161–170 of 229 posts
These headlines are some of the weirdest backwards stories I’ve seen lately. It’s like everyone is desperate to make this into a crisis yet reality isn’t delivering the eviction catastrophe the headline writers wanted. Obviously we’re seeing more evictions now that they’re literally not banned. That’s not news. However, this is shocking: > The rates of evictions served are approaching pre-pandemic levels in certain a…
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There's obviously work in maintaining an inherently depreciating, heavily worn asset. This is true of both landlords and anyone who loans out physical goods as a service.
that work is done by maintenance workers — unless the landlord is personally out performing all the repairs, in which case they deserve to be compensated for their labor like anyone else. as mentioned below, the maintenance workers mysteriously aren't the ones entitled to a third of my paycheck... secondly, ask anyone who's ever rented — landlords are notoriously awful at keeping up with maintenance. so if we're cons…
I'm not really following what you're saying here. It doesn't really make any difference whether or not the landlord does the work themselves. Either there's risk, and work to manage that risk, in renting out, or not. If there's not, then why wouldn't everyone be a landlord?
> secondly, ask anyone who's ever rented — landlords are notoriously awful at keeping up with maintenance. so if we're considering it a job, then they get paid far more for doing far worse work than any other occupation i can think of. does that not make you angry?
Some landlords are awful, yes I agree. Some people are bad at their jobs, you must also acknowledge. You vastly, vastly overestimate how much money an average landlord actually makes.
> does that not make you angry?
Why would it? If being a landlord is so easy, why wouldn't everyone do it? I like the flexibility of being able to move and not having to necessarily put down hundreds of thousands of dollars up front for property
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I wish I had something insightful to say, but this is so spot on. You have put to words something that I have been struggling finding words for. I wish we could all "see" this issue and somehow get out of the weird algorithms that are plaguing our society. I think that's why I like Hacker News right now. Among other reasons, out of any news sources, the comments here continue to be mostly grounded and reasonable, not…
>out of any news sources, the comments here continue to be mostly grounded and reasonable, not hyperbolic and dramatic. Unfortunately, somber and stoic news does not have the monetary return from advertising revenue that most news organizations seek. News has become more of an entertainment endeavor rather than one for disseminating information on the state of current affairs. It also seems that the NPR and BBC have…
I'm curious about your comment about NPR and BBC. Granted, it seems like they have moved more towards the stupidity that we're describing. But not as much as the traditional news networks, in my opinion.
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I wish I had something insightful to say, but this is so spot on. You have put to words something that I have been struggling finding words for. I wish we could all "see" this issue and somehow get out of the weird algorithms that are plaguing our society. I think that's why I like Hacker News right now. Among other reasons, out of any news sources, the comments here continue to be mostly grounded and reasonable, not…
>out of any news sources, the comments here continue to be mostly grounded and reasonable, not hyperbolic and dramatic. Unfortunately, somber and stoic news does not have the monetary return from advertising revenue that most news organizations seek. News has become more of an entertainment endeavor rather than one for disseminating information on the state of current affairs. It also seems that the NPR and BBC have…
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People getting evicted from a two bedroom apartment aren't going to a homeless shelter, they're going to a studio apartment that costs half as much. People getting evicted from a studio apartment aren't getting replaced by Jeff Bezos, they're getting replaced by someone else who can only afford a studio apartment and might have otherwise been homeless. Increasing the number of units on the market will tend to reduce…
> People getting evicted from a two bedroom apartment aren't going to a homeless shelter, they're going to a studio apartment that costs half as much. Why are we certain that a family getting evicted from a 2 bedroom apartment can afford a studio? They're getting evicted, presumably for nonpayment e.g arising from joblessness, which would suggest they're likewise also unable to pay for a studio. > People getting evic…
Because we're talking about averages.
Two income couple loses one income, can now only afford a smaller place.
You can find someone who went from a two bedroom apartment to homeless because they lost all their income, but you can also find someone who went from a studio to a two bedroom because it came onto the market, and then the studio went to someone who had been homeless.
> And where are the people getting evicted from a studio going?
The same place the people moving into the studio came from.
> City/NIMBY bottlenecks are preventing this from happening
City/NIMBY bottlenecks stand in the way of building new housing, and should be removed.
But the point is that putting the existing units back on the market will tend to reduce rents, so that existing people who need new housing don't have to be in a bidding war over a smaller number of available units.
Consider which is more fair: Six low income people, enough housing for five and those five each pay $800 in rent; or four of them have to pay $1000 because the one who would have been homeless is living rent-free where the one who could afford $800 but not $1000 would have been, making that person homeless.
The only real solution is still to build housing for the sixth person.
Eviction is a very good book on this. America has a very very high eviction rate compared to other countries. I went through 2 evictions by 19 and their the worst things you can experience. In this country you can lose your job on Monday, lose your health insurance Tuesday. Which, even if you have manageable conditions will make it much harder to work. Then without a job you'll be evicted in another month or so. Some…
> Then without a job you'll be evicted in another month or so This must be a state by state thing, because in California you can't get evicted in less than 90 days.
If the local sheriff feels like it , he or she can give you another week. If the local judge desires, you can be granted 6 months
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> Are governments subsidizing 100% of the missed rent? Not quite. Only 0%.
This is completely false. The federal stimulus packages had billions in subsidies to landlords. That's in addition to the indirect support that the govtlernment has provides (such as the stimulus checks). Also most states have additional money for landlords.
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As a landlord, I can tell you that the government does NOT replace ANY of the missed rent. Moreover, while many tenants have continued to pay their rent - MANY have gradually started realizing that I am unable to evict them, and have completely stopped paying rent. Moreover, they have started collaborating under the assumption that there is more protection if they do it together. Like other landlords, I have lost a t…
> As a landlord, I can tell you that the government does NOT replace ANY of the missed rent. I can see why people get so frustrated with landlords. It’s the same kind of frustration when Wall Street asks for government intervention after making a series of bad trades
Even worse, a long term eviction moratorium is incentivizes landlords to filter out poorer tenants with income and credit requirements, making housing more expensive for them.
Eviction is a very good book on this. America has a very very high eviction rate compared to other countries. I went through 2 evictions by 19 and their the worst things you can experience. In this country you can lose your job on Monday, lose your health insurance Tuesday. Which, even if you have manageable conditions will make it much harder to work. Then without a job you'll be evicted in another month or so. Some…
> Then without a job you'll be evicted in another month or so This must be a state by state thing, because in California you can't get evicted in less than 90 days.
Notably NJ requires “cause” for terminating or even refusing to renew residential leases, which appears to be unique as far as states go.
I'm all for providing a social safety net in exactly the way the US doesn't. Housing (aka shelter) is a key part of that but the way the US does this is completely backwards. The government saying you can't evict someone is basically telling people they don't have to pay rent anymore regardless of need . Rent control is the same way: you can't raise the rent regardless of need . So these programs don't really help pe…
Typically, eliminating the concept of "landlord" would come hand-in-hand with eliminating the idea of real estate being privately "owned". None of these ideas are particularly popular amongst land-owners.
Or non-landowners. Turns out, the state isn't particularly interested in constructing nice housing, or doing so in adequate numbers. So people end up living in communal spaces while sitting on a decade-long waitlist for something to open up.