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Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

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Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#141

Post by dmarlow »

majormajor wrote: post #127
olivermarks wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have a very misguided idea of what it's like to be a landlord....and perceptions of who/what 'landlords' (a very unfortunate term) are from some tenants... no good deed goes unpunished etc. Plenty of great people around but you have to be very careful who you rent to...

> Plenty of great people around but you have to be very careful who you rent to... This goes both ways. You have to be careful who you rent from, too. Of all the investment opportunities available to people, I'm not particular sympathetic to purchasing property to seek rents.

I wasn't in it to seek rents, we were nearly breaking even. It happened to be a place I previously lived in and it was easier to rent than to sell during the great recession.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#142

Post by chrisco255 »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #126
chrisco255 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember the whole point of shutdowns was to "flatten the curve" to keep the hospitals from being overrun. We can't stop the disease and we can't commit economic suicide. NC has only seen a slight uptick in hospitalizations: https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard and it's been flat for the past week.

>The death rate has massively spiked beginning May 24th So it's all right for deaths to spike if the hospitals don't expend their resources dealing with it? What are the hospitals for, then?

Yeah we can't live in bubbles forever. 40 million people are unemployed in the U.S. now and counting. Millions of livelihoods are being destroyed, suicides are up, deaths for untreated non-Covid diseases are up, and if we want to avoid the complete breakdown of civilization we need to get back to work.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#143

Post by DevKoala »

Alupis wrote: post #20
Guest42 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hiring is very slow at the moment and the beater would likely require a lot of maintenance and have a high price tag although I agree that it’s smart to drive cars that are more economical.

Anecdotal, but I keep hearing about restaurants and other small businesses that can't convince their employees to come back to work. Something about the unemployment benefits + CARES Act bonus being more than they were earning while working...

A friend of my girlfriend is on that situation, $1600/wk is more than what she earned previously, and isn’t looking forward for the store where she worked on to re-open or looking for a different job.

It gives me a mixed feeling about the policy because it turns out I personally know the one example conservatives would like to point out. However, I’d like to read a deep study about the impact of the measures taken before I form an opinion on them. I want to believe that the policy had a positive effect unless data says otherwise.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#144

Post by nickff »

Barrin92 wrote: post #85
cft wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"US food prices see historic jump and are likely to stay high" https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/us-food-prices-histo...

Sure, but the US economy doesn't just run on food. In that particular sector the price increases make inuitive sense, as consumption is expected to stay mostly steady while supply chains have been heavily impacted. Inflation is measured, for very obvious reasons, by looking at the general price level of goods and services in the economy, not just any given sector.

I agree that there's little sign of unusually high general inflation, but you said "there's no indication of inflation let alone hyperinflation in any economic data", and the sudden rise in food prices is definitely an indication of inflation. You may want to coach/moderate your statements a little more in the future.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#145

Post by caseysoftware »

tinza123 wrote: post #62

As a passive real estate investor I'm seeing bidding on new sales has actually been more competitive than ever in my area (Atlanta GA). A lot of houses are selling above asking prices with 8-10 offers on the table. I am not sure if people genuinely think it is a good time to buy, or is it mostly FOMO.

I've been watching 20+ properties around Austin, some out of genuine interest, others for a baseline. Zero of them moved in March and April despite asking price coming down every couple weeks. Now in the last couple weeks, 8 of them have had offers. I can't tell if they just dropped back into a "reasonable" range or some segment of the market has turned but it's fascinating.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#146

Post by thephyber »

twblalock wrote: post #124
cft wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In California for example, due to state-wide rent control, it's very dangerous for a landlord to lower rents. I would rather offer 6 months free rent than lock into permanent nonadjustable lower rent situation.

This is yet another reason in the long list of reasons why rent control is a bad policy.

I don't disagree, but it's important to remember that when rent control is proposed, it's because some people are very desperate. It would behoove us to suggest viable alternatives every time it's proposed and we shoot it down.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#147

Post by no_wizard »

dmarlow wrote: post #68
ngngngng wrote: post #47

I'm so extremely grateful that I accepted section 8 tenants into my rental units. Most of these tenants have nearly all of their payment covered by the government and they just have to pay $100 or $200 on top of that to cover what the government won't. These tenants are often not accepted by landlords because they're thought to cause more issues. Mine are great. They keep the units spotless, mow the lawn for me on my…

> if they can't pay the hundred bucks the government won't I sure don't care I used to have this same mentality. Until the person who was renting one of my properties decided to lie about certain issues (like claiming a shampoo bottle lodged down one of the toilets was there for years). When I decided to not renew the lease with that tenant, they decided to cause considerable damage to our property. Sometimes, when t…

One or even a few bad experiences shouldn’t mean disregarding a whole block of people, either

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#148

Post by asjw »

ngngngng wrote: post #47

I'm so extremely grateful that I accepted section 8 tenants into my rental units. Most of these tenants have nearly all of their payment covered by the government and they just have to pay $100 or $200 on top of that to cover what the government won't. These tenants are often not accepted by landlords because they're thought to cause more issues. Mine are great. They keep the units spotless, mow the lawn for me on my…

I guess being good sometimes pay

I own an apartment in Rome that I rent because I don't live there anymore.

It's rented to a Bengali family that nobody wanted as tenants because they're immigrants and such (you can guess the reasoning behind it)

They used to bring the grocery home to my mother, so I gladly accepted to rent my house to them when they asked

They've been the best tenants I've ever had and due to covid they found themselves in the position of being one of the few local shops still open in the neighborhood, so their business didn't suffer much from the lockdown.

Many in Italy stopped paying the rent for 2-3 months as of now, but they always paid in time and in full, I asked them if they needed a cut on the rent to save some money, due to the bad situation, but they refused the offer.

So I'm installing air conditioning at my expenses in exchange

It's good when things go smoothly despites the odds

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#149

Post by tinza123 »

entangledqubit wrote: post #89
tinza123 wrote: post #62

As a passive real estate investor I'm seeing bidding on new sales has actually been more competitive than ever in my area (Atlanta GA). A lot of houses are selling above asking prices with 8-10 offers on the table. I am not sure if people genuinely think it is a good time to buy, or is it mostly FOMO.

How do things look without using the questionable guidance of "asking price"? "Asking price" (and the notion of above asking) often seems like real estate agent reality distortion to me. Mortgage rates are super low, so some may see this as getting an asset they can leverage in an improved environment later.

I mean listing price is the most direct measure of the market temporature, not saying it's 100% accurate but it does represent the sentiment. Mortgage rate is indeed low, but not that significant compared to before (I'm hesitating to bid because 1) price is still high 2) unemployment benefits will run out in 2 months, and I do think teh COVID effects have a long tail, that takes time to pan out. Thus the curiosity about the thought behind the "hot" market right now.

Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms

#150

Post by olivermarks »

majormajor wrote: post #127
olivermarks wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have a very misguided idea of what it's like to be a landlord....and perceptions of who/what 'landlords' (a very unfortunate term) are from some tenants... no good deed goes unpunished etc. Plenty of great people around but you have to be very careful who you rent to...

> Plenty of great people around but you have to be very careful who you rent to... This goes both ways. You have to be careful who you rent from, too. Of all the investment opportunities available to people, I'm not particular sympathetic to purchasing property to seek rents.

@majormajor Absolutely. People are untrustworthy on both sides. I've had the stress of being evicted by an unscrupulous San Francisco property shark in the past, and also know people who have had to spend large sums to evict sketchy people and then thousands more to make repairs. It cuts both ways...
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