④What an affordable green place @ Apartment, Central Oakland

August 2011, I settled in an apartment on Parkview Avenue, South Oakland. The landlord is an Italian. He has a lovely wife who always speaks softly and affectionately. His son and daughter ‘s family both moved back in with him after the 2008 economic depression. I live in the basement with a monthly cost of $500, all things except internet are included, there is no washer and dryer. Don’t get me wrong, basement sounds gloomy. In actuality, the porch outside the apartment along with the big glass door to the porch makes the bedroom/study room quiet lovely. Then I got a kitchen, a storage room with a big closet, and a bathroom. The only worrisome aspect of this apartment is the bug problem. Although the landlord is a law obey-er and has professional come in regularly to spray around, those stinky bugs and other small creatures seem to love this place as much as I do, and they just don’t leave me alone!

The first picture was taken from my porch, and the rest three were taken on that (Panther Hollow) bridge in the first picture. I was amazed by all those green in the pictures, as if the entire Oakland just landed on a green carpet. As the season changes, I see them all just from that old wooden porch outside my study. Beautiful colorful fall, quiet snowy and white winter, brownish and greenish spring, and flowery as well as bright green summer. Did I get you jealous of the price I pay for such an apartment yet? Well, get used to it. Pittsburgh’s living is quite affordable.


Beer winning trivia @ Apartment, Pittsburgh

Housing affordability in Pennsylvania is slightly better than the national level. But still median
annual mortgage level is higher than 30% of the household income. (Note: Affordability is
defined by the cup of 30% of annual household income. Owner cost and rental cost that are less
than 30% of household income are considered as affordable cost. ) Generally renting a house is
less financially burdensome than owning it, mainly because of the mortgage level is higher than
rent. Pittsburgh enjoys decent housing affordability both in homeownership and rental housing
market because it has the highest median household income ($ 60,259) while its mortgage ($
16,620) and gross rent ($ 7,728) level are the lowest. Philadelphia struggles from the housing
affordability the most, because it has the lowest median annual household income ($ 47,497)
while the cost for mortgage ($ 21,624) and rent ($ 11,016) are the highest.


Your ID @ Apartment, Affordability

What’s the gross annual rental cost in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington DC,
Beijing, Tokyo, Moscow, Paris, and Bumby? How about the gross annual homeownership cost?