From the Home News Tribune:
Market just doesn’t seem fair when you can’t find a place to call home
By Rick Malwitz
John and Florence Rubanick did something quite extraordinary in their half of a duplex house in the Port Reading section of Woodbridge. Within the narrow confines of their two-bedroom home they raised five children.
“Kids nowadays all want their own room,” said the 80-year-old Florence Rubanick, who became a widow when John died in 1983. She now shares the home with her 57-year-old daughter Diana.
The Rubanicks moved into the duplex in 1950, when it was owned by John’s parents, who lived in the other half of the duplex until their deaths. In the 1980s, the house was sold to Rubanick’s nephew, and in recent years he has been charging her $875 per month rent. It was a gentleman’s agreement without a signed lease, she said.
Rubanick was able to pay the rent with her monthly Social Security check of $927 and a monthly pension of $138.20. Diana pays for food and utilities and care of her 1985 Oldsmobile, which seems to be on its last legs. Finances were tight, but doable.
Then her nephew sold the duplex, and on July 28 Rubanick received a notice from the new owner. She could stay, but as of Oct. 1 rent would be $1,350 a month, and she would be required to sign a one-year lease.
The situation became more muddled recently when the new owner put up a For Sale sign, returning the house to the market.
Rubanick and her daughter recognize it is time to leave. “It’s heartbreaking, but what can I do? All the old neighbors are gone,” she said.
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And she is not alone in finding the cost of housing beyond her means. She said her granddaughter had been looking to buy a house nearby, but was discouraged by the housing market.“She bought a house in Pennsylvania,” said Rubanick. “It’s heartbreaking.”