Moving has always been a huge financial set back for me. It's why some degree of rent control is important as renters are in many ways trapped. It's also super depressing to move to lower rent housing. As you age there's a societal and self imposed expectation of financial progress, paying a bunch to move to lower rent housing is a double tap.

Then there's the Application Fee Scam. They charge you a non-refundable $50 per person, sometimes more, just to apply. In my case, that's $150, which goes to the Property Manager. So the property manager is motivated to take as many applications, and turn them down, as possible. They can easily make far more in application fees than whatever fee they collect from actually renting out the place.

After spending hundreds, only to get turned down within minutes ("Here's $150...oh, it's a No?), I learned to only deal with the person who OWNS the property, no property managers, real estate companies, etc.

Reasons for being turned down? Usually none given. Once it was because of my "criminal record" - a speeding ticket two years before. Goodbye $150.

It's important to stay on good terms with friends and family so they will help you when shit like this arises. So you can move back in with mom and dad, or couch surf for a while.

Sadly, for too many people, there is no help, and they end up homeless.

Poverty is a resource access problem.

https://xcancel.com/jeremyct

https://x.com/jeremyct

It's a blue checkmark bot.

EDIT (because I couldn't help myself):

In Spain you get a paid vacation day for moving. You just show your lease contract and you get the first day of the lease off.

But you usually have to pay first month up front and put in a security deposit. It used to also be that you had to pay a fee to the agency. The law now says that the landlord pays that fee but sometimes they will still say it o you. You can either pay or keep looking.

So worst case you need 3x the rent to move. Best case you just put in the security deposit which you get back at the end of the contract.

Yeah, and it's not the excuse that landlords need to keep up with costs, either, since most landlords are huge corporations, and costs don't increase that fast. Land values plateaued years ago, so taxes aren't ballooning or anything like that anymore. I was lucky enough to have help with a down payment, so I now own, but that's rare, especially in my city where house/land costs are way higher than their value due to the limited supply, which is mostly due to all the properties that are forever unoccupied as investment property or are mostly unlivable, and building material costs have made it too expensive to repair.

This account is 100% rage bait. Look up the account. It's all posts like this, same formatting, tone, similar themes.

It's all bullshit, he contradicts himself constantly.

There's also a community note that the account is based in Africa.

Edit to address replies:

First of all, first months rent and security deposit shouldn't factor in. You get your security deposit back from your current place if you haven't trashed it, and you're already paying rent, so the new apartments rent isn't an additional cost. In fact, if you're moving somewhere cheaper, you'll save money that first month.

Yes, you might have to pay those way before you move in, and there might be a delay getting the old deposit back, so you need more money up front to cover it. But if you don't have two months' rent in savings, credit, investments, etc? You are absolutely living beyond your means. I know I'll get shit on for this, but that's really not a lot to save.

Application fees include credit checks everywhere I've ever lived. Here they are capped at like $25 I think? It sucks but it's not the end of the world. Never had to pay a deposit on utilities and my credit is shit.

Sidebar, I'm a big fan of a minimal life aka having as little stuff as possible. My truck can hold all my stuff for a one trip move. If I didn't have that then there's the $20 daily van rentals which are honestly going to be like $60 all said and done. If I couldn't afford a deposit and first months rent on an apartment then I could rent a room. I've also been tempted to get a cheap trailer for an RV park. Finally there's the option of taking on a roommate. In college we had two people to each room and a guy with a makeshift wall renting the living room. Is it glamorous? Hell no. Could things be better? Hell yeah. Is it better than living out of my truck or on the street? Most definitely.

Good news, you're legally allowed to keep all the copper in the walls as a leaving present.

and that key?

That key is money. So most people will never have the key to escape, but they'll never stop getting charged to look for it.

I paid over 4,000 on my last move. It was brutal.

This has an AI-like pattern that says:

"You aren't a virgin, you are just sex-proof"

I used to suggest committing a crime and getting to jail (if government cannot manage the country economy, at least they could support you with food and shelter).

Then someone told me there is a waiting list for prisons in USA...

AI

AI slop post

This post heavily inflates the numbers to maximize the drama.

First month's rent: That's not an added moving expense. You pay rent every month regardless of where you live.

Moving truck: If money is tight, you rent a cheap van and move yourself with friends like everyone else.

Yes, having the cash upfront for a new deposit while waiting for the old one to return is a real liquidity trap. But framing $4,000 as the absolute baseline to escape a rent increase is pure ragebait. It makes the poster sound like someone who has never actually had to do a budget, DIY move.