“You Can’t Afford To Rent… And You Can’t Afford To Buy”

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Bro, I'm not going to make it in thising world.

[00:00:03]>> People are charging $1,000 a month to rent rooms in their home. $1,000 a month to rent a room.

[00:00:10]>> The experience of being a working-class American is to just be squeezed for every single dollar that you have.

[00:00:16]>> Looking at the housing market right now, about 75% of households can't even afford a mediumric home. Think about it.

[00:00:26]The average house isn't affordable for the average person. And it's not just buying. Rent is high, mortgage rates are high, and even if you can afford it, inventory is low. Then you look at the job market, people are working fulltime, and still feel stuck, still behind, still trying to catch up. So it makes you ask, is it you or is it something bigger going on? because more and more people are starting to feel the same thing.

[00:00:56]>> I just got denied from Walmart as a cashier. I have a [ __ ] master's degree, bro. I went to school for 12 years. Got my high school degree. I went to for four years to get my bachelor's and then I went for an extra two years to get my [ __ ] masters. Do you know how much school that is? It's a lot. And the worst part is Oh, maybe it's the best part actually. America. The government probably thinks it's the best part, huh? I'm $120 fucking,000 in debt.

[00:01:26]Yeah. Yeah. Cuz society wants to tell you to go to school, go to college, GET YOUR DEGREE, TIMMY. OH MY GOD. JOB SECURITY. Shut up. Please stop spreading that because now I'm screwed. And I have no idea what to do. I've applied to over 300 companies and I've gotten responses back from 11 of them. Why the [ __ ] do you think I'm applying to Walmart to be a cashier? Cuz no one is hiring. WHY DO YOU EVEN post a job offering if you're not going to hire anyone or respond?

[00:01:58]What are people doing for work? I need to figure something out because if I wasn't doing UGC for brands that I found on Sideshift, my ass would be homeless.

[00:02:06]I would be [ __ ] homeless. I just looked at the estimated value of my house on Zillow and if the number is accurate, if I were to buy my house today, not even 2 years after I bought my house, if I was to try to buy my house today, I genuinely would not be able to afford it. And I find that so crazy. And for more context, I live on Long Island, so I know the Northeast in general, the house prices are just going up and up and up. I know that for some of the rest of the areas in this country, that's not necessarily the case, but it is the case for here. But like you guys, this is crazy. like how are people supposed to live? Um, and just like strive for like the American dream of like having a house with like a white picket fence. This this like I I wouldn't even be able to afford my own house, not even 2 years later.

[00:03:13]That's insane. I live in a place that I can't afford.

[00:03:16]I work so very hard, so very hard to not be able to afford to live in Virginia.

[00:03:25]In my area, everything is so expensive.

[00:03:29]And for what I do, for the corporation I work for, which is a very big corporation in this area, I still can't afford to live here. Nowadays, you cannot get a decent apartment without paying thousands of dollars to live there. and I'm being told I don't make enough money to buy a home. Where I live, where I work, where I pay taxes, I can't afford to buy a house. I don't make enough money for that. I think it's just so sad and sucky to put so much work in to look up and realize you only paid bills and taxes and you can't afford to have something of your own.

[00:04:13]without making a ton of money, which you should be able to make the money to live where you work and pay taxes. It makes me so frustrated to be a single mom, to be a full-time worker, to actually do well at what I do and still not be able to have things of my own because the area does not pay its people what it costs to live in the area. That is so insane to me.

[00:04:44]>> In the New York Times talking about the housing market, the US housing market is currently in a long slow reset, balancing stubbornly high home prices with a national medium sale price of approximately 436,000 against fluctuating rates hovering between 6.1% and 6.6%. While inventory has improved significantly nationally, affordability remains a strain for many buyers.

[00:05:13]>> Bro, I'm not going to make it in thising world because like tell me why I just went to Kroger's and got groceries. I just got paid today. my lasting paycheck and I spent 73 dollars on popcorn, crackers, Cheezits, milk, ranch dressing, tomatoes, just basic [ __ ] man. Like a box of [ __ ] Cheezits and a box of [ __ ] crackers was $5 a [ __ ] piece. The ranch dressing was [ __ ] $5. The tomatoes was worth $4. Like the milk is $7 a gallon and my kid drinks three gallons a week. That's $20 [ __ ] dollars. Like, how the [ __ ] did I barely get any goddamn food and it's $73 [ __ ] dollars? Like, what the [ __ ] am I going to do? I went to Target for two things.

[00:06:06]One, two, shampoo and razor heads. If you don't [ __ ] believe me, guess how much I [ __ ] spent. Actually, everybody take a [ __ ] guess. I'm listening. Tell me why this [ __ ] was $30 [ __ ] dollar. What do they want me to do? Not wash my [ __ ] hair, not shave my [ __ ] body. That's [ __ ] disgusting. I don't know anything about like inflation. Honestly, couldn't even define the word for you. I basically failed out of my [ __ ] high school economics class. I'm angry about something else, too. Gas is like in Arizona in Tempe is like over $5 right now. I don't know if you guys can tell cuz you only ever see the interior of my car in these videos, but I drive a [ __ ] piece of [ __ ] This car is so [ __ ] tiny. I've had it since I was 16 years old, so 4 years. I have never paid more than $40 for a full tank of gas.

[00:06:53]All of a sudden, I'm dropping a [ __ ] band to keep this [ __ ] up and running.

[00:06:58][ __ ] this [ __ ] I want to move to like Canada. I don't know. Where the [ __ ] can I move where I don't have to deal with this [ __ ] >> The reason why you guys could afford houses was because >> worked our ass off and bought it.

[00:07:11]>> Okay, but you're trying to say that we don't work.

[00:07:14]>> Everything's very expensive. it because you're living in a house paying all that rent.

[00:07:20]>> Okay.

[00:07:20]>> All right. All you got to do is you're you're paying more rent than you would a mortgage.

[00:07:25]>> Okay. Where am I? Or how am I going to get a mortgage?

[00:07:28]>> Well, you save up your money and >> HOW I'M PAYING THE RENT.

[00:07:32]>> Oh my god. What a freaking [ __ ] >> This is [ __ ] insane.

[00:07:43]$7 for 10 slices of cheese.

[00:07:48]I need to get the [ __ ] out of the US.

[00:07:50]>> So, I just got home and this note was taped to my door and I'm kind of scared to open it because it says rent notice, which probably means my rent is about to increase. And not to sound dramatic, but the inside of this note is about to determine the fate of my future. Because if they keep my rent the same, I would highly consider staying in West Palm Beach for another year. But if they raise it by over $100, I'm 100% moving to either Miami or New York. My current rent is $4,200 a month. So, if they raise it to more than $4,300 a month, I'm 100% out of here. But let's see.

[00:08:16]Congratulations on your upcoming anniversary with us and thank you for being a valued resident in our community. As a valued resident, we'd like to show our appreciation by offering you an early renewal discount.

[00:08:25]If I'm so valued, why the [ __ ] would you raise my rent? My current rent's $41.90.

[00:08:30]If I renew with a early special, they are raising it to $4,62.

[00:08:36]And if I don't sign within the month, they're raising it to $4,732 a month. Bro, that is [ __ ] crazy. I was thinking maybe $200 to $300. That that would typically be in line with inflation, right? 3 to 4%. $4,600 from 42 is a 10% increase. Okay, since my landlord wants to play games, we're going to play a little game called move out. The apartment hunt is back on in full swing. And I know I showed you guys Fort Lauderdale a little bit the last couple weeks, but I don't think that's on the table anymore. I'm really thinking about Miami or New York. So, I'm going to go to both destinations, set up a couple tours, and bring you guys along with me, and we're gonna find a new place. Baby, >> if anyone out there is wondering how Americans are doing poorly, we are doing poorly. Yesterday, I woke up to an email from my landlord saying, "Hey, I'm raising your rent." Why? No [ __ ] reason. We already pay all of the utilities ourselves. That is not included in the rent. So, we pay for electricity and we pay for water and we pay for natural gas to heat our home.

[00:09:27]And that bill in particular has [ __ ] skyrocketed this year. Every single month this winter, it was over $600. And we do not turn the heat on. We just turn it so that we can [ __ ] survive. We do not turn it above like 60. So we're [ __ ] freezing in the house all [ __ ] winter. Oh, and also I woke up this morning to an email from my health insurance being like, "Thanks for your payment. It was deducted automatically."

[00:09:47]Except this time the payment was $400 more than it was last month. Sorry, what's going on? So I called the health insurance company and I was like, "Why did this happen?" And they said, "Oh, well the tax premium expired." And I said, "Tell me why that happened. Is that because of federal budget cuts? Is that because of the New York State budget? What did that where did that come from? And they said, "We don't know. You have to call the New York State Department of Health." And so I called the New York State Department of Health. And it was this whole [ __ ] rigomearroll because they intentionally make it so opaque that you just have to spend all of your [ __ ] time and energy just navigating this [ __ ] ass bureaucracy and trying not to get [ __ ] more than they're already [ __ ] you. I got my new IUD yesterday, so I have been [ __ ] hugging this heating pad all day and eating Advil like it's breakfast cereal. Meanwhile, I don't even know how much that bill is going to be for. I don't know how much that procedure costs because I tried to find out before I got it. I called my health insurance company and I was like, "How much is this going to be?" And they were like, "We don't know. You have to call the doctor." And so I called the doctor and I was like, "How much is it going to be?" And they were like, "We don't know. You have to call your insurance." AND SO NOBODY COULD GIVE ME AN ANSWER. And I was like, "Well, I need the [ __ ] IUD because I cannot afford to have children.

[00:10:47]Obviously, meanwhile, the [ __ ] psychos over at CPAC are like, "Hey, you dumb [ __ ] leave the workforce.

[00:10:53]Better yet, never join the workforce and shack up with the first ch you meet in high school and start popping out babies that we know that you cannot afford because you're all [ __ ] psycho-christian nationalists. The experience of being a working-class American is to just be squeezed for every single dollar that you have at every turn in your just wave your arm and you just run into another fee that you were supposed to pay. And where does that money go? Straight to the [ __ ] top. Straight to the [ __ ] billionaires who do not create jobs. In fact, they keep slashing jobs just to invest in [ __ ] AI data centers. I don't understand how we're not out in the streets all the time.

[00:11:29]>> People are charging $1,000 a month to rent rooms in their home.

[00:11:34]$1,000 a month to rent a room, bro. What the [ __ ] we going to do? The cost of living has gotten out of hand.

[00:11:44]And y'all buy a house. Buy a house. Man, everybody that I know that owns a house tells me don't buy no [ __ ] house.

[00:11:51]They hate that [ __ ] Between property taxes going the [ __ ] up, insurance going the [ __ ] up. [ __ ] having to fix roofs and roofs. Is that what it is? Having to fix their roof and [ __ ] Everybody I know that got a goddamn house tell me don't buy no goddamn house. They say at least you call them maintenance man.

[00:12:09]But dead ass, what the [ __ ] we going to do about the rising cost of living?

[00:12:12]Because what you mean you charging people $1,000? You got three rooms in your house. You're charging them $1,000 for somebody to come live there.

[00:12:22]This [ __ ] is sad. Like my son going to be an adult in the next couple of years.

[00:12:26]He's going to graduate from high school and be an adult and this is the world he has to live in. The [ __ ] I guess I need [ __ ] is weird. Everything is so expensive right now and I don't understand how people aren't talking about it. We don't make enough money collectively. We do not make enough money. The price of things are not keeping up with how much we're getting paid. And it's infuriating to me for people to say that people just need to work harder. People need to get different specialized degrees. People need to start their own businesses.

[00:13:00]That's not the answer. The answer is that billionaires are hoarding wealth and this system is set up to fail.

[00:13:10]And I'm just infuriated by it. I can't get ahead. Every month I try to get ahead and I can't get ahead. And I don't know how to cope with that. I don't know how to cope with that. Everything is so expensive, especially in the last like six months.

[00:13:29]Um, I can barely get by. So, I don't know how I'm supposed to retain hope.

[00:13:37]How am I supposed to get a doctorate so that I can afford a studio apartment?

[00:13:41]Like, is that where we're getting to at this point? Like, I don't know what the answer is to this, but it's so [ __ ] bad. And I just wanted to get on here and tell you if you are experiencing the same thing, you're so so so not alone.

[00:13:56]Everything is so expensive and it's infuriating to me. I'm scared to buy a house that I could afford. And that might not make sense on the surface.

[00:14:02]>> Well, let me explain to you whilst I reset my whole house after coming back from my holiday.

[00:14:06]>> I'm Alex and I've lived in this council house for just over 2 years now. Since I moved in, I have been saving my money in hopes that I'll be able to buy a house someday. And for over 6 months now, I have been viewing houses. I've been finding out what I like, what I don't like. And I found one that I really love. And when buying a house, you first get a decision in principle. That basically finds out your lending power, how much the lender will give you for your mortgage. When I did this in October last year, I only had one years of self-employment booked. Whereas now, I have two and I reapplied for a new decision in principle. This lender has told me that they will now offer double what they would last year.

[00:14:34]>> But I don't want that money.

[00:14:35]>> I don't want a house that is more expensive and I do not want to spend all that. Am I crazy for not looking at better houses? I just think the higher the mortgages, the higher the monthly payments are. And realistically, I just want as low monthly payments as I can because in the long term, that is something that I will definitely be able to afford.

[00:14:48]>> Whereas, if I bought a more expensive house, what if something changed in the next couple of years and then I couldn't afford my mortgage? That is something I just never want to risk.

[00:14:54]>> Anyway, let me know what you think. Do you think I'm a bit mad for not getting a better house if I could, or is this the smart decision and making sure I'm staying within my means?

[00:15:00]>> And let me know what you would do because I'm still waiting to see if my offer's accepted.

[00:15:04]>> Do you know I've been looking for a job for 2 years?

[00:15:09]for two years.

[00:15:12]I finally got an interview after a ridiculous number of applications.

[00:15:22]And I found out today that they put the job on hold for budgetary reasons.

[00:15:33]Meanwhile, I'm broke and rent is due. Like, I've got nothing.

[00:15:47]I applied for assistance from the state and I have to show that being bipolar will hinder me from working.

[00:16:03]to get $292 a month.

[00:16:08]Yeah, I'm self-employed and I'm making no money.

[00:16:19]No one is buying any of my merchandise on my Patreon shop.

[00:16:25]No one attends my lectures.

[00:16:28]And I'm t I'm shadowbanned on Tik Tok.

[00:16:34]So, and the House just passed the most atrocious spending bill seen probably since Regonomics.

[00:16:58]I'm just venting.

[00:17:01]because I know it's tough all the way around, but I've done everything I'm supposed to do.

[00:17:16]Everything they tell you to do when you're an adult, I've done it and I can't seem to make any headway.

[00:17:28]So, I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to do.

[00:17:36]I don't know what else to do because I keep ending up here.

[00:17:45]They tell you to work.

[00:17:47]I'm trying to find work. And when I can't find work, I make work for myself that brings in nothing.

[00:18:01]What do you do in these situations?

[00:18:07]Tell me what.

[00:18:11]I've done everything I'm supposed to do and nothing is working. I always end up here.

[00:18:21]I just find it so crazy how it's basically normalized at this point to literally just do your job, pay your bills, and barely be able to save at the end of the month. Like, it's just so normalized to go to a grocery store and literally panic every time you go grocery shopping because everything's just so [ __ ] expensive. And every time you go to the shop, everything's just like doubled in price. I was having a conversation with my sister and I was just saying like I I'm so [ __ ] upset that I can't spend the money that I want to spend on my family for Christmas because everything like just surviving is so [ __ ] expensive. Like yes, like I am not as poor as some people that I know some people are literally struggling to even like exist.

[00:19:03]I'm I'm getting by paycheck to paycheck and it's it's insane how normalized it has become that we spend most of our lives working and all we are doing is surviving. We're not we're not doing anything. We're just literally surviving. Like most of us can't even afford to buy a [ __ ] shitty flat for [ __ ] sake. Every year electric goes up. Everything goes up.

[00:19:26]Everything but the salary. And I'm just like it's so [ __ ] normalized and it's literally going to get worse. It's going to get worse. And I don't want to sit here and be like hopelessness, but it's not it's not going to get any better.

[00:19:38]>> It's the stress of doing everything right and still feel like it's not enough. It's looking at the houses and realizing they're out of reach. It's working harder but not getting ahead.

[00:19:50]It's the quiet frustration people are carrying every day. And the truth is a lot of people are dealing with this right now. They just don't always say it out loud. But ignoring it doesn't make it go away. understanding it, talking about it.