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

31% Can’t Pay the Rent: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Worse’

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 147 posts

Re: 31% Can’t Pay the Rent: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Worse’

#31

Post by ramraj07 »

sethammons wrote: post #20
throwawayjava wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on how long the rent goes delinquent. It's not uncommon for the rent to finally show up around the 15th. I used to rent out a property and would typically write the lease so that the rent was due within 5 days of the 1st. I would send a reminder but I didn't really start to worry as long as it showed up before the 20th. If it took longer than that I would start to worry. The difference here is that the percen…

The article pointed out that a significant portion of renters spend over half their income on their rent. If they are not working, they will not be able to ever make up the difference.

Seems about par for the average New Yorker. Folks in NYC seem especially gullible to spend more than half their paychecks on rent, something even folks in SF would hesitate. This is not for lack of options - my colleagues who make the same as me would rather pay $1000 more a month to stay in Manhattan instead of (a very comfortable still) place in Brooklyn. The commute is still very tolerable by any modern city standard, probably around 30 minutes (12 if you want to stay in downtown Brooklyn), but apparently thats too long?

Re: 31% Can’t Pay the Rent: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Worse’

#32

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

wtvanhest wrote: post #10

Equity residential collected 93% of rent for April 1. The difference in tenants is real. Equity residential tenants are higher end rentals in big to midsized cities with strong economies. http://investors.equityapartments.com/file/Index?KeyFile=403...

I mean, extremely unsurprising. The vast majority of white caller workers I know are working from home. Of course, those who are in industries that are getting slaughtered (travel, non-emergency medicine, local business services, etc.) are having a tough time, but wouldn't expect those delinquencies to show up until May or later.

Where I live, there is a huge service economy (restaurants, bars, gyms, etc.) and most of those service workers were laid off extremely fast, with very little savings to get through extended unemployment.

Re: 31% Can’t Pay the Rent: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Worse’

#34

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

capsulecorp wrote: post #13
bArray wrote: post #8

"31% Can't Pay the Rent" != "31% Are Not Paying Rent" "Can't" indicates they are unable, whereas I suspect at least some are taking advantage of the current situation [1]. Any situation where it's possible to take advantage, you can almost guarantee that people will. This is not the way forwards - not paying rent will have a large knock-on effect for landlords (which, despite some sentiment, isn't necessarily the 1%)…

Start by banning China (and any other country that doesn't allow US citizens to own land) from owning property in the US. Something tells me when you get rid of all the foreign profit lords, that property will be much more affordable in many areas.

My guess is the Chinese are eventually going to want something real when they ship us tons of real goods and we ship them paper.

Re: 31% Can’t Pay the Rent: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Worse’

#36

Post by jahaja »

lykr0n wrote: post #18
monadic2 wrote: post #11

Now is the time for landlords to prove their value.

You're living in a place that you couldn't afford on your own or won't buy for economic reasons (wanting to move, temporary job). That's value.

By that logic feudalism has value?

Re: 31% Can’t Pay the Rent: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Worse’

#37

Post by enraged_camel »

shubidubi wrote: post #33

I don't get why it's not ok to steal food from a grocery store but it is ok to not pay rent. Both are basic necessities and in both cases you hurt someone else by not paying for service (food/shelter).

No one is saying that not paying rent is "okay". These people would continue to pay rent if they could.

Re: 31% Can’t Pay the Rent: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Worse’

#38

Post by missedthecue »

jacknews wrote: post #25

Rents will have to come down or be waived. Almost by definition "rent" is simply extracting value from the productive economy through ownership. If the productive economy takes a dive or disappears, the amount you can extract must do likewise.

>Almost by definition "rent" is simply extracting value from the productive economy through ownership.

What? Do you define any profit margin as such? Housing rent is not the same thing as the term 'economic rent'. Housing is as much a liability as an asset. There is risk with owning it. Rent payments are compensation for said risk. All profit is just compensation for risk.

Re: 31% Can’t Pay the Rent: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Worse’

#39

Post by void9ce3b53dddd »

jacknews wrote: post #25

Rents will have to come down or be waived. Almost by definition "rent" is simply extracting value from the productive economy through ownership. If the productive economy takes a dive or disappears, the amount you can extract must do likewise.

It's going to have to start at the top since it's still trickle down. Good luck convincing people with money to help people who don't have money

Re: 31% Can’t Pay the Rent: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Worse’

#40

Post by shard972 »

shubidubi wrote: post #33

I don't get why it's not ok to steal food from a grocery store but it is ok to not pay rent. Both are basic necessities and in both cases you hurt someone else by not paying for service (food/shelter).

Because if every landlord took that approach now they would be sitting around in 3 months time saying they need loan abolishment and/or bailouts because they suddenly have next to no income.
Post reply on HN