Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 595 posts

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

#261

Post by wishinghand »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #172
thephyber wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The government could build affordable housing and rent it out at a reasonable price. "Council houses" as they are called in the UK are built very well. They are often ugly, but I'm sure that these days they can be built well, cheaply and made to look OK.

When I visited a friend in England I accidentally stayed at a council estate that someone put up on AirBNB illegally. While it wasn't a slum, it definitely wasn't "just OK". I suspect the reason why that particular unit didn't look like a slum is because the owners were renting it out and doing their best to keep it nice. Not a single bit of that place was built well. Maybe it was cheap. Looked OK from the outside but inside it was like some background location for a movie that's about to experience an apocalypse.

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

#262

Post by virmundi »

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.

Depends on the insurer too. Riots might not be covered. Neither was pandemic. Sucks to be a small business right now. Anyone got first hand experience with SBA loans?

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

#263

Post by thephyber »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #172
thephyber wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The government could build affordable housing and rent it out at a reasonable price. "Council houses" as they are called in the UK are built very well. They are often ugly, but I'm sure that these days they can be built well, cheaply and made to look OK.

There are a number of "housing projects" in the US that turned into rampant crime nests. US politicians are largely wary of such projects right now.

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

#264

Post by patmorgan23 »

novok wrote: post #191
diebeforei485 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Particularly in California -- it makes no sense for landlords to pay artificially low property taxes. Prop 13 should be reformed so you pay property taxes on the market rate of the property if you're renting it out.

It's not low when you first buy, even for years after. Rates can effectively start around %1.5 to %1.2 percent depending on the city.

That's because entrenched property owners are paying artificially low taxes due to prop 13. Repealing it would equalize the tax burden.

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

#265

Post by BeetleB »

novok wrote: post #159
JadeNB wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Surely the lesson here is that "this person was a criminally inconsiderate jerk", not "all S…

There is a 'blood from a stone' aspect from lower income tenants. If they trash a house and cause six figure damages to your property, your not getting your money back, and typically landlord insurance does not cover intentional damage: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CoWtuC... Also people growing up in poverty experience higher stress, so the probability of them doing the 'going mental' thing i…

You can get vandalism insurance. I don't know any landlord that does get it, though.

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

#266

Post by rhexs »

colejohnson66 wrote: post #239
devado wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

An absolutely amazing claim. $28,000 is cheap for "millions of Americans".

What's a moderately priced car to you? 50K?

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

#267

Post by busyant »

ianlevesque wrote: post #183
jungletime wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're very lucky. Rented to a single mother with two teenage sons. The teenage sons that decided to strip down living trees of their branches, to make bonfires for parties in the backyard. Two trees are severely damaged, and anything that was burnable in the landscape is burnt. I don't even know how to go about pricing out the damage. Insurance is paying for their rent, because the last house they lived in burned do…

These stories that come out of the woodwork every time tenants are mentioned are why I’ll never be a landlord.

> These stories that come out of the woodwork every time tenants are mentioned are why I’ll never be a landlord.

My wife and I own a number of (8) rental properties. My wife manages them and we rarely have problems with tenants.

I will tell you what I think is the secret. My wife figuratively crawls up the ass of all prospective tenants. She needs to see credit history, pay stubs, and proof of punctual rent payments in their current situation (if applicable).

I don't think many landlords do this type of background checking because it's extra work and it can come across as confrontational.

But you'd be amazed at the number of prospective tenants who don't come back after being asked for that information.

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

#268

Post by PhantomGremlin »

thephyber wrote: post #219
tinza123 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. A good portion of the 40m job loss are not gonna be fully recovered even if the situation improved a little, not to mention it is getting worse by the day.

I actually suspect part of the widespread looting is because people who used to have low paying hourly wages before COVID lockdown feel this dread and desperation as this economic depression unfolds.

widespread looting ... dread and desperation

Yeah, that's the ticket.

It was "dread and desperation" that caused people to loot the Louis Vuitton store in downtown Portland.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/gt9lby/pioneer_pl...

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

#269

Post by devado »

colejohnson66 wrote: post #239
devado wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Is your point that he _needs_ a truck for his job? He is a veteran as stated in the article and wife is a medical worker. Why do they need a truck or is this some basic necessity in the US?

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

#270

Post by drewmol »

jungletime wrote: post #153
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…

You're very lucky. Rented to a single mother with two teenage sons. The teenage sons that decided to strip down living trees of their branches, to make bonfires for parties in the backyard. Two trees are severely damaged, and anything that was burnable in the landscape is burnt. I don't even know how to go about pricing out the damage. Insurance is paying for their rent, because the last house they lived in burned do…

How big is the tree? Beavers cause this type damage and they also can't be reasoned with. If it's small enough to reach 60% of the bark just have it cut down and into pieces. It seems to make good enough firewood for them, hopefully the'll burn through most of it and you can plant a new tree in the ashes next month?
Post reply on HN