So, a little inside perspective, real estate is the family business (which I didn't go into). I always consider myself more on the side of tenants (I am one myself in fact), not that anyone in my family is a sleazy landlord (being extremely fair and forgiving is in the company's DNA) but this is a supremely shitty situation.
So, most states have implemented 2 laws which are supremely helpful right now. In general, it boils down to folks don't need to pay rent, and folks don't need to pay their mortgage right now.
And that's great, but there's one problem. Most landlords are above the income bracket that's allowed to skip mortgage payments. So, tenants don't have to pay rent, but the landlords still need to pay their mortgage.
And I know, I know, boo-hoo, but consider for a moment a small-time landlord who only owns one building, like this one here. As he said, it's his only source of income. One month of no income while still being expected to pay the mortgage is probably going to be ok, but two months is where things probably get tight, and what happens to those tenants when the landlord goes bankrupt?
Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk. These are strange times.
@travis Not sure. If the tenants are unilaterally unable to pay rent because they've all been laid off simultaneously, is it better for them to try dodging the landlord for as long as they can, or to be straightforward about the circumstances?
@macmanx thanks for that. Also, this is me. Unemployed since 2015, unable to get another job in the industry I spent the prior 22 years in, I've been living off of a couple buildings I bought with my life savings. Finally took a HUGE fucking risk & borrowed a couple million to build a 16 unit apartment building. It will be the only source of income for feeding my kids & paying our utilities, etc. I can't imagine the government will waive my obligations to the giant bank that granted us the loan, but I'm 100% sure they will waive tenants obligations to pay rent. I'm not price gouging or evicting people, I'm not being in any way shitty, but I'm definitely gonna be in really bad shape here. Building is miraculously still under construction, hopefully (but doubtfully) things will improve come summer when it's finished.
As someone who is subletting their apartment right now, my subletter has just informed me she doesn’t want to travel back to Belgium right now so is not leaving the apartment as planned and agreed upon at the end of this week. Oh and she cannot pay to stay longer so.... My husband and I are literally stuck in Australia, have lost income, return flights, and a whole bunch of other unexpected expenses. I have $20 in my account. I offered her a significantly reduce rent, but she refused and now there is literally nothing I can do short of calling the cops to get her out. And I don’t even know if that would work. We can’t stop paying the bills for that apartment! We are actually paying for her to stay there. There was no discussion about it, she just stated she wasn’t leaving. So sometimes there are two sides to every story.
@macmanx whoops! I have trouble with double-negatives.
@ardgedee I dunno, getting 32 households to simultaneously agree on anything is pretty incredible, I'd bet money that this is a shitty landlord
The point is that landlords should be getting off their asses and getting Congress to vote for a relief package that will actually stop the oncoming depression by giving people money they can spend.
@UhhhClem I’d say that’s up to way more than just landlords. At least the ones I know have been campaigning for this since it was brought up. They’re well aware that a $1,200 check that barely (and in many cases doesn’t) pay rent is no good for them either.
Here ( France ) We just emailed our banks ( got 3 mortgages, one for house, one for office, one for wife's office): all 3 banks have responded in 3 days with new mortgage plan that freezes the actual ones for 3 to 6 months. Meaning no more payment until this is over. No fees, just postponed.. That seem to be a good solution and helps everyone for sure.
@XYLENE Not sure about endemic. I'd initially heard that coronavirus does not leave long-term immunity after recovery, but now I'm hearing that it does. Which means reinfection rates will be very low and that coronavirus will eventually flare out. It's just gonna take a while.
@ardgedee The really good news is that the viral replication machinery has a much higher fidelity rate than flu, meaning the mutation rate is much lower. That should translate to less immune evasion and longer long-term immunity.
I'll be honest. I don't really understand the hatred of landlords. Yes there are shitty people who are landlords, but there are shitty people in every profession.
Former renter. Former landlord. Former business owner.
Guess what, this is the risk in running your own business. This is where you should've had a side-hustle. This is where you shouldn't have bitten off more than you could chew. This is where you should've had emergency savings.
This is where most people failed to plan for risk. Yeah, I've done dumb things too, and paid for them. My sympathy for the landlords, my empathy for the renters.
So, most states have implemented 2 laws which are supremely helpful right now. In general, it boils down to folks don't need to pay rent, and folks don't need to pay their mortgage right now.
And that's great, but there's one problem. Most landlords are above the income bracket that's allowed to skip mortgage payments. So, tenants don't have to pay rent, but the landlords still need to pay their mortgage.
And I know, I know, boo-hoo, but consider for a moment a small-time landlord who only owns one building, like this one here. As he said, it's his only source of income. One month of no income while still being expected to pay the mortgage is probably going to be ok, but two months is where things probably get tight, and what happens to those tenants when the landlord goes bankrupt?
Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk. These are strange times.
It is going to be an endemic disease.
I hope the original landlord is in California. 😂
@deletism Oof, see large comment above, but whatever you do you.
@ardgedee I dunno, getting 32 households to simultaneously agree on anything is pretty incredible, I'd bet money that this is a shitty landlord
Guess what, this is the risk in running your own business. This is where you should've had a side-hustle. This is where you shouldn't have bitten off more than you could chew. This is where you should've had emergency savings.
This is where most people failed to plan for risk. Yeah, I've done dumb things too, and paid for them. My sympathy for the landlords, my empathy for the renters.