The Rent is Too Damn High!

RENT, n. 1. A regular payment made by a tenant to a landlord for the use of property. 2. An amount of money earned that exceeds that which is economically or socially necessary.

When I became of age, after becoming thoroughly familiar with the legal drinking age in New York state, I quickly became familiar with the first definition. A decade later after obtaining an MBA, I then became familiar with the second, and would then much like economists use it in conversation in order to appear smarter and more useful.

I always realized that earning more money than what was necessary was not necessarily a bad thing, and was in fact the cornerstone of capitalism. Though, soon after obtaining my MBA, I was thankful in no longer being concerned with paying it to a landlord and was more concerned with trying to earn it from everybody else.

Along the way I realized that plumbers, CPAs, lawyers, electricians and HVAC technicians were also familiar with it. And until the late twenty-tens this appeared to me to be acceptable. The idea that others had superior expertise and therefore needed to be paid accordingly seemed quite fair. After all, in some cases I most definitely did not have the knowledge, education and experience required to install a new heat pump, and in others while I knew how to solder, re-plumbing an entire house might have been a little too time-consuming.

In the worst case DIY is impossible and in the best, much like NPV, a time vs. money calculation. And for time immemorial the math behind the best case was always quite reasonable, sometimes it made sense to hire a pro, other times it did not.

Well times have changed, as sometime after COVID it appears the math also changed, for the worse, as hiring a pro has become unreasonable at best and ruinous at worst. As Jimmy McMillan, presciently said at the 2010 NY gubernatorial debate “The rent is too damn high!” A condition made clear to me quite recently and quite palpably by two premium events.

1. My three year term on my condominium board of directors ended on Dec 3, 2025 (more like a prison term and less like an academic one). Just prior to this glorious day the property manager asked the board to agree to pay the property management company $1,400 to clean a 28’ x 11’ section of exterior brick wall splotchily covered by some sort of algae. For some reason she mentioned that a gallon of the required cleaning solution cost $250. Now 250 smackers for a gallon of soap is some impressive rent, too impressive as I subsequently determined that the Home Depot sold this 1 gallon of Jomax House Cleaner and Mildew Killer for . . . $25.  I tried to put the kibosh on this nonsense, as often when it comes to home repair doing nothing is preferable to getting screwed. Unfortunately the fix was in as an octogenarian board member must have wanted to get his own rent from owning shares on RPM International (RPM). And after proclaiming “there’s something wrong with you,” and that “you have a problem” my economic concerns were overridden and $1,400 was pissed away.

I am a man of a certain amount of thrift, and when I spend the condominium’s money I don’t become less so, as a wise man once said “It’s very disagreeable to lose other people’s money.” Therefore as I watched, from the rear window of my condo, some guy spray soap on the wall and hose it off, I couldn’t help but think “I would have done it for a mere grand.”

2. A few weeks ago, the hatch on my 2013 Hyundai Elantra GT Hatchback refused to open. My wife found it all so distressing, but not me, as opening the hatch was as easy as putting a section of the back seat down and crawling into the trunk to operate the emergency hatch-release lever. The Missus didn’t appreciate that solution and took it our car guy, who quoted $600 for the repair. She thought this so excessive, she took it to the Hyundai dealer who quoted $175 . . . to just look at it.

It was at this point I finally stepped in/up, as it was (past) time for what in our house is called man-work.

In the past for such issues, I would have reached out to my brother for any and all automotive advice, but due to advances in intrafamilial discord (“we don’t talk anymore”) and advances in technology (“YouTube”), I figured it all out for myself after watching this video. The applicable part cost $20.36 on eBay and was installed in a matter of minutes.

I’m not sure why hiring a contractor has become so expensive. Maybe it’s due to everyone wanting to go to college and not get their hands dirty, maybe it’s Joe Biden or maybe it’s the sign of the times (i.e. there are only winners and losers in this country, and now it’s become every man for himself). Either way, if due to circumstances the rent must be paid, then you need to pay it, otherwise a long hard look at the DIY option may be in order.

“In life, you don’t bet on the odds, you bet on yourself.”

– The Coach, Coach, S5E10

“The important things in life cost what they cost, everything else isn’t worth it at any price.”

– The Author (While picking up another package from Amazon off the front stoop)