Renting In Orange County California

“This is a sponsored post by Zumper. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on my personal view.”

Having lived in and been a renter in Orange County over the past 20 years has been a real interesting experience. Over the years I have faced some dramatic rent increases. Nothing as strange as the rent increase this year when in 2020 my landlord couldn’t keep any tenants.

When the pandemic first started and people couldn’t work anymore, many people moved out of my apartment complex. And I mean many people.

I still can’t believe that we’ve made it this long and been able to continue paying our rent every month everyone I know has struggled in this area. Landlords are well aware many people are still scraping by however the rent has gone up yet again.

When I renewed my lease for 2021, my rent went up again and that is the major problem in this area of Southern California. My county which is Orange and surrounding counties Los Angeles in Riverside have the same issue the rent is it going back up again.

If you read this article from Los Angeles Daily News, it takes 60.9 hours of work to rent a one-bedroom apartment in our area. The rent is just not affordable we’re not being paid the fair amount for cost-of-living so when there is an apartment for rent that has enough rooms and allows pets its almost impossible to get an apartment everyone wants it.

Last year, my sister’s roommate moved back in with his parents. She ended up sleeping on a friend’s couch for nearly 6 months because it’s impossible to find affordable housing even as a professional (she works in the mortgage industry) she could not find a place that would take her and her two cats she could afford. She ended up again with a roommate because the rent in Orange and its surrounding counties Los Angeles and Riverside are just too high.

My two eldest children still live at home because even with a few roommates sharing rooms, they still cannot afford the cost of rent. And many of my friends who have children that should have moved out already, find themselves with a full nest rather than an empty one. The rent is just too expensive.

So what is happening is the working class is working more. And paying more rent. It is a never-ending cycle. Even if the rent prices stabilize, they go up. It is so hard to find a 3-bedroom rental in Orange County, we had to be put on a waiting list. And the cost for that extra bedroom was twelve hundred dollars per month.

With the increasing costs of rent, the dream of homeownership dwindles away every year. And commuting from an area where the rent is cheaper can cost a lot, sometimes even more than the increase in rent, so moving to another county is out of the question. My husband is good at his job and makes more money at his current job than he would anywhere else, yet still we struggle.

I have had people try to convince me it would be best to move out of state but even then if you do the math you make less money when you move. You are in the same situation just further away from any support or family you had back home.

The problem is until the cost of rent is stable and people make enough to afford the cost-of-living renters will live in a vicious cycle of feast and famine. When the rent is lower, they can save money and pay off bills hoping to buy a home. Only to have to use those savings when the rent and cost-of-living increases yet again. A lot of us are one bad day away from disaster if our car were to break down, or they cut our hours at work we could be bankrupt.

So until workers make a living wage and landlords charge fair prices for rent (I pay nearly three grand a month here) things won’t improve much for anyone.

In the meantime, if you are looking for an affordable rental, use Zumper. Their search engine is my favorite, and Zumper kindly sponsored this post. I love the fact there is a map and so many helpful search filters. Comment below how the rental market is where you live?