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

npr.org

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

#231

Post by nickff »

Barrin92 wrote: post #188
nickff wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

No, I don't need to do that to be honest. A 2% increase in food prices while the general price levels fall is not an indication of inflation unless someone redefines inflation and cherry picks data to advance their cause. (In this case the annual doomsday prediction about inflation, which is normal on HN with its substantial contingent of people who rant about fiat money).

Timescales matter; a 2% increase in food prices over a year would be an indication of normal inflation; a 2% increase over a month indicates above-average food price inflation. In either case, the evidence of inflation in one area does not mean there is generally high inflation, it just means one thing is increasing in price.

You can call it cherry-picking, but any presentation of data in this format will be guilty of that, so it's not a particularly damning indictment.

As I said before, I don't agree with the previous version of the other post, but I think you're being a bit broad.

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

#232

Post by jedberg »

ngngngng wrote: post #216
jedberg wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love my section 8 tenants. Same here, they take good care of the place and the government doesn't miss rent payments. Some counties even provide free legal help for landlords if their section 8 tenants do something bad. It's actually pretty low risk. The main downside is the increased overhead of paperwork and inspections. The government wants to (rightly) make sure you aren't a slumlord so they do a lot more inspe…

Interesting. I'm actually a bit separated from it because I pay someone ~8% of my rents to manage the place, I wasn't aware of any extra inspections or hassle so I guess I'm getting my money's worth.

I think it depends the city/county. You may not be getting any extra inspections.

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

#233

Post by gshubert17 »

sytelus wrote: post #200

Meanwhile stock market is preparing to for its record high :).

> Meanwhile stock market is preparing to for its record high :)

Yes, and I don't understand it. The S&P500 is within 8% of its all-time high (3393). Even without a second wave of coronavirus cases and deaths, the current levels of unemployment, defaults, and bankruptices, I can't see what supports these asset price levels. Any ideas?

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

#234

Post by inetknght »

sky_rw wrote: post #227
inetknght wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Litigate against the tenant? You're probably right. But insurance? Maybe.

Every time I see comments like this, and no direct offense intended, It always strikes me as coming from somebody who has never filed large insurance claims before. Been seeing this so much with riots lately, "oh you have insurance right, why you mad about your business getting destroyed?". If only it was that simple.

The largest insurance claim I've had was for a little over $5k for a vehicle repair after collision while avoiding a pedestrian in the street. I'm not sure if you think that's "large" but it was very painless to do IMO.

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

#235

Post by ngngngng »

hanoz wrote: post #194
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 don't suppose the struggling non state supported private renters whom you outbid to buy these houses, which they might otherwise have been able to afford to buy themselves, but who are now paying rent to some other landlord instead, are quite so enamored with your altruistic enterprise.

I actually lived in this multi unit property when I first bought it. My wife and I were newly married and buying a multi unit property qualified us for a 3.5% down payment which was much more management than >=10%. Also, I live in a rural part of America where property values are relatively stable because there's so much room to build. There are ample new homes available and new homes cost about $100 per sq ft. Existing homes are unable to rise above this except for extreme circumstances.

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

#236

Post by jeffbee »

lacker wrote: post #51
bshipp wrote: post #17

This is just the start. Landlords would be smart to work with tenants to share some of the loss and renegotiate temporary adjustments to keep at least some revenue coming in because the heady days of high demand for rental units is likely behind us for a while. It'll be worse in downtown areas. I've heard from multiple firms that are looking at downsizing their expensive office space and continuing to allow employees…

In some places, like Oakland and Tahoe, rent seems to be going up. But in San Francisco it is going down. Probably all as a result of people fleeing San Francisco to nearby places with a cheaper rent per square foot.

Mix shift. Oakland has just gone through a major wave of new construction. New apartments command higher rents. This does not necessarily imply a movement of people.

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

#237

Post by fbonetti »

bshipp wrote: post #17

This is just the start. Landlords would be smart to work with tenants to share some of the loss and renegotiate temporary adjustments to keep at least some revenue coming in because the heady days of high demand for rental units is likely behind us for a while. It'll be worse in downtown areas. I've heard from multiple firms that are looking at downsizing their expensive office space and continuing to allow employees…

You’ve got it backwards when it comes to residential real estate. More people become renters during a recession. Vacancies reduced dramatically after 2008.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RRVRUSQ156N

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

#238

Post by shuckles »

ambicapter wrote: post #213
shuckles wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being smug and sanctimonious in response to having claims of lacking empathy being debunked isn’t a good look.

> debunked Everything involved in this thread is matters of opinion and viewpoint, "debunked" is a strong claim.

s/debunked/refuted and my point still stands.

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

#239

Post by colejohnson66 »

devado wrote: post #177
unchocked wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not a luxury truck. It's an extended cab F-150 with cloth seats, probably an XL. A familiar comparison for someone unused to seeing trucks in ordinary use would be a base model Chevy Malibu. And he's probably underwater on the loan, which makes it hard to sell. NPR wants you to see that a lot of ordinary people who made ordinary life choices are going bankrupt.

The starting price of this is 28k per edmunds. That is quite expensive (even for someone from tech sector).

$28000 for a car is cheap, especially for a truck. For comparison, the 2020 Honda Civic starts at just shy of $20000.

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

#240

Post by BeetleB »

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.

> Of all the investment opportunities available to people, I'm not particular sympathetic to purchasing property to seek rents.

If forbidding renting properties to tenants would solve problems, I would be on your side.

People will always need to rent. A society has to allow them to without allowing them to be exploited. But once you allow renting, you have to protect property owners from tenant caused damage as well.

I'm not saying we're there - we may be far from it. But renting is not only useful, it is necessary.

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