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Yes its pretty bad. I had to evict a tenant several months back who lost her job. I let her slide as long as I could but after two months I had no choice. I felt really bad about it, but without the income from the apartment I can't pay my own bills.
I only own a small building, there are only four apartments. Between the repairs, rising property taxes and so on I depend on all four apartments to stay a float. Finding tenants isn't cheap either. There is advertising, review applicants, tenant screening and more. Yes I charge my applicants a fee to run reports from Tenant Verification but they don't pay for the paper and ink that I uses to print out the reports or things like the applications or writing utensils.
Landlords don't want to have to evict tenants any more then tenants want to be evicted. Its a loss of income.
Landlords also need to keep 3-6 mths worth of living expenses in the bank. If you count on that monthly rent to make your monthly bills, you're in the wrong line of work.
Landlords don't want to have to evict tenants any more then tenants want to be evicted. Its a loss of income.
Not only a loss of income, but added expenses too. If we have to go all the way to having the sheriff show up, it costs around $1600, and that is without filing for a judgment. If the person has income, and we go for a judgment, then make that $2000. And that is just hard costs for legal fees, serving, etc, not counting time, lost rent, damages, late fees, etc. And usually, that money comes out of the LLs pocket and they never get it back. An eviction can easily cost $3000 or more in expenses and lost income. Landlords hate them.
Landlords also need to keep 3-6 mths worth of living expenses in the bank. If you count on that monthly rent to make your monthly bills, you're in the wrong line of work.
You know, that's a great plan, Kim, but life doesn't always look at your plan. If everyone started off that way, and then downsized as this **!#*# recession ate away at their savings, the whole country might be doing better. But most people try to hang onto their current life. When the cost of living jumps 3-5%, but your income does not jump at the same rate, then good plans start to deteriorate, and things end up as they are now for many Americans -- really sucky
You know, that's a great plan, Kim, but life doesn't always look at your plan. If everyone started off that way, and then downsized as this **!#*# recession ate away at their savings, the whole country might be doing better. But most people try to hang onto their current life. When the cost of living jumps 3-5%, but your income does not jump at the same rate, then good plans start to deteriorate, and things end up as they are now for many Americans -- really sucky
I think you mean they hang onto their currentlifestyle and yes, it's excellent plan.
And many of those Americans are those who jumped on the housing boom bandwagon and got themselves a fancy, dancy home that they couldn't afford on their meager wages, but those mortage brokers and real estate agents talked a good game and got them the mortage of a lifetime!!
And there were those who suddenly found themselves with inflated values on their homes and took out second and third mortages only to find they couldn't pay them off when the time came....not due to job loss..but due to the terms of their mortage. They didn't read the fineprint, they had no friggin idea what they were signing....no friggin clue...so now, fast forward a few yrs when the balloon payment became due...or the interest finally starting coming into play.
All hell broke loose. And here in Florida...it broke and it's still broken. lolol
My sil used to be a residential agent, after the games she saw being played by the brokers, banks and agents, she went commerical. There is now way she could or would sell a 250K home to a family earning 35K and yet is was happening here all day long.
Landlords also need to keep 3-6 mths worth of living expenses in the bank. If you count on that monthly rent to make your monthly bills, you're in the wrong line of work.
I agree. If the landlord got into the business on purpose and doesn't have reserves, they made a HUGE mistake. But there are many involuntary landlords out there right now, who are only renting out the house because they can't afford to sell and had to move out for one reason or another. They didn't want to be landlords in the first place, but have no other choice other than foreclosure, so they try to rent it out. In some cases, those people had reserves, but went through them all because of a job loss, and/or moving expenses or some other reason. Or else they did have a reasonable amount in reserves, and their first tenant in the house did $15k worth of damage with no garnishable income, and *poof* there go the reserves. (I've been in this business too long...I have too many horror stories).
You know, that's a great plan, Kim, but life doesn't always look at your plan. If everyone started off that way, and then downsized as this **!#*# recession ate away at their savings, the whole country might be doing better. But most people try to hang onto their current life. When the cost of living jumps 3-5%, but your income does not jump at the same rate, then good plans start to deteriorate, and things end up as they are now for many Americans -- really sucky
very true.. there is reality and there is fantasy. I dont think many people decide to be homeless or struggle. The way i'm seeing things for america right now, I see property taxes going up, which means landlords have to raise their rents or take the hit, on top of food prices going up. so, the renter and landlord has to pay more for food, and Jobs are leaving or workers are not getting raises, which means sooner or later the renter will be broke because of high food, rent prices while their wages are gone or stay the same, while landlords run a bigger risk of having a renter default or have to search harder/lower prices for renters.
NO, our complex isn;t the type where we have those who are close to the edge. Most of our tenats pay what we charge becaus ethe level of service can;t be found anywhere nearby. Our waiting list is still over 40 active names. If anything, it has caused more people to give up their homes, needing to rent thus making available rentals scare so we actually are in the position to raise rents based on supply and demand. That gives us the ability to take action to remove a tenat oif they fail to abide by the lease payment terms.
The complex is a business. I am running a business. I am not a charity, non-profit or social service agency. You pay the rent or you get thrown out, plain and simple. Your financial problems are your financial problems and are not my financial problems. Pay rent as due, when due , for the amount due or get out! That is what I expect, that is what the PMC expects, and that is what the other tenants expect.
I hope one day you too suffer misfortune, so you can learn empathy for other human beings.
Roughly 1 out of 5 of the families I rent to have lost jobs or suffered reduced hours in 2009-10
Thankfully, all are doing much better now... I helped two find new jobs and several had their hours restored... one almost a year later.
I will do what I can to help someone that isn't dodging me... for a couple that meant accepting rent every two weeks to coincide with their unemployment checks...
For another family, I was able to move them to a smaller unit which they were very happy about... kind of hard to go into a new rental situation cold without a job...
I also have not increased any of the rents for several years... I never understood the logic of pushing rents realizing rent lost on vacant units is never recovered and then there is the cost to turn a unit over...
Happy to say everyone is current and we have been able to get through the down economy together.
very true.. there is reality and there is fantasy. I dont think many people decide to be homeless or struggle. The way i'm seeing things for america right now, I see property taxes going up, which means landlords have to raise their rents or take the hit, on top of food prices going up. so, the renter and landlord has to pay more for food, and Jobs are leaving or workers are not getting raises, which means sooner or later the renter will be broke because of high food, rent prices while their wages are gone or stay the same, while landlords run a bigger risk of having a renter default or have to search harder/lower prices for renters.
or you could be smart and make sure that while things are good, you're putting extra into your savings and aren't living beyond your means. Can't understand why some ppl just dont get that.
or you could be smart and make sure that while things are good, you're putting extra into your savings and aren't living beyond your means. Can't understand why some ppl just dont get that.
And probably a lot of us don't understand why you think that a LL should build up( or use) their reserves to subsidize the expenses of their tenants.
Being able to absorb loses has nothing to do with voluntarily accepting them or not doing what you have to do to minimize them.
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