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Which Lucky College Students Are Enjoying the Economic Collapse? The UC Merced Students Renting Out McMansions
Mcmansion via Shutterstock
Is there anything quite like doing homework from the comfort of your jacuzzi?
Some lucky bastards students at UC Merced renting out McMansions below the price of campus housing know the answer to that question. These mansions built during boom times were supposed to house the creme de la creme of Merced. When the housing bubble popped, the New York Times explains that the effects were especially pronounced in this Central Valley farming town. This left Merced with too many foreclosed-on mansions, while UC Merced had too little student housing.
This is really awesome for the kids who shell out a mere $200 or $350 bucks in rent to have the aforementioned jacuzzi, high ceilings, tons of space and maybe even granite countertops.
What's the downside? The neighbors, of course.
Some of them, like John Angus, are bitter about having some snot-nosed kids move into a formerly-exclusive community without going into massive debt. He's an out-of-work English teacher, who paid $532,000 for a house that is now worth $221,000.
"Everybody on this street is underwater and can’t see any relief," John Angus told The New York Times. “This was supposed to be an edge-of-town, Desperate Housewifey community."
Enjoy it while it lasts, kids.
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