When Was the Last Time

[Cassandra]

That you ever heard someone say their rent was $55.00?!!  I almost fell off my chair when I heard Quentin say to Julia that he pays $55.00 a month rent!    Wow how things have changed!!

And how nice of Julia to offer to pay for his room and board & expences!!  They just don't make doctors like that anymore either!


Cassandra

[Josette]

I was rather startled, too.  But, I'm sure that even for then that's rather low, so I was guessing that perhaps he just had a room or efficiency rather than an apartment.

[Debra]

I thought the same thing Cassandra!  I remember when the doctors use to make house calls back then too, but not pay your bills for you!  That would have been great!  Julia was an exception!!

Deb

[Gerard]

At the exact same time this whole storyline was being aired, my parents rented out the upstairs apartment in our house to two little, old ladies (sisters).  It consisted of a living room, three bedrooms, a kitchen, pantry, a turn-of-the-century bathroom which contained just that - a bathtub and a sink (the toilet was in a separate "water closet"), plus a storage room in the basement.  Monthly rent:  $55.  Now I own the house and I rent out that same upstairs apartment to a friend for a cut-rate (he is, after all, a friend) cost of $400.

Gerard

[Raineypark]

At the same time as Gerard is describing, the combined mortgage and property tax payment on my parents home hadn't quite reached 100.00 per month.  My father was beside himself because when they purchased the home 10 years earlier it was only 75.00 per month.  Imagine his outrage that the property taxes had risen by 25.00 in 10 years!!!! 

[Birdie]

Don't laugh.  When I was first married almost 23 years ago my husband was renting an apartment for $55.00  It was some apartment!  It was on the third floor of a three decker.  Worcester is famous for it's three deckers.  You enter by the back door with a skelton key.  It had a front and back door and one to the bathroom, other than that not another door in the place.  The heat came from the old gas stove in the kitchen that you had to light with a match.  Ater we got married we painted the rooms to cheer the place up.  I think the old Italian couple we rented from raised the rent $10.00 when I moved in.  My mother named the place the penthouse on the hill.  We have gone far from the "pent hourse", but have wonderful memories.

birdie--sorry for running on with a personal story.

[Miss_Winthrop]

I can remember as a girl of 7 yrs. old, my two brothers and I used to go out to the shed in the back yard and fill up the oil can and bring it into the house for our oil stove.  We lived in a three flat on the first floor. I remember our cooking stove even had legs on it! My mom remembers the rent being something like $80 a month for a family of five. While our family wasn't 'well-heeled', we did have two incomes coming in from both parents working. Good grief! I'm surprised at how much I do remember about that time period.

[Cassandra]

At the exact same time this whole storyline was being aired, my parents rented out the upstairs apartment in our house to two little, old ladies (sisters).  It consisted of a living room, three bedrooms, a kitchen, pantry, a turn-of-the-century bathroom which contained just that - a bathtub and a sink (the toilet was in a separate "water closet"), plus a storage room in the basement.  Monthly rent:  $55.  Now I own the house and I rent out that same upstairs apartment to a friend for a cut-rate (he is, after all, a friend) cost of $400.

Gerard, that sounds like a real nice apartment you have there and to rent it out for just $400.00 is a real steal!!  That's nice though that you're doing this for a friend.  In New York rooms here like that in private homes can go anywhere from $1300.00 and up.  One of the private homes across the street from me is renting out their second floor apt. for $2,000.00!    And it consists of only 1 bedroom, livingroom, bathroom and very small kitchen!  The catch of course is that I happen to live very close to the train station which is very convienent for commuters who work in the city.   Still it sounds sickening when you think of how much rent has steeped up over the last few decades.

Gone are the rent control days of long ago!

Cassandra

[Gerard]

He is getting a steal, Cassandra, and he knows it!  That's why he's very quiet up there and does NOTHING to annoy me - he may be a friend, but I'm sure he ain't gonna take NO chances!  LOL!

And I know what you mean about those rents.  When I lived in Alaska, I had a very nice apartment (in a complex) which was one bedroom, kitchen, combination dining room/living room/den (U-shaped), a small outdoor balcony and inside parking (a blessing up there).  It was nice, had some perks (like a jacuzzi in the bathtub), but it certainly twern't no palace.  Monthly rent:  $1,600.  The apartment upstairs in my home is almost three times as spacious (granted, there's no jacuzzi, but the bathtub is the original lion's foot from 1890, and you could float the Queen Elizabeth 2 in it), and I'm letting my friend use it for 400 bucks.  Am I sweet guy or what?

Gerard

[jennifer]

That you ever heard someone say their rent was $55.00?!!  I almost fell off my chair when I heard Quentin say to Julia that he pays $55.00 a month rent!    Wow how things have changed!!

wonder if it was an apartment or room? could be actually high for that part of maine in that time period but does seem so cheap now LOL!

And how nice of Julia to offer to pay for his room and board & expences!!  They just don't make doctors like that anymore either!


Cassandra

ain't that the truth!

jennifer
i

[Annie]

Hi Cassandara and everyone i too couldn't
beleive it either!!!! $55.00 a month!!!!!!!!
Any-way i did love when Julia told The Q-man
he looked handsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!         Love Anne

[Debra]

Hi Cassandara and everyone i too couldn't
beleive it either!!!! $55.00 a month!!!!!!!!
Any-way i did love when Julia told The Q-man
he looked handsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!         Love Anne

Yes!!  I loved that too!!   I don't think I remember Julia giving a compliment like to a man ever before on the show, not even Barnabas!!

Deb

[Debra]

Gerard, you sound too nice!  My landlord is so nosy (I live in a two family house) and knows what time I come in and what time I leave!!  God help me if I stay out past midnight,  the next day the wife is telling me she heard me creeping up the stairs at 2am! They're not even discreet about it either.  But they do watch out for me so I guess you gotta take the good with the bad.

Deb

[Gerard]

Sounds like you got some landlords with a mom-and-pop complex, Deb!  But that is cute that they do watch out for you.  You're probably making their day.  With my renter, who - like I said - is a friend, I also get some benefits from being a nice guy and letting him pay such a low rent.  He's great at computers, of which I know nothing, and if I have any problems, or need some whickawhack or thingamabob installed, he does it.  Plus, he's good at other mechanical fix-it things; if I attempt to repair something, the fire department usually has to show up.  When I needed to replace all the blinds on my windows, for example, he did it, electric drill in hand.  So it's a pretty good trade-off.  The stuff he has done has probably saved me I don't know how much money.  Plus, after I had my back surgery last month, for two weeks after he had to clean the wound and change the dressing twice a day.  I guess there are benefits to charging that cheap of rent.

Gerard

[Debra]

LOL! They are that Gerard, but I guess I really cant complain too much because they are very good to me and since my family are all down south its comforting to know that there are good people around me.  They're always sending me up their very good home cooked meals too!

I'd say you also got yourself a pretty good tenant there yourself.  Anyone who can do all that for you has got to be a good person.  I imagine it's hard to come by good tenants if you're a homeowner.  My landlord told me that the person who occupied my apt before I did was terrible.  It was a young couple who fought constantly all the time and at all hours of the night. They said they'd come home dead drunk and then fight.  And they were always late with the rent.  So you certainly are blessed to come across a good tenant.

Deb