Massive rental price surge, western PA

[Jim K.]

Following @Steve K.'s recent post on rising rents in his greater area, I took a look at what's going on in my small, urban target area. I'm looking at a clear 25% rise in newly posted rental properties per-square-foot costs in C-class SFR in just the last two months. Not desirable A, B-class, good old-fayshioned low-C-class SFR.

The bus to Crazytown seems pretty crowded when I watch it pass these days. Lots of smug idiots insisting, "There's just no end to this market!" Last time I saw this I was in Greece in 2007, learning the flip game in an environment so out of whack that after the bottom fell out of the giant Ponzi scheme that the country had become, the Greeks were forced to admit the situation would take generations to fix.

I'm not going to cry doom and gloom. I don't see half the same tragic recklessness here as I did in the Hellenic Republic, as it aimed straight for the abyss. But at some point, the music is going to stop and we're all going to scramble for chairs that aren't there. This is the law of asset bubbles from at least 1637 and the Tulip Mania till now. I'll stay the course and keep my eyes on the chairs that ARE there, the ones that are ALWAYS there for the DIY handyman investor: hold on to solid properties, find solid tenants, offer solid pricing and solid maintenance. But this rental price surge is just damned strange. Is it hitting your area?