Why do Americans spend a lot of money renovating rental homes?

America The opportunity to buy a house is increasingly out of reach for young people, but the desire for quality living space makes them spare no expense in renovating rented apartments.

As soon as she decided to rent her Brooklyn apartment in 2021, Brigette Muller spent money to replace the kitchen cabinets from laminate to marble, paint the walls, and install kitchen paneling. She didn't stop there, she continued to spend $ 10,000 to renovate the bathroom. In total, the 36-year-old content creator spent more than $ 20,000 on apartment renovations, nearly 10 times the deposit.

Muller is not alone in renovating her rental. Marco Zamora, 27, of Los Angeles, added porches and stained windows to her rental. “I change the decor every year. I think no matter how long you live, it should feel like a home,” she said.

This sentiment reflects a bleak reality for Americans’ home-buying prospects. Bloomberg reports that a quarter of millennials who rent have given up on owning a home.

“Millennials think about life in general very differently than previous generations. When considering what is worth investing in, many are prioritizing what is right in front of them,” Muller said. “I am investing in my apartment. I am investing in my own happiness.”

Many Millennials can't afford to own a home, so they're spending money to make their rented apartments look good. Photo: Insider — Many Millennials can't afford to own a home, so they're spending money to make their rented apartments look good. Photo: *Insider*

Millennials have been mocked for their frivolous spending habits. But in reality, their spending pales in comparison to skyrocketing home prices. Jim Parrott, a fellow at the Urban Institute, said there has been a shortage of housing for a decade, and the pandemic has exacerbated it, leading to rising demand and prices.

“This reality forces Millennials to save more money than they might have 20 years ago,” Parrott says.

That's how Caroline Winkler and her boyfriend felt in 2020 when they considered buying a house in Cincinnati, Ohio. It would have taken them years to own an apartment, so they decided to give up. "I'm going to make the life I want happen in other ways," she said.

Since moving into a rental apartment in Washington, DC, in 2021, Winkler, now 32, has built a half-million YouTube subscribers by posting content about renter-friendly homes.

Her channel is one of many in the growing niche of home improvement content creators. There are plenty of others, like Alexandra Gater, a Toronto, Canada-based YouTuber with over 700,000 subscribers who posts videos about decorating small rental apartments. Or the DIY duo The Sorry Girls, who have amassed over 2 million subscribers by regularly posting renovations that get millions of views.

The appeal of rental renovation content reflects not only the tastes of a generation, but also the growing need for renovation guidance among those who cannot afford to buy a home and must rent.

At the same time, people spent more time at home during and after the pandemic. Many suddenly had the time, money, and energy to improve their living spaces. Home renovations exploded.

Benjamin Fix, a longtime plumber, sees an opportunity in millennial renters. “A lot of them rent in cities like New York, San Francisco, or whatever. They actually have pretty high incomes,” Fix says.

In 2022, he launched Sproos, a colorful, easy-to-install showerhead company marketed to renters. The brand quickly found a foothold in the market within a year of its launch.

In Denver, Rose Matthes and her partner saw a similar opportunity. They wanted to install bedroom lighting in their rental home in 2020. Seeing few options, the two launched a Kickstarter-based wall-mounted lighting brand in 2023.

“I ran some test ads on Facebook to see if I could get people to submit their emails to sign up for an upcoming product. I ended up building a list of nearly 10,000 emails in two months,” she shares.

Philadelphia-based financial expert River Nice notes that buying a home is a better long-term financial investment than renting for those who can afford it. But stability isn't just about money. "These long-term renters are trying to maximize their ability to have a comfortable living space," Nice says.

For Muller, she feels comfortable changing her home in part because rent-stabilized apartments offer more legal protections than market-rate apartments. She won't be evicted for a sudden rent increase, for example.

“What I hope to do is inspire people to make their home the way they want it. And to do it unapologetically on whatever level works for them,” she shares.

Bao Nhien (According to Insider )

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