51–60 of 122 posts
I find it hard to be sympathetic with people who chose to overleverage themselves with their investments.
I really don't understand why we insulate landlords from investment risk so much. At the end of the day they can sell the place to mitigate their losses. What recourse could renters have?
At least not at market prices.
The CDC issued a moratorium?
"Won says her tenant owes her more than $80,000 in back rent. ... But we did find that the father in the family is currently employed in the construction industry, and that the tenants are renting a second apartment in a house in Queens Village, where they've also stopped paying rent and owe $12,000 to the couple that owns the house, who are also Chinese immigrants."
So they're renting two apartments and not paying for either?
It's weird that Reason didn't manage to contact any of the renters. I wonder how much effort they put in? Or I wonder if it is a hit-piece?
I don’t understand how a waiter and a home-care provider can afford to buy a rental property that is apparently worth charging $80,000/yr in rent. I’m in the wrong business! [edit: to be clear, this is tongue in cheek, though the circumstances where a bank made this loan seem unusual to me]
It is amazing what people can do when they work at it instead of demanding others give them stuff for free.
I feel the same way about rent control. It's not fair for society at large to make property owners eat the cost or the lost potential income alone. I am aggressively pro rent control and pro eviction moratorium during the pandemic, but I am for a (progressive) tax to fund these programs. It's just unfair to make yourself feel good by supporting these programs when you don't have any skin in the game. I'm not naïve th…
We are not talking about naive buyers anymore who are blindsided by rent control.
Rent Control might be the only reason some middle class investors can afford to become landlords? Most rich guys don’t want the hassle of an Ellis Act eviction.
They just build luxury condos that only rich people can afford. (My world is San Francisco. In a more fair world, no one should tell a man what he can do with his property, but the world is not fair. Poor people don’t get many breaks.)
While I’m on my box—Sausalito is feverishly trying trying to rid Richardson Bay of Anchor-outs using underhanded tactics. They are targeting the poor people as usual. The only bright side is the victims moved to Dunphy Park because they didn’t know where to go. Sausalito tried to remove them, but someone filed a temporary restraining order with the courts.)
I feel the same way about rent control. It's not fair for society at large to make property owners eat the cost or the lost potential income alone. I am aggressively pro rent control and pro eviction moratorium during the pandemic, but I am for a (progressive) tax to fund these programs. It's just unfair to make yourself feel good by supporting these programs when you don't have any skin in the game. I'm not naïve th…
What is the moral basis of rent? Rent is by definition differentiated from service provision in that it is simply the use of a legal right to extract an income. I don't see a moral basis, so I don't see how anything that impacts the interests of renters can be unfair. Bad on pragmatic level, perhaps, but not a moral one.
But most rents are not executed in that manner. The owner of the property is still responsible for maintaining it, is responsible for repairs if the tenant breaks something and bails, is responsible to the government for the property taxes, is responsible to the bank (or other lender) for the mortgage, is responsible for the safety of the parties inside the house, and so on. It's not a "Hey, fuck you little guy you owe me $1000/month and I don't care that you have no running water and that the lights spark when you flip that switch." situation.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why should landlords take the loss on rent and not who they pay mortgage to?
Sunk cost. They'll lose their equity stake in the property (as well as future income) if the bank forecloses on the property because the landlords aren't making mortgage payments. Do the banks want to be in the situation of being landlords (even temporarily) of a huge number of tenants who are not or cannot pay rent? Doubtful. Does that mean they're a little less likely to foreclose on a rental property when there ar…
Too-big-to-fail banks eat some temporary losses, small landlords don't lose their shirts, and rent still gets effectively canceled.
Let's not be too conspiratorial, but it is worth pointing out destruction of the bourgeoisie is a central tenant of the Communist Manifesto. https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/communist/full-text/bo... Also Carroll Quigley, mentor of Bill Clinton, expressed shocking disdain toward the bourgeoisie in Tragedy and Hope . https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/09... Is it much exaggeration to say th…
Let's not be too conspiratorial, but it is worth pointing out destruction of the bourgeoisie is a central tenant of the Communist Manifesto. https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/communist/full-text/bo... Also Carroll Quigley, mentor of Bill Clinton, expressed shocking disdain toward the bourgeoisie in Tragedy and Hope . https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/09... Is it much exaggeration to say th…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's a difference between working to eat, and investing. Investments have inherent risk, and if you can't bear that risk, don't overleverage yourself.
Reading the article, the owners aren't exactly rolling in it and are also depicted as mostly working class. If it wasn't for a global pandemic, most would have been fine and they would have thought to have invested very conservatively. In my mind, it's just that it's convenient/expedient to make them eat the cost of unpaid rent -
Cea Weaver, who is used as a foil and whose perspective is unfairly maligned in this article, is basically 100% correct. Landlordism should not exist. Housing is a human right and should not be an investment commodity. > Emergency policies enacted in times of crisis are prone to becoming permanent, which some members of the #CancelRent movement say is the goal. This is a good thing. The COVID crisis has exacerbated t…
So, if I own an apartment / house / room, I can't go and have a contract with another person willing to take on that contract and live in my place by the agreed rules beforehand?