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Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

businessinsider.com

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Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#51

Post by throwaway0a5e »

tuna-piano wrote: post #50

I understand evictions trigger lots of emotions and can be terrible situations for the tenant. But so many comments here seem to treat an apartment as something the tenant is entitled to, even without payment. How is living at a property without paying for it any different than walking out of Walmart without paying for bread? Staying at a place without paying rent is a form of direct theft. The non-paying-tenant is s…

While I might not agree with a lot of the opinions in these comments the sheer ignorance of the eviction process is what bothers me more. Opinions are pretty easy to write off but anyone here also has a multitude of search engines at their fingertips so there's no excuse for ignorance.

It varies by state but evicting someone is not the "just show up and kick out the tenant with threat of violence" process that many comments seem to be operating under the assumption that it is. You might be able to get away with that once or twice but (in the US) even the most shady of slumlord make a profit on a timeline longer than that approach is tenable.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#52

Post by InitialLastName »

Normille wrote: post #40
wegs wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, it puts food on the table, and my kids are hungry. And it keeps the debt collector at bay. The implied expectation of class / race / ethnic / ... loyalty is fundamentally flawed, though. I'm friends with people of many groups who are unlike me, and conversely, there are many people in my demographic whom I dislike. Not all [insert race][insert socioeconomic class][insert religion][insert ethnicity][insert career…

> Hey, it puts food on the table, and my kids are hungry. And it keeps the debt collector at bay. So does shovelling Jews into gas ovens and pulling out people's fingernails. I guess it just depends on where your internal "Do Not Cross" moral line lies.

> I guess it just depends on where your internal "Do Not Cross" moral line lies.

As we've so often seen, at scale it's easy to move that line for enough people to enable any atrocity.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#53

Post by sascha_sl »

tuna-piano wrote: post #50

I understand evictions trigger lots of emotions and can be terrible situations for the tenant. But so many comments here seem to treat an apartment as something the tenant is entitled to, even without payment. How is living at a property without paying for it any different than walking out of Walmart without paying for bread? Staying at a place without paying rent is a form of direct theft. The non-paying-tenant is s…

It's because the system is broken to begin with.

Landlords usually provide little value compared to what they ask for and for a lot of them, it's essentially passive income, an investment if you want, but one that is basic survival for others. The US should not be having a homelessness crisis. We have more empty places than homeless.

The same way I personally believe Nestle or anyone else should not be trying to commodify drinking water beyond the "utility" grade.

If you want an expanded look at this line of reasoning, I can recommend Thought Slime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2EWQ4v9wbA

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#54

Post by Volscio »

dpflan wrote: post #9

Civvl's website reveals nothing about the "who" behind this company - which seems to be expected given the nature of the business.

If you view the source of the agent onboarding page, you can read what appears to be an arbitration clause that is written for Uber. I am guessing they just copypasted the whole thing? Or...?

https://civvl.com/agent-onboarding/

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#55

Post by tuna-piano »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #51
tuna-piano wrote: post #50

I understand evictions trigger lots of emotions and can be terrible situations for the tenant. But so many comments here seem to treat an apartment as something the tenant is entitled to, even without payment. How is living at a property without paying for it any different than walking out of Walmart without paying for bread? Staying at a place without paying rent is a form of direct theft. The non-paying-tenant is s…

While I might not agree with a lot of the opinions in these comments the sheer ignorance of the eviction process is what bothers me more. Opinions are pretty easy to write off but anyone here also has a multitude of search engines at their fingertips so there's no excuse for ignorance. It varies by state but evicting someone is not the "just show up and kick out the tenant with threat of violence" process that many c…

Those people would be surprised to learn how common "cash for keys" agreements are...

When a landlord wants to evict a tenant who hasn't been paying rent, it's not uncommon for the landlord to actually pay the tenant cash to leave! This is so the landlord doesn't need to wait months with no rent income while spending significant time going to court, etc[1].

In much of the country it likely takes several months. Each step in the multi-step process generally has lots of loopholes, gotchas and potentially weeks of waiting.

[1]https://www.nav.com/blog/cash-for-keys-357679/

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#56

Post by NationalPark »

scarface74 wrote: post #20
wegs wrote: post #11

Untrained gig workers. Angry tenants. I can't imagine what could go wrong here.

As I said below, when you do it legally, someone from the sheriffs department is involved. A clean out crew is often made up of day laborers anyway. You also don’t have to be gentle with the tenants stuff. You just throw it out on the curb. Edit: I usually don’t comment on downvotes. But why is a factually correct comment being downvoted? I was a landlord, this is exactly the process in my state.

You're being downvoted because "You also don’t have to be gentle with the tenants stuff." has a tone that implies you are particularly spiteful or disdainful of people who are essentially the least powerful in society. It suggests a level of cruelty beyond a transactional business relationship.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#57

Post by tuna-piano »

sascha_sl wrote: post #53
tuna-piano wrote: post #50

I understand evictions trigger lots of emotions and can be terrible situations for the tenant. But so many comments here seem to treat an apartment as something the tenant is entitled to, even without payment. How is living at a property without paying for it any different than walking out of Walmart without paying for bread? Staying at a place without paying rent is a form of direct theft. The non-paying-tenant is s…

It's because the system is broken to begin with. Landlords usually provide little value compared to what they ask for and for a lot of them, it's essentially passive income, an investment if you want, but one that is basic survival for others. The US should not be having a homelessness crisis. We have more empty places than homeless. The same way I personally believe Nestle or anyone else should not be trying to comm…

Thought experiment for you:

Evictions become much more difficult, maybe even illegal.

What happens to people who want to rent apartments?

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#58

Post by scarface74 »

raxxorrax wrote: post #49
scarface74 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was a landlord, rule 101 is that you don’t go near the tenant while the eviction process was winding its way through court. Also, police are monitoring the process on the day of the conviction. Edit: Does someone care to share how the above statement is factually incorrect?

Makes sense and is perfectly understandable. Many people here actually let the renting be done by third party managing companies. Sure, that also costs you, but you can often save you quite some headaches. Even or especially if your tenants are friends of yours. Don't know the rates, but some even continue to pay you the rent if the tenant stops paying.

It’s hard enough to be cash flow positive with rental real estate for a single property. Especially when you consider the 75% occupancy rate that is considered the industry norm - at least when you go for a bank loan and need to count it as income - then you have the normal repair expenses and prepping for new tenants.

Then you add on the cost of a management company - 10% of rent + up to 50% of the first month’s rent. The only people who I know that can stay cash flow positive are those with no or a low mortgage and/or are very hands on with maintenance and repairs.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#59

Post by scarface74 »

NationalPark wrote: post #56
scarface74 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said below, when you do it legally, someone from the sheriffs department is involved. A clean out crew is often made up of day laborers anyway. You also don’t have to be gentle with the tenants stuff. You just throw it out on the curb. Edit: I usually don’t comment on downvotes. But why is a factually correct comment being downvoted? I was a landlord, this is exactly the process in my state.

You're being downvoted because "You also don’t have to be gentle with the tenants stuff." has a tone that implies you are particularly spiteful or disdainful of people who are essentially the least powerful in society. It suggests a level of cruelty beyond a transactional business relationship.

I haven’t been a landlord in over decade and I only had to do one eviction. Again I am stating facts. You don’t have to be gentle. These are the facts. I didn’t say you shouldn’t be.

After that one eviction , the next time my rental properties became empty, I started getting rid of the properties. They weren’t worth the trouble.

Facts aren’t always nice. That doesn’t mean they aren’t facts.

Money is never “personal” to me. Once the real estate crash happened and my tenants started leaving, I did strategic defaults. I actually let one tenant stay at one of my properties for months without paying rent. I knew I was going to walk away from the underwater property anyway. I told them they could stay until the bank kicks them out. I told them I was going to let it go in foreclosure. They were fine with it. They had a place to stay for months, saved money and left before the bank evicted them. No eviction on their record.

Edit: it seems to be endemic to this post, anyone care to reply why I am incorrect or why they disagree?

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#60

Post by dawg- »

adamparsons wrote: post #42
Saint_Genet wrote: post #29

I guess that's a way to ensure you're among the first up against the wall.

Until I see the United States with my own two eyes, I will continue believing it’s a made up place / simulation that tests the absolute dead limits you can push capitalism to without starting a revolution

Yes, you should wait until you see it. Don't form your opinions of the world based solely on what you read in the news. Wherever you are from, I'm sure it's a nice place. And I'm sure I could find a hundred news articles saying the opposite.
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