But the family faced possible eviction after the rent fell more than $3,000 in arrears.
But after the building was destroyed, his ground rent fell to $150,000.
His childhood was hard and he recalled the family being evicted six times when the rent fell behind.
The average asking rent fell to $9.27 a square foot in the fourth quarter of 2009, from a high of $10.58 a square foot in the second quarter of 2008.
Tax and real estate experts warn against hanging on to real estate if rent falls far short of your pretax, out-of-pocket costs.
As vacancies increase and rents fall, so do property values.
If rents fall precipitously, a lot of homeowners are going to face unhappy choices.
The fair market rent for an area is not an average market rent, but rather a figure below which 40percentt of market rents fall.
Tenants need not fear a spike in rents in the coming months, these people say, but neither should they expect to see rents fall if they wait before signing a lease.
