Apartments in Moscow

I have two questions about this passage from a book I'm reading:

(This guy in a wheelchair hired a live-in helper ...)

Платил Соловьев более чем щедро ... но, в сущности, тот помощник работал только за жилье. Когда у него появилась возможность приобрести собственную квартиру, он известил Соловьева об уходе.

First what does в сущности mean?

And second, why couldn't the guy get an appartment at first ? Why could he only get one after he moved in with the wheelchair guy? How does that work if you want to get an appartment in Moscow?

в сущности - at bottom, properly, in essence, in the main, virtually

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Biancca

First what does в сущности mean?

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In fact.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Biancca

And second, why couldn't the guy get an appartment at first ? Why could he only get one after he moved in with the wheelchair guy? How does that work if you want to get an appartment in Moscow?

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You can rent an apartment in Moscow. But it's costly. Well, it's much cheaper than in NY or SF, but it's still costly.

And if you want to buy an apartment eventually, you have to save in order to pay for it, because you need to pay in cash, no mortgage is available. So, you want to avoid paying rent if you can.