It’s already very expensive to rent in a hot housing market like Southern California. Now landlords have found a way to make things even worse.
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The last couple houses I rented, I've paid a $75 or $100 pet deposit on top of my security deposit, but that's about it.
Oh I remember my first apt. Only $ 75.00/month. Not a slum. My budget then was stretched by the increase to $ 99.00/month for the same place. All due energy issues of 1976/77
ReplyDeleteThey got this idea from the fuckin' airlines.
ReplyDeleteBut who can blame them given the arseholes who leave cat/dog crap smeared in the carpet, trash the place by breaking windows and walls and when they leave, take appliances. Landlord can NEVER recover that repair even if he goes to court as the sh*theels have no money and liberal DA get them off.
ReplyDeleteSuck it up, save your ass off to be able to get a loan, get two (or three) jobs, don't eat out, drop the fancy phone and video consoles, buy a 10 year old Toyota and make rice and beans your staple.
It's amazing and it works.
Actually, this makes perfect sense if you think about it in the right context. The context? They made evicting people for non-payment of rent extremely difficult and in some cases outright illegal.
ReplyDeleteSo, if you can't evict them, and you're in hock up to your eyebrows trying to pay the mortgage, what are you gonna do? You're going to get revenue other ways. You're going to raise the rent. You're going to do EVERYTHING and ANYTHING you can think of to avoid foreclosure. After all, just because it's illegal to evict your deadbeat tenants doesn't mean the bank can't take ownership and deny you your investment, source of income, and retirement funds.
Just another fine example of the law of unintended consequences. Also known as "government intervention screws everything up for everybody AGAIN."
John G
The same people that thought landlords should just house people for free are now upset that landlords are recouping money through add on fees?
ReplyDeleteThis is the only sensible choice left for landlords. I called this two years ago. The eviction moratorium of 2020-2021 cost landlords tens of thousands of dollars for each rental unit. They had no choice but to adjust rents to make up for the additional costs and liabilities. Local governments responded by calling for rent control. So the only thing left for landlords is to find other revenue streams. Blame government, this is a situation entirely of their making. Here was my plan for doing the exact same thing:
ReplyDeleteIf rent control is enacted, there are steps I can take: Each year, I will raise rents by the highest permitted under the new law. On top of that:
I will no longer provide lawn service as a part of rent. That will shift $900 a year of expense to the tenant.
I will no longer provide a free washer and dryer. I will recommend a company that will rent the tenant one at an additional cost, if they don’t have one. That company will be owned by me. The going rate for that is $144 a month.
I currently pressure wash the outside of the property twice a year. I can push that off to the tenant, and make it their responsibility as a part of cleaning.
There are many ways that I can maintain profitability. Just taking the three steps above will have the effect of increasing the cost of renting by 15 percent without increasing the rent itself.
Landlords will have to be creative. Original post here:
https://areaocho.com/rent-increases-were-predictable/
My Grandfather owned apt buildings in Detroit for decades. In the 70's, after 'progressive' mayor Coleman Young was elected and made collecting rent nearly impossible, he sold them all for literally nothing. The buyers were all cops, who extorted the rent from the tenets instead by constant harassment. Within a decade of selling the buildings, they were all abandoned. This is 'progress'
ReplyDeleteGo to Youtube and watch some landlord, eviction clips. No matter how nice people have it they will live like a pack of troglodytes in a cave.
ReplyDeleteDaryl
It's not easy being a landlord, unless you have a management company handle it for you and pay out the ass for them, mortgage, taxes, repairs, insurance, permit fees, dealing with the local government leeches, dealing with tenants, security on and for your property, business, are just what comes to mind.. it's a hard way to make a buck
ReplyDeleteJD