next to a huge heap of garbage right in front of your apartment window.
When you hear that an apartment costs $1,575 to rent each month, what are your first thoughts? Personally, I imagine a spacious 4-bedroom palace with a terrace, a gorgeous view of the city, and perhaps even a part-time butler to serve tea and finger sandwiches. Alas! TikToker Caroline Gelgot, aka @notfromdenmark, showed exactly what this means living in New York, and it ain’t pretty.
Beyond her window is a courtyard where the locals keep their garbage until it gets picked up. It looks horrendous, it’s unsanitary, and the ‘cherry’ on top is that it blocks the fire escape! Probably the biggest kick in the gut is the fact that Caroline had no idea that this is where everyone dumps their trash: not during the apartment viewing, not while signing the lease. Other than that, the apartment itself is pretty nice. Check out her videos about the situation below, Pandas!
Bored Panda reached out to financial expert Sam Dogen, the founder of the Financial Samurai blog, for some insights about rent costs, how much we should be paying, and financial freedom. "Spending no more than 30% of your gross income on rent is par for the course. In NYC, the general rule is that your gross income needs to be at least 40X your monthly rent without having a cosigner," he said. "In other words, if rent is $3,000 a month, you need to make at least $120,000, which does equal 30%."
Caroline has gone viral after sharing the view right outside her expensive New York City studio. Here's one of the videos she shared on TikTok
Financial expert Sam said that if we do want to get ahead, we ought to try spending no more than 20% of our gross income on rent. "The ultimate goal is to get the percentage down to 10% based on my housing expense guideline for financial independence. If you get your housing expense down to 10% or less, financial freedom is an inevitability!" he shared with Bored Panda.
The spacious and overall nice NYC apartment has one glaring flaw
Image credits: notfromdenmark
There is a literal mountain of garbage outside the window
Image credits: notfromdenmark
I was interested to find out what someone should do if they're forced to choose between living far away from their jobs while paying less rent and living closer while paying more rent. Sam from Financial Samurai said that he highly recommends "geoarbitraging in your own city to save on living expenses." That way, you're one step closer to financial freedom.
"There are plenty of cheaper areas in one's city or town if one is willing to move. If you can work from home more regularly, moving farther away from work is a no-brainer. The only downsides are a longer and more expensive commute," he said.
"In 2014, I moved just five miles west in San Francisco and ended up buying a property 60% cheaper. If I had to commute downtown, my commute would only be ~15 minutes longer each way. That's a small price to pay for saving so much on housing. Luckily, I just work from home," he revealed his own personal experience. "The proper geoarbitrage strategy is first your city, then a different city, then a different state, then a different country. By living in your same area, you also won't need to take a pay cut like some companies are mandating for those who move away."
In another video, the woman explained how people dump their trash in the courtyard without any care. You can watch the full video here
Caroline had no idea that there would be so much trash when she was touring the apartment and signing her lease
Image credits: notfromdenmark
Image credits: notfromdenmark
It seems like the locals don't care about fire hazards and blocking the fire escapes
Image credits: notfromdenmark
Image credits: notfromdenmark
Image credits: notfromdenmark
The woman's videos had a small impact. Someone came over and painted some squares where people should leave their rubbish
Image credits: notfromdenmark
However, things didn't go as planned...
Image credits: notfromdenmark
In yet another video, Caroline pointed out that the rent for her NYC apartment was supposed to be even higher. However, because of Covid, she essentially gets to live the first two months there for ‘free’ while the price would jump back to its original cost after a year.
The renter pointed out that $1,575 is the absolute maximum that she can pay for an apartment. She also noted that it’s pretty spacious for a studio and it’s very nice, overall. What’s more, all of the utilities, apart from the wifi, are included in the price of the rent. And the trashy view beyond the window? That’s completely free.
Caroline’s videos actually had an impact. Well, somewhat. After one of her TikToks went viral with a whopping 4.2 million views, someone came along to paint some yellow squares in the courtyard, denoting where people should be leaving their trash so it doesn’t block anyone’s fire escapes. Things seemed like they’d work out… only they didn’t. The TikToker showed how people completely ignored the squares and piled up their trash wherever they wanted.
According to Business Insider, some of the reasons for sky-high rent prices in New York City include a booming job market, the world’s largest urban economy, and numerous wealthy residents. The Big Apple isn’t all glitz and glamor, however. Around 1.5 million New Yorkers live below the poverty line. That means that they have to choose between living in low-quality apartments, living far away (meaning commuting to work is even more of a time-consuming hassle), or they have to pay far more on rent than they can allow themselves.
You can watch Caroline's full follow-up video right here
‘The Balance’ explains that the rule of thumb when it comes to rent means that you should be spending roughly 30% of your monthly income on your rent. That leaves 70% of your earnings for food, transportation, clothing, and all the other things, large and small, that make up a person’s life.
However, ‘The Balance’ points out that the rule of thumb doesn’t work all the time. For example, it doesn’t account for inflation, income stagnation, or rising rent prices, which are all important factors to consider. What’s more, the rule isn’t personalized, meaning that how much you should be spending on rent might differ vastly if you have any debt, the realities of the local real estate market, as well as your own financial goals.
So if you’re looking to save more money, you’d choose to spend a smaller fraction of your earnings on rent. Meanwhile, if you live in an expensive city like NYC, you might have to fork over more of your hard-earned cash.
Earlier, I spoke to Cameron Knowlton and Tatum Kelly about rent prices in New York. They told Bored Panda that, for example, $1,650 per month “is very inexpensive” for the city. However, you have to consider what you’re getting for the price. For instance, paying even a couple of hundred dollars more might let you upgrade from a cramped studio to a far more spacious apartment.
“NY is a densely populated city with incredibly high demand,” they said.
Here's how people reacted to the awful garbage mountain sitting inches away from Caroline's apartment window
