Are We Headed for a Rent Crash?

Edited questions from Apartment Life, Sara Gebhardt's online discussion about rental issues.

Q: Washington: I'm sick of paying $2,200 rents and being dissatisfied My building just had to hire a security company to protect residents. Is there any hope for a break in rental prices?

A Let's never rule out hope. Your sentiments are shared by many renters in the region. The problem is that there is enough demand for apartments here that there is probably little chance that there will be significant breaks in rental prices anytime soon. You do have opportunities to shop around, though, and find better service for the money.

Q: Belmont, Mass.: Is rent always due on the first of the month? Does it matter? I'm moving in on the 20th of next month and can't figure how I'll remember to pay rent at that time each month.

Rent is usually due on the first day of the month, though landlords are normally free to establish different schedules for a monthly payment date. If you find it easier to pay regularly on the first of each month, just ask your landlord to prorate your rent for the first month. I'm sure he or she would go along with this system, which is common. Try not to worry about such things before you ask about them.

Q: Washington: My roommate wants to get a cat. I don't care for animals, but the lease allows them, and we do have the occasional mouse in our apartment. What should I do? I'm friends with my roommate, and the cat thing seems important to her.

An occasional mouse and a friend as a roommate should not make you agree to having a pet in your apartment if you're not in love with the idea. You should tell your roommate that you just don't want to live with a cat. There's no use trying to be someone you're not -- it could hurt your friendship as well as your living situation. And there are other ways to get rid of the occasional mouse.

Q: Arlington: Maybe I'm completely out of touch with reality, but with rental prices continuing to go up, couldn't there conceivably be a rental crash, as with the condo crash recently? Yes, demand is high, but in the real world, people can afford to pay only so much per month and still be able to eat. Sooner or later you would think the economics of sky-high prices would have people moving to less expensive areas, leaving you with something of a rental glut, much like the current condo glut. Am I way off base?

I wouldn't say you are totally off base, but I would say that in the history of the housing market in Washington, where people always want to live and where vacancy rates are usually low (now they're about 3 percent, which is higher than last year's 2 percent), the demand seems to hold strong. Sure, the condo market's slowdown has given more options, with condo buildings reverting to rentals, but it hasn't knocked the prices down much.

That said, I am no economist. I just highly doubt the "crash" will be felt in Washington, where even apartments in farther-out areas such as Reston and Gaithersburg have relatively high rents compared with other places in the country.

Sara Gebhardt's Apartment Life column appears biweekly in this section, and her Web chat appears monthly on washingtonpost.com. The next chat is Aug. 2 at 2 p.m.