Seems like working in IT isn't enough, judging from the number of landlords on this post. Almost as if all productivity gains flow into land in our current system!
Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms
321–330 of 595 posts
Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms
#322I'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 doubt that communities adjacent to you were nearly as grateful.
Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms
#323Meanwhile stock market is preparing to for its record high :).
The price of a stock is whatever someone will pay for it. The stock indices certainly have no obligation to reflect the current or future conditions of the overall economy. Some points to consider:
1. Stock prices follow trends. Increasing stock prices make stocks more attractive. These are the foundations of financial bubbles. History repeats itself.
2. Most of the valuation of an index like the S&P 500 is derived from a few stocks. 17.5% of the S&P 500 is the valuation of FAAAM.[0] Take a look at other members of the top 30 like Proctor & Gamble, Johnson and Johnson, Visa, Mastercard. The S&P 500 is mainly composed of companies essential to the daily functioning of the average American's life.
3. The stock market is essentially an unknowable process. Even the most profitable trading firms making billions of dollars a year make countless unprofitable trades each day and will go for years without turning a profit.
[0] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/28/sp-500-dominated-by-apple-mi...
Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same thing in SF. Demand dropped, but so did supply, so prices are holding reasonably steady at this point. I assume if prices drop, they won't stay low for long as people see it as an opportunity to jump into the market.
San Francisco rent is collapsing - largest YoY decreases on record e: edited
First off, if you read my comments, I'm not talking about rents, I'm talking about sales.
And no, real estate prices in SF are not collapsing.
Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess being good sometimes pay I own an apartment in Rome that I rent because I don't live there anymore. It's rented to a Bengali family that nobody wanted as tenants because they're immigrants and such (you can guess the reasoning behind it) They used to bring the grocery home to my mother, so I gladly accepted to rent my house to them when they asked They've been the best tenants I've ever had and due to covid t…
Thank you for being a decent human. Is racism more prevalent in Italy ?
Thanks for the kind words!
I just did what it felt right
I'm inclined to say that racism in Italy is different from the general notion of it: I mean, there are certainly racists in Italy, no point in denying that, especially towards some ethnicities (Africans, middle Eastern and South Americans in particular, they are considered too loud and unreliable - coming from us it's really something - and often also worse than that) but Italians are mainly suspicious of what they don't know (yet) until they know them, like we still live in small state cities, surrounded by walls, that don't trust each other. But it's mostly a trust thing: still people from the north usually don't trust people from the south and vice versa. In Rome I've seen many times that Romans prefer Romans like them, just because it makes them feel safer. Until they realize they really don't like each other.
Think of it as "the evil you know".
I must also say that they are often wrong and that there is a good chunk of the population who really doesn't care where you come from and just loves being with others.
Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you may have misunderstood the point of lockdowns. Lockdowns are/were intended to prevent jamming hospitals with COVID patients which would lead to non-COVID emergencies being put at risk. The idea is to lockdown an area not to STOP, but to SLOW the trickle of new patients into hospitals at a rate they can be serviced: e.g., balancing the pipeline. In anticipation of the huge surges seen in the North East US,…
In Europe we are using lockdowns to get infections sufficiently low to do test, trace, and isolate - with eradication as the ultimate objective.
> with eradication as the ultimate objective
I don't think anyone is claiming to totally eradicate it, or did I miss something? Because as long as people travel, it will still exist, e.g., we still have SARS and MERS and ZIKA, just very low numbers.
I thought the mindset was minimize it until we have a vaccine. I could be wrong.
Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Repealing prop 13 would not reduce rates for new buyers. It would only make it harder for them to retain their properties as the taxes rise.
Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms
#328I have a commercial tenant who was forced to shut down their business during the lockdown. I just waived rent until they were allowed to reopen. You can't get blood from a turnip, and I really don't want to force them into default and try to find another tenant in this environment anyway. Almost everybody is taking a haircut this year.
Yup. "If you owe the bank $100 dollars, that's your problem; if you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem."
Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms
#329As a passive real estate investor I'm seeing bidding on new sales has actually been more competitive than ever in my area (Atlanta GA). A lot of houses are selling above asking prices with 8-10 offers on the table. I am not sure if people genuinely think it is a good time to buy, or is it mostly FOMO.
I think people who can work from home and who didn't get laid off are fine and the stonks appeared to mostly recover (which may explain some of the money sloshing around the market). I think there will be massive economic damage in 6 months that we aren't focusing on right now.
Is anyone (except govt employees and people making PPE/in healthcare) really fine? The economy is so intricately connected, I feel that everyone will eventually pay the price. The large-corp tech sector has been fine so far but I am not sure how comfortable I am taking on a large mortgage. Atlanta is cheap .. a bay area techie could probably buy a place in cash.
Re: Millions of Americans skipping payments as wave of defaults and evictions looms
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Nope, not large.
A friend had an Aston Martin that caught on fire. About a $120k car. It took months of investigations to close that claim. Insurance pointed finger at AM, AM wanted their own investigator, fire inspector involved, etc.
And that’s not even large relative to a house or business.