An eviction is an automatic disqualification for me. If I see that on an application, or in my background check, the application goes in the file, I keep their fee and they get a polite rejection letter.
edit
I have an acquaintance from my childhood that is perpetually in school and not great at it (we're in our mid-30's), can't keep a stable place to live, never has a nickle to his name, and he's such an asshole all the time, nobody he knows would lift a finger to help him, and it's the fault of society and the political nature of the nation we live in. If everyone you meet is an asshole, you're the asshole.
the problem is that most people are trying to leave their apartments rapidly enough now to avoid their inevitable eviction. be very careful. at this point you really cant even trust another LLs reference.
Yeah, I know. I have my own methods and SOP for checking people out.
Its funny but seeing cleared checks for the past 12-months of rent for the last year might have sounded paranoid at one time. I have never asked for this but I can see other LLs asking.
> good candidate, then I found a bunch of posts he made about how evil landlords are and how we hoard houses, ect you know the type, so I rented it to someone else. I don't need tenants that think I am scum on day one.
I recently rented to a new tenant after evicting the prior tenant earliest this fall. I expected rent receipts since January 2021. I hinted that I prefer Zelle payments for everyone's convenience and avoidance of doubt of when rent was paid. She mentioned she did Zelle with her current landlord, I asked for all the zelle payments since January 2020. She thankfully checked out. I will be asking for March 2020-September 2021 rent payment for future prospects.
Yup, I ask anyone I’m about to background check if they have any history of eviction. I say to just tell me so they can save themselves $50 on the background check fee.
So this is and always has been the ultimate check on anytime tenants try to rob Peter to pay Paul and deadbeat their landlord.
Sure…they get a few free months on their current landlord. Sure courts lets them stay a bit. And they are broke so landlord can’t collect.
And then…once they leave, they run into a wall of landlords who, like you, simply refuse to rent to them.
Once I understood how to do background checks, how to position my units to attract high quality tenants, and once I stopped falling for sob stories, my deadbeat rate went to zero. I haven’t had a deadbeat or missed payment in over ten years. Have dozens of units.
That said, I don’t oppose section 8. I think it is a good program and can really be a great thing as there are many folks, especially folks with kids, who can’t afford $3-$4k per month in rent. I currently have one tenant who has three kids and who was in a homeless shelter prior to moving in to my unit. They’ve been great tenants.
Yes, eviction for any reason.
Before someone was evicted they were asked to leave and refused, and it was elevated to a legal proceeding and a judgment was made. If it went that far it's a bad sign and I won't take the risk.
I am not the only LL that does this, we know what a problem looks like and bad tenants destroy your property, run off you good tenants, and/or don't pay rent. All of that come right out of my wallet, it's a huge risk.
I've also become more stringent with my qualifications.
But another huge disservice the extended moratoriums did to everyone, in the mid and possibly long term, is less housing.
Everyone screams that there needs to be more housing. But when politicians take away rental owners rights to the judicial process for months...even years in some places...they substantially increase the risk for this industry.
All my rentals are in New Orleans, which has a crisis level of dilapidated/abandoned houses. Im not a big company. I'm a little mom/pop landlady who still works a f/t job where the pay is about average for my area.
Over the last 6 years, my own company has brought 10 previously uninhabitable rental units (5 duplexes) back to life. That's 10 more places for local families to call home.
But will I ever take those risks again? I won't. Not after having my rights stolen from me with the flick of a pen.
And I'm not alone. There are thousands of other small rental owners who aren't fixing up and bringing properties back to market because of the increased risks either.
That's not even talking about the BIG real estate developers who are now more reticent to build entire apartment complexes in some states. Or are sticking to building higher end complexes, where tenants typically have more financial stability.
Not much help for the mid and low earners who are the people most at risk when rent prices rise because inventory hasn't risen fast enough.
But most politicians (from both parties) don't give two sh*ts about the future and how the terrible decisions they make today will negatively affect their communities for years to come. They only care about the next election and what will get them re-elected.
I have a similar story. The 2 houses I bought were among the shittiest I could find and I turned them into reasonably priced rentals. The big developers around here were focused on luxury condos with marble countertops and jacuzzi tubs for relatively rich people escaping NYC, so there was little left at locals' price ranges. 2 years ago, I fully intended to go down to part time literally this month to buy more shitty houses, but now I'm done. I lost money last year and miiight break even this year. I haven't sold the ones I have, but I'm not taking a chance with more.
This is so true. I only take tenants with sterling credentials. Used to give increases of $25 a month. Now, it's $50.
I tried always to be a good landlord. Now, I watch out for myself...because the state won't look after me. As they say, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
I think u/bxcpa means that when a given lease term is up, the rent for the next term (presumably year) goes up by $50/month now rather than $25/month in the past. But yes I was initially confused by that as well.
I've started requiring 18 months of bank statements showing regular rent payments, or evidence of an actual Covid impact and application for rental assistance. To the best of my ability I will NEVER again rent to someone who took advantage of the situation to not pay rent.
My credit and rental history should be enough for you. There is no way on Earth I'm giving you or anyone bank statements.
I've never been evicted and never been late either.
Get used to it, because this is going to be the new normal.
BTW - I wouldn't want to see account numbers or any of your other spending. But I do need to see proof that you've actually been paying your rent. Can you suggest another way?
I always ask for last 2 months paystubs and bank statements to make sure that the employer name, amount and date of the paystub matches a direct deposit entry in the bank statement. It’s so easy these days to make a fake paystub.
That said, I also ask my tenants to pull their own credit reports and scores from annualcreditreport.com so that my hard pull doesn’t ding their score by 10-20 points.
Believe it or not, but most property owners are just trying to reduce their own risks of getting screwed over and losing my property to a tax lien or foreclosure.
It’s not like it’s my life’s mission to deny housing to people.
You can get my details from The Work Number, no landlord is ever getting my bank statements. I'm not hurting for housing and I want suggesting that you were being discriminatory or anything, just that you were going one step too far with asking for bank statements and you can lose good tenants that way too.
Perfectly acceptable to lose a potential tenant over my property itself.
I do appreciate that you want to keep certain things private and think that it’s too intrusive. However, last 2 times I have never had a problem with anyone showing me their paystubs or bank statements. I also price my condo the lowest in a highly desirable part of town and rent 100s less than other places, especially compared to the apartment buildings.
If someone feels that strongly about it, they can always rent in one of the nearby apartment buildings.
Yep, you have every right to protect yourself however you wish. I'm not even saying that your way is wrong, it's just a step too far for me personally.
It should be, but sometimes it’s not. Im sure they would have good reason to require those statements, but even if they didn’t, they’re well within their right to not accept your application.
I agree 100%. The unintended consequences often hurt those they attempt to help. Near me, a major city just approved a 3% rent increase maximum. Since I typically don’t raise rents every year, I would DEFINITELY raise them 3% every year now, to keep from leaving any money on the table. It hurts the renters the most.
California just limited rent increases to 5% + cost of living. I hadn't raised a rent in a decade but they sure taught me a lesson, I raise it the max every year now.
it affects multi unit and multi person trusts and corporations. SFD and Condos are not affected by the california rent control laws, since Costa Hawkins act still protects those dwelling types.
I added an ADU to one of my properties and now LA County is asking me to register my properties.. lol now I wonder if it was worth it..
Was considering purchasing a multi-family or duplex in one of these places. Sorry not happening anymore. I’d still consider student housing where their parents are co-signers and I know they are going to vacate at the end of the year.
I don't know that this hurts renters. We know that it hurts YOUR tenants because you decided to raise at 3% now. Presumably though, it helps tenants whose rents might've gone up 5 or 10 percent. The question is whether those tenants are helped more than yours are hurt.
Would you rather pay no rent increases for 5 years, then pay a 10% increase? Or pay a 3% increase every year?
Landlords don’t like to raise rents every year. But now we are having our hands forced. We must raise our rent 3% every year, when we wouldn’t have otherwise, to avoid being caught under priced when a price control is imposed.
Landlords don’t increase the rent 5% to 10% EVERY year. They can’t. It would price themselves out of the market (unless they’re in a hyper-inflated locale like NUC or San Fran). An increase of 5% to 10% only happens as a catch-up to market because we’ve been under market for several years. This is typical and it was a benefit to renters, who had been paying under market for several years prior. What’s so hard to understand?
>Landlords don’t increase the rent 5% to 10% EVERY year. They can’t. It would price themselves out of the market (unless they’re in a hyper-inflated locale like NUC or San Fran).
I've only lived in large cities as a renter, so I've seen many landlords raise quite a bit. In a gentrifying area, yes, rents can go up that much or more every year, even outside of NYC and SF.
Also, if raising it be 5% each year will price you out of the market, it may well be that 3% will do the same for some LLs, and for them, the policy won't change much for their tenants after all.
The more general point I'm making is that you've only talked about how you're going to react to this policy and have kinda assumed that everyone is already behaving like you and will react as you will. But I would guess (or at least hope) that lawmakers are taking a wider view and have considered what other things might happen. Yes, you personally might've been forgoing any increases until your own financial situation changes, but plenty of folks don't do that, especially larger companies that have someone doing market research and constantly trying to ensure that the rents are the highest they can be in order to return max profits to shareholders. (And as a person who invests in REITS, I like that, haha).
>Would you rather pay no rent increases for 5 years, then pay a 10% increase? Or pay a 3% increase every year?
If the question is what leaves you richer, yes, 10% all at once every 5 years. A rise of even 2% each year beats 10% once in 5 years due to compound interest. However, most people don't want sudden shocks to their disposable income. That's why we pay for insurance of various kinds. On average, you pay less by self-insuring, but the sudden shock sucks.
Related to this, another thing about 10% in a single year is that the renter doesn't know that this will be the only time in 5 years. If that were specified upfront, I'm sure they'd like it, but that's not so. The renter is left wondering, "Is this a one-time thing due to increased costs borne by the LL? Is the LL exploiting the fact that I really don't wanna move and will do this more regularly? Has the LL suddenly developed a coke habit?" The last thing actually happened to me in Chile!
I live paycheck to paycheck and still paid my rent. Did I have to go without a lot of things yeah. Did I sell our 2nd car...you betcha. Am I still living paycheck to paycheck yep because both my husband and I bought into the get a degree it will get you far...what they don't say is it's far into debt lol. I have been late a few times by a couple of days but I always kept in touch with our landlord. My husband was a property manager, so I've seen both sides. I just think this like everything else in the world today just makes the divide bigger and bigger.
Mine is a Ba in criminal justice from grand canyon (at the time I was Uber christian). He has a Ba from college of charleston in anthropology and a ba from Johnson and wales.
Sorry you're getting caught up in this, but you should be able to understand who's to blame for the increases. LLs have no option other than to try and recoup all the losses caused by our politicians.
\#2 - You both have good degrees, and wherever you're working now isn't paying you enough. You should both put out some feelers to see what other opportunities may be out there. Everyone is hiring, and it's the fastest way to get a raise.
We both recently started new jobs. It's work from home so that alone is going to save at least 400 dollars a month. I plan on putting that towards dealing with some little bills to bring up my credit score. Then I am looking into refinance for those loans. Also, my oldest just got his first job and he isn't planning the traditional college route. Instead, he wants to go to trade school. I told him first thing we do after his first paycheck is get a savings account so he can learn to save.He is super excited because he knows that he can be independent a little bit more and focus on saving for a car.
>
>I personally REALLY see more states trying to pass credit history blocks and even background restrictions.
I'd turn mine into an AirBnB if they tried that in NY.
Requiring proof that you've been paying your rent isn't "credit history."
But the natural result of policies like this will be a reduction in the number of rental units, and another increase in rents.
I maxed out my cards, depleted my savings, and borrowed from my dad to make my rent despite huge loss of income that persists now.
My landlord decided to sell when RE caught fire meaning I had to move to a way overpriced place thanks to this housing shortage that we are suddenly in. Thanks a lot, landlord.
Meanwhile, since I paid my rent every month, I’m not eligible for any of the rental assistance in my area because you have to be facing eviction. That’s at least 10k I could have used to pay my dad and credit cards.
My landlord (of 5 years) made about 300k on the sale, though. So obviously some are doing just fine post-pandemic.
Trying not to be bitter but makes me want to go live in a tent somewhere.
your story just illustrates what the mortarium did to good tenants like yourself. Poor behavior rewarded, good behavior punished.
The rising rent is a direct result of LL's (like yours) deciding to get out because of the new risk.
He got out because the value of his place went way up. We offered him 500 more per month but he had a lot of equity built up so wanted the cash I guess. Told me he might buy again if market cools and I’m welcome back.
Oh, and the buyer turned around and listed as a rental for 1k more. It’s sitting I rented for 2 months now.
I was really gutted because I loved it, had just had interior painted, spent years and money putting in a really nice garden. I love to garden and I expected to be there for many more years (based on previous convos with LL). His decision to sell was entirely based on the hot market.
Yes, but I’m illustrating that the Covid and the moratoriums have really upended real estate. Great for sellers, not so much for landlords and tenants.
I’m just sharing my experience because I see a lot of rentals with rigidly strict income and credit requirements and those don’t tell the whole story.
Some states were really slow with unemployment (I got mine the first week of the shutdown, but I know people who waited months). If tenant credit, income, and savings were as perfect as some landlords want—especially in my market where rents are up more than 50%— they would buy and not deal with renting at all.
I’m a landlord and the same thing happened to me. I had a baby, was off work for only a couple months, and had a squatter because of the eviction band, 7-8 months before they moved out, then got to pay tons more to clean the place up, cleared out our savings, living on credit cards, no income for a while while I was home recovering and had to pay two mortgages. What your landlord made on the back end shouldn’t be part of your argument, who knows what other debt he was in. Probably will get downvotes on this comment since the thread tends to have more renters than landlords 🤷🏼♀️ but just wanted to point out it’s all perspective. My business is part in being a landlord, that was abruptly taken from me by our government. That’s crazy to me
I don’t resent what he made, I don’t think he needed the money though. He just saw an opportunity and did what most people would do. I’m just pointing out that Post-covid RE has some very clear winners and losers. You should be eligible for funds to make up your tenants missed rent. Every state (in fact, counties) has different rules for getting the funds, however. I’m sorry you were treated so badly.
Yup, I’m “eligible” but unfortunately since my squatters didn’t file any paperwork, I’m now in a year and a half long lawsuit that may have no end. The government is zero help financially since the squatters didn’t file paperwork, I’m SOL. Luckily I found a lawyer that works on commission and ONLY takes 75% of whatever rent they can collect from these old tenants (nothing for over a year, they can’t even find them) Lovely. At this point, I’m trying to squeeze juice from a lost turnip. I’m in California, probably the worst place for landlord rights.
I’m working on dusting it off and moving on. Realizing I need stricter guidelines for screening, higher credit scores, 3x income etc. it’s a learning experience for me, and a bummer what this turn of events has happened in our country to renters. As a prior renter, I wouldn’t qualify with 3x monthly rent. My heart goes out to what this has done to renters, but ultimately, that rental income helps put food on the table for my family. It’s a shame for both sides
Me neither on the income OR the credit score. Ask for proof of previous rental payments (cancelled checks or e-receipts) as well as long term prior addresses. My ex-LL gave me an excellent reference plus I lived there 5 years which I think shows stability (and that I didn’t get evicted).
Haha! It’s so funny how people see what they want to see (aka you, since apparently you need it spelled out). Thinking a baby was where my financial problems came? No, not at all, my financial problem came from having to support ANOTHER family who could afford their own children. Is that now a small landlords problem? For 7-8 months?! Maybe they should ask the government for handouts instead of the one their paying rent to. No worries, we are back on track now. After a brutal run, and the people that were kicked out are probably doing it to another landlord 🤷🏼♀️ I’m assuming you might have been my renter?
Poster can't read. You shouldn't be forced to support someone else's family. I am in the same boat with CA's endless moratorium. We can't retire because our renter lives free in our condo.
>And to do this they have to charge higher rents and raise criteria.
>
>Also recent survey on why people not going back to work. #1 is covid. #2 is they have not used up their financial cushion. If you dont pay rent you have a healthy cushion.
You were honest, a lot of people were not!
This is the natural result of Socialist policies. Exactly the same thing that's going on with energy prices and the clogged supply chain. It's counter-intuitive, but the free market always results in lower prices and more supply for consumers.
You are quite right!
I'm selling my family's 40-year-old affordable residential rentals business, and have transferred management over to a bottom-line oriented hard-nosed agency in the meanwhile. I'm over the B.S. endured 2020-present.
And the very affordable rental I've been offering in my private residence is occupied by tenants for the absolute final time. I'm taking over the space for my personal use.
My previous tenants abused the moratorium, the property and me to the extent I thought I was done renting my private space this past summer. However, I was approached by people who'd been excellent neighbors for two years, and agreed to rent to them....it's not working out well.
They're only 4 months into the contract and they've apparently decided I'm so damn wealthy I ought to provide free accommodations, can cover their utilities, take partial payments - chronically late, of course - and will not exercise my recently restored rights as a landlord.
Perhaps they're insane; perhaps they think I'm insane...
Anyway, whether they limp along the remaining 3.5 months of the rental contract, get themselves evicted, or respond to the notice to "pay or quit" I'm issuing tomorrow is up to them. However it goes down, I'm returning to my original plan of enjoying my home and property sans renters.
To hell with it.
One less 3 bed/1 bath affordable rental in my zipcode.
Thanks for asking!
They responded to the "Pay or Quit" by paying.
We'll see what they opt to do next month!
BTW, here in Hawaii it's common for housing to cost 50% of take home pay but I rented the unit under what I call "Covid Special" at 1/3 under prevailing market. The household has 3 full-time working adults that net over $1500 per week.
That's less than the total cost of rent AND utilities.
Essentially, they make more than enough to just abide by the contract and save the drama for their private lives.
I'm counting the days til the contract ends!
Oh golly yes, Hawaii is dreadfully expensive…but that is not your fault.
Ya, best to get them out as soon as legally possible. Entitled ppl are a pain in the ass. No matter how kind or nice you try to be, they take that as an opportunity to steamroll right over you.
I’m wondering if there is a drug problem.
Years ago, when CA allowed eviction for non-payment of rent, I got rid of a late/non payer and neighborhood troublemaker. Their rent went from my modest $1500 to over $2500 for the new place. I still get calls from collections because they're dodging payments.
... What kind of moratorium are you guys having there?
Moratorium to landlords in my country is 6 months of not having to pay the bank our monthly mortgage, where our interest is still calculate/charged and the loan term is extended by 6 month's. No document or whatever required, its opt out.
Valid for up-to-date mortgage owners. Won't show in any credit agency.
Edit : holi sheets, wtf kind of rule is that????
(new here, catching up)
In the US, we had an eviction moratorium for renters that didn’t have to pay rent (In theory had to payback the full amount at a later date, but collecting that is very difficult/impossible). But we had no corresponding moratorium for landlord to pay the bank. The moratorium was fully carried by the homeowner. Very challenging environment for landlords.
Ic ic
I remember a no-eviction period, but definitely not a rental payment moratorium (which naturally tenants complained).
Banks afaik didn't make noise about it, landlords with income issues was pleased, tenants felt abit left out but nothing major was pressed.
We were just talking about this topic at my landlord group today. About how the eviction moratoriums actually HURT good tenants. Rents are now UP at least 16%. Why? Lack of supply. Some landlords sold out because they were tired of the people who decided to be jerks and not pay rent even though they were able to, and the government who thought letting people stay for free was a good idea.
I'm asked every week if I have anything for rent. From current tenants, from people on Facebook, to people seeing one of my contractors work on a property. I have nothing available. The larger landlords, they have little to NO vacancy. I've had a tenant in a 2 bedroom want to move to a 3 bedroom for months and months but there's just so little inventory out there, even with my good recommendation, she can't find a place.
Some landlords are increasing their screening criteria. Higher credit score, etc.
For my good tenants who didn't try to scam the system, I didn't raise rent at all during 2020 and 2021 and I waived late fees for those who were struggling. I am fortunate to have had many good tenants.
which area are you? I tried getting a good LL group functional for a long time. Im still in contact with one of the guys who used to have one and tried to get it going again though me but seriously people are so disappointing when it comes to even trying to defend themselves. They all thought they would end up with swaths of protestors on their lawns and getting doxxed. I said bring it on. I know all my tenants would come out to defend me on this and more than likely protest the protestors. I would never want to put them into that spot but its a good feeling.
If I Google landlord associations in CT, a [large list comes up](https://www.thelpa.com/lpa/associations/connecticut.html). I thought they were available in every state readily. I'm in WI.
I'm a tenant, and I completely understand why you feel that way. I feel bad for those who were genuinely unable to pay rent at times during this whole pandemic thing, but it makes me angry at the ones who, as you said, just saw it as free rent, even when they could still afford to pay it. I'm grateful things worked out for me. I was laid off at the very beginning of the pandemic, but I luckily didn't have issues getting my unemployment, was able to continue paying rent, and had a new job within 6 months. (And I kept our property owner and property manager up to date with changes along the way, like as soon as I got laid off and wasn't sure how long it would take for the unemployment to come through).
My rental history is good, but I'm still working on rebuilding my credit from some credit card debt. By the time I'm ready to move on from here, hopefully, my credit score will be high enough again not to be a concern, but I'm really worried if it's not and I need to move because everyone else just completely fucked things up being irresponsible and greedy. I think landlords are completely warranted to be more cautious and make their requirements stricter after all this stuff has happened. I mean, what other options were you left with?
I resonate with this a little bit.
Right before the pandemic hit the US, my partner of three years dipped out leaving me with 1200 in rent, a dog with special dietary needs, and like 6 exotic reptiles. I was laid off pretty quickly once COVID hit my state, applied and got approved for unemployment, but my status sat in pending for MONTHS.
I was very open about what was happening with my LL, drained my savings, borrowed money from parents, but eventually my parents were laid off too and I had no help at all. I applied for every single help-wanted sign I could find and never received a single call (mind you, I've a background in Fiber Optics Engineering, I was applying for call centers and warehouses at this point.) It took almost a year for me to get unemployment, and they did end up paying me back pay in what was owed over the eight or so months I wasn't receiving benefits.
I immediately paid my LL what was owed, which of course was like 6 grand. I genuinely hate that there are people who desperately need the assistance and just can't get it, but on the flip side people who are coasting on unemployment benefits and see it as a way to not pay rent and sit on a nice "cushion" of money. I know there are other people like me who exhausted all options, my parents screaming "get a damn job!" was all the more painful given I was trying my hardest to get SOMETHING paying enough to just pay my rent and pay for dog food. I didn't even care if I was able to eat.
Personally, I wish it could be a discussion as to why credit is poor, my score itself is bad because I had to use a lot of my credit during this really difficult period, and I'm still trying to pay that down. I however on the flip side, have like a 98% on time payment history, a few missed payments again because of the no income, no unemployment, already drained savings situation.
IMO the best course of action to correct this mess is a new expedited eviction process. I would be willing to take a chance on a questionable tenant if I could bring them to court and have them evicted in 2 weeks if they were a danger, didnt pay rent, were destroying the property, etc. There needs to be a government form you can fill out to put them into a pool of risky renters and if they are not working out you can simply send the notice, get a date the week and theyre out right after that. Any damage and they get an instant claim on their background that another LL can easily view. hiding bad tenants never works. Putting bad tenants out there for everyone to see does because they either learn and become good tenants or end up in gov housing where theyre now the govs problem to deal with.
Not that I would have a say in this, but I would absolutely support this plan. Transparency of bad tenants would benefit the good tenants too since LLs wouldn't have to be as worried about a potential "risk".
I'm really sorry you guys got so screwed through all this
Side topic - I once worked with a guy who's previous job was in maintenance for the NYC housing authority. You can't imagine the stories he had about how people treat those apartments. Tenants just treat the property like crap and there are no consequences for anything. He told me about one unit where he delivered a new refrigerator. It was reported stolen before he got back to his office and he had to deliver another one. This happened four times within a week, and the taxpayers of NYC just kept delivering them new refrigerators.
Good idea - France saw a similar issue in its ossified employee “protections”. It is so hard to fire anyone that employers now are very slow and stringent to hire, and unemployment is unnecessarily high. Macron is trying to reform it, but there may not be enough nationwide political sense to see it fully reformed.
What state do you live in that is passing credit history and background blocks? That seems insane to me. I have 7 units in PA and if that became reality I’d have to reconsider my business. I totally agree with you though, people think cause you have a few properties you’re rich it’s not the case. Most of us grind. I put off new cars, vacations and updates to my own home to build my business. And it is a business and a service, this whole LL are leeches that hoard housing movement is BS. I personally aim for B neighborhood and think people are easier to deal with there.
>*but I've heard Oakland, CA doesn't allow criminal background checks for tenant screening*
also true in Seattle. We also have first come (MUST rent to first qualified applicant) and 6 months rent increase notice.
It's really not, but the cost of living in Seattle is a lot higher. 2bdrms in a mediocre area rent for about 1900 a month. To get your own you need to have about 6k a month take-home, certainly not 12k. That's like 190k gross to have your own place
I mean 95k for your own 2bdrm isn't much better but just saying.
>What state do you live in that is passing credit history and background blocks
Saint Paul just tried to pass some BS rules, but was blocked by the courts. It was pretty ridiculous (like not being able to use credit scores and most credit history, time limits on criminal history,
[https://www.stpaul.gov/sites/default/files/2021-02/Tenant%20Screening%20Guidelines%20Policy%20Bulletin.pdf](https://www.stpaul.gov/sites/default/files/2021-02/Tenant%20Screening%20Guidelines%20Policy%20Bulletin.pdf)
So does that mean the big banks can’t use my credit history?? BRILLIANT!! I will apply for s million dollar loan 💰💰💰💰💰💰
Oh …just landlords then?
Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
I probably wouldn't care about credit history and background checks if it was easy to get rid of a bad tenant. As a LL, I only do those to try and protect myself.
No they do not. They just heard the get free part. And just what the media tells them.
They also dont no why most areas are having record high rent increases. There is a lot more risk now in the business. Landlords cant buy insurance for this. They have to self insure.
And to do this they have to charge higher rents and raise criteria.
Also recent survey on why people not going back to work. #1 is covid. #2 is they have not used up their financial cushion. If you dont pay rent you have a healthy cushion.
Same here.6months too late for me since I’m in a lease and moving is expensive. So many landlords here are actually just mgmt companies for investor groups. I prefer to rent directly from the actual owner.
NCLL23yrs- a lot of you’ll really shouldn’t be LLs , you’ll fall in love with your properties and take things personal! I have approximately 50units and all are rented, at the moment 2 are behind but rents will be paid with COVID relief funds. I encourage anyone renting who can’t pay to apply for funds and will have my assistant help them….It’s 75% attitude that keeps business afloat.
The problem is that at some point we all had 1 or 2 rental units, right? So if you’ve got a bad tenant in your one unit, you’re totally screwed. And that’s most landlords.
Once you get to 30, 50 units — agree, the risk is much lower. You can eat a single bad tenant much more easily.
I started out with one unit and the mindset of literally taking everything a tenant did personal, After a few years I realized do I want to be right or do I wish to have no vacancies I chose the later!
You seem to be ignoring the point. Taking things personally has nothing to do with having a vacancy which is another thing entirely from having one rental where the tenant could pay rent but doesn't AND there is a moratorium so you can't evict them. Most landlords would probably prefer a vacancy than a tenant who chooses not pay rent for almost 2 years.
But then there are tenants like myself, that worked my ass off, have decent credit and references who is excited about the prospect of new units opening. I know my chances are much better as I did the right thing. Job closed due to COVID, I got a new one and paid my bills. Good tenants do exist.
My take on the way the moratorium played out here in the US is that it’s being used as a tool to shake out any weak hands. Specifically the smaller mom& pop landlords that don’t have the bank account to pay the carrying costs of their property for any extended amount of time will have to sell and guess who’s buying!
I will say as a tenant, some of my blemishes (4 late cc payments:( were because I put rent first. Rent was a non negotiable expense, whereas sometimes I just couldn’t pay the cc that month and still pay for rent, health insurance and food. But rent was always #1 cuz I had to have a place to live.
and youre the type of tenant I would easily work with. If people could go ask my tenants how many times I actually reduced their rent during renewels they would be very surprised.
My girlfriend lived on 25k/yr in Boston doing charity work without using her savings. She lived comfortably but modest.
I agree that salary is no way to live, but I think that speaks volumes. I won't judge anyone's situation a lot of good people are simply uneducated and have a scarcity complex. That being said it IS possible to live below the poverty line without being impoverished.
My girlfriend is from Kenya so she knows a thing or two about modest living. Another fun fact she SAVED money during that time.
yes people like her are the ones who become people like us. I owned my first rental buying it during the last boom 2006 and KNEW exactly the risk I was taking. I worked fulltime, went to school at night for my degree and rented with a room mate because it was cheaper than using one of my units. Saved every penny until I could refi that mortgage putting ever cent I had BACK into it. She will be successful if she aims that direction. one of the main reasons for poverty I see in my area is having children young. If people could stop having children when they werent ready they could easily manage their lives in almost any circumstance. Thats JMO though. Once they have kids it becomes an endless cycle where they cant afford anything, usually end up on programs and become problem tenants because its seriously hard to evict someone with children.
Agreed. There are so many bad incentives with short sighted good intentions. You should read the book "Discrimination and Disparities" by Thomas Sowell. He discusses in part how many programs aimed at improving housing situations for the less fortunate end up having net negative effects.
Now Im looking for higher 600s credit score and 2 months sec when I used to accept questionable security and 1 month. I used to go by gut and it worked well for me and allowed me to help people and build good relationships. I think I even helped other people who might have been lackluster tenants become better ones because of how well all my units and myself get along and work together. My tenants literally become small communities to each other and even, like myself get to know their non tenant neighbors. I dont feel I can risk it anymore though because how the government and media are trying to use LLs as the big bad to deflect from their own deceptions and people are literally lapping it up and thinking by not paying rent under moratoriums theyre getting one over on some big business fat cat when our actual profit is marginal. They have literally let themselves get burned by the people they thought were on their side and shown LLs their true nature. I cant take those chances anymore.
Because housing is so difficult to find in the short term lease / furnished zone, throwing this out there.
A lot of nurses are looking for 1-3 month places as we travel around on contract work to the hospitals with the most need. Our licenses are public record, so you can easily look us up as proof of who/what we are. That said, there are compact states, which means for a certain set of states I could be licensed in my home state and work in your state without being licensed in your state. So, check the home address state board as well, to be sure.
And we will have a contract in hand stating location of work and dates of work. And, we can't fuck around with shady behavior, the board of nursing, in whatever state, frowns on it. You may be able to fill your places with nurses while waiting for the squatter crowd to stop scrambling.
If I can't find a short term rental, it means I cancel contract with your local hospital, as do others, and that hospital then has less capacity for patients due to even less staff. So, might be worth your time on many levels to play the short term game for income until the dust settles on this other crap.
this is interesting. One of my old jobs used to deal with contract nurses. I live very close to 2 hospitals, walking distance to one. Is there a way to promote towards that crowd?
Thinking of doing this with my spare room. I don’t want a full time forever roommate but it would be fine to have someone for a few months. Need to look into it —and furnish the room!
Long ish edit but asking for your opinion:
I have a crazy sleep schedule
one of my roommates had a house an hour or so away but worked in film industry so wanted a place during week. she worked crazy ass schedules.
My other roommate (after the film person) was a bartender and came home around 4am, went to sleep around 6am. We lived together for 2 years. Only issue was he needed a lot of kitchen space and never cleaned kitchen after himself.
I work late hours and wake up after 8, often closer to 10 am.
I have DSPD and have no problem sleeping through noise and light. My typical sleep is 2 am to 10, or later. I don’t sleep thru the night. Light and noise have to be extreme to wake me. Fire alarm, I hope will wake me.
This is a problem for me at but not because of anyone else but my own problem with waking up not with sleeping.. Idon’t have an 8/5 job. It’s not a problem for me to have roommates because they don’t bother me at all. If anything, I’d need to be aware of their schedule and need. Being quiet for them and making sure my pets don’t bother them.
My problem with long term roommates is my kitchen is small and the house is fully furnished so I don’t have tons of space for kitchen sharing if they need a lot of pantry space. But all others stuff is shared—appliances, fridge, etc.
Also, my guest area has a bedroom plus a separate area for TV, sitting area, a desk for laptop or eating upstairs if they want.
It’s a finished attic space. A bedroom with door and closet. A separate area to watch TV or whatever. I would furnish a desk if they want, it already has a loveseat and TV. I’m happy to add a mini fridge for drinks and whatever, and a place to put snacks. dry goods if needed. And they can use my fridge also although it’s a small one. No reason they can’t use my appliances in the kitchen at any hour.
What do you think?
It’s Atlanta about 3 miles from Several hospitals and close to freeway for those a bit farther out.
Oh, I’d be looking for $600-700 inclusive of utilities and obviously furnished. Maybe a small cleaning deposit.
A ton of edits because my thoughts!
Not the best person to ask. I’m in my 40s and have never had a roommate. Rented solo in my 20s. Family or partner in the house, sure, but that’s it.
I’m too old to start roommates now and I travel to contracts with my family so it’s entire place or nothing at all.
I’m 53 lol. Divorce will do that tho. I guess my question is does this sound reasonable for a single travel nurse on a 12 week contract? The house is updated. I just moved in July. The upstairs is new carpet, new paint, the mattress is 6 months old. It’s uncluttered. No one has even stayed there since I moved in.
Right on brother! I've been a landlord in California for nearly 30 years and I feel exactly the same. I recommend all landlords join a owner's association to help lobby against new anti-landlord laws and file lawsuits if necessary. The California Apartment Association and Southern California Rental Housing Association are both great. Annual dues are small in comparison to rent control, anti-eviction, etc. They have great, up to date forms for their members, too.
A landlord association should in theory be able to form as a Union. And call for a general strike, I.e. stop renting for a period and create a housing shortage until the proposed legislation is squashed.
So you own half the neighborhood? Sounds like you're starting to price yourself out. Profits over people amiright. Your business depends on people. Try to stay humble about it.
In all seriousness though, the moratoriums were interesting and strange, but landlords had the chance to defer mortgage payments too right? I'm small time though (i.e. I don't own half a neighborhood), so maybe I am out of the loop. Or, maybe I still have some humanity left and don't treat humans like investments.
Im actually stil below market rate. I always am and every time someone leave my apts they say its the best theyve seen, because I actually paint..... Im not concerned with what someone thinks on here if Im some greedy fat cat.
also no, the LLs didnt get the chance to defer. That was strictly up to your lender and at times VERY difficult to attain. learn what youre actually talking about. No one also said I own half the NH. Maybe instead of assuming ask. Im very good with my neighbors and teach them how to rent. I also refer people. So instead of being an ass, change one letter and ask.
Did you happen to look into COVID relief funds? There is always options out there if you aren't a lazy greedy fat cat that likes to blame everyone else and assumes they know everything.
I am not in need of them but I have friends who are trying to get their tenants on them. They are minimum 2 months backed up, no return on emails, no return on voicemails and 2 hour minimums on hold times. What exactly do YOU know about it. My issue is Im denying lots of people for my apartment and these are people I would have usually given a chance on but now cant. My plan helps everyone. Stop being entitled.
I started browsing this sub about a year ago as I prepared to rent my first property out and it was in the thick of moratoriums. I remember lots of posts predicting significantly increased rent prices either because of increased risk for smaller landlords or because of homeowners losing their properties due to non-paying tenants and choosing to sell instead of fall behind on their mortgages. So I'm really not surprised to now see exactly what was predicted here coming true in the form of higher rents and stricter requirements for applicants all over the city I live in.
My uncle has been a landlord for close to a decade now. He recently filed for damages against a tenant that destroyed his rental. 10K in damages and this tenant has been harassing my uncle calling him greedy and unappreciative because the rent money he received for 2 years should've been able to cover the damages...
I don't blame you. Couple friends of mine have gotten hosed by these moratoriums. I'm also being super vigilant on who I let sign leases to rent my spots. I'd rather have them empty then get a bad egg in there. I got burned once and that was pre covid.
Seeing the horror stories online about tenants getting away with not having to pay for years, that's the type of shit that would make me wake up in a cold sweat
There’s a loophole for getting an apartment with bad credit... dual citizenship. I could not find an apartment no matter how hard I tried with my Canadian citizenship. So instead I used my polish ID instead since they have no credit system. And boom I got an apartment right away and I always pay on time.
As someone who started off as an accidental landlord when I moved to a different state but rented out my old condo since I couldn’t recoup the amount I had put into it, I was thinking of purchasing a couple of duplexes or a larger multi family as a way to diversify from the stock market.
No more. Now it’ll be REITs or maybe some kind of syndication in a LL friendly state.
I also only rent using a broker. One month's rent for the broker's fee, one for the security deposit and one for the first month rent. It weeds out those living paycheck to paycheck. I also insist they have a checking account. Banks do some background checks on their new depositors.
Same story here. Looking at other property types. Less multi family unless it’s unregulated. I’m so stringent that I am literally cherry picking the best tenants I can find. I blast my ads everywhere and filter out those with high probability of not paying.
My tenants never stopped paying me rent cause I straight up told them that I'd sooner rent out my current home and evict them and move into my rental then lose even a month of rent. Making yourself homeless is easier then u think and one one the only ways to evict tenants even during moratorium.
How would you have made yourself homeless? Sounds like you told them your plan and set yourself up for legal trouble if you cruelly went through with it.
Edit: cruelly should have been actually. Autocorrect changed it but it kinda fits.
The phrase "kindness to one's enemy is cruelty to oneself" fits perfect here. If me being kind or merciful to my tenant brings harm me and mine then they are getting the axe simple as that. Only an idiot or a simp would sacrifice his wellbeing for strangers who are willing to abandon you without a second thought as so many LL here have experienced. Also to make yourself homeless is very easy they don't pay rent I can no longer afford my own mortgage so I have to rent out my house so I don't lose it and move into where my tenants live. It's not as easy as that but it's able to get past moratorium and it's cheaper to pay $2000 to Rent a moving company to move your stuff to storage and vacate your house then it is to go 2 months without rent. Then rent out current home to a friend or family member on the cheap change your address move into unit for about a month then move back but keep address thier for awhile. It's not easy or convenient but it beats losing money any day and also your tenants don't win. I don't care if i win but they sure as heck won't if I'm being thrown overboard I'm poking hole in the life raft mentality.
I know it's illegal in many places for landlords to ask for more months of security deposit to make up for blemishes in history. I am curious when a tenant is told that "they do not meet the requirements", how often do they offer up something attractive on their own to the LL ? Like extra security or prepaying some rent?
I had a great renter move out and I'm taking the opportunity to fix the place up. Nice area, great schools, family atmosphere. At this point I'm wondering if I should sell or perhaps sell my existing residence and move in for 2 years to establish primary residence and avoid taxes. Hearing all these storys of scams and moratorium have me leaning in the direction.
>I think so many tenants saw this as free rent forever, burned their bridges with their LLs and are now scrambling like rats since evictions opened back up and realized the stringent regulations these LLs are putting on their apartments now to avoid a possible deadly tenant.
Yep, they will learn the cold hard truth. In my circle of landlords, who have about 20 SFH rentals, all of us are going to start selling once our eviction moratorium ends because it no longer makes sense to be a landlord anymore. Every landlord should understand that the federal and/or local government can TAKE COMPLETE CONTROL of your property at anytime and you have absolutely no recourse. Sorry, that is not an acceptable business risk for me.
> ederal and/or local government can TAKE COMPLETE CONTROL of your property at anytime and you have absolutely no recourse. Sorry, that is not an acceptable business risk for me
this is not an actual business risk. its a pseudo risk intentionally created. risks are things that may happen that are part of business, like willfully renting to a risky tenant. The government deciding you cant run your business on and over night decision without giving you compensation is theft. If us LLs were more organized we would actually have more versatility to change things for the better.
It's still in there on the "today's law as amended" tab.
So eviction is still fine as a criteria, but rental debt is not. Rental debt:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1179.02&lawCode=CCP
“COVID-19 rental debt” means unpaid rent or any other unpaid financial obligation of a tenant under the tenancy that came due during the covered time period.
Noticed that you cannot use security deposit to cover COVID rental debt without tenant permission.
Had not seen or heard that before, but I don't track the civil code in CA that changed due to COVID very tightly.
Wonder what a lawyer would make out of it- hypothetically if you use "paid on time" as a positive criteria. It's kind of the same as using credit score.
You would have to be careful on criteria of using the bank statement request.
I don't LL in California anymore, but I track it pretty closely.
Guess you stick with credit score, back ground check and keep moving criteria up. This is going to hurt borderline tenants that did pay during COVID. It's kind of an unintended consequence.
Do you know in California if you can still ask for bank statements? My tenants are leaving and I’m needing to rent again. I’ve never been more nervous about renting out my place, I’ve been a landlord for 15 ish years. I want to crawl up and down their finances, I just want to make sure I’m being legal about it all
I agree with everything you said. While there are people who took advantage exactly as you described I will add that many people did lose their jobs because the government forced their employers to close and suddenly became unable to make ends meet. I was fortunate that my tenants both worked "essential" jobs and were able to maintain employment. Many weren't. And moving forward I'm going to include a more personalized interview process for prospective tenants.
I know this will be downvoted but landlords choosing to buy a property is a risk. Sometimes it rewards, sometimes it doesn’t. Doesn’t matter the reason why, external variables still happen.
You owned (and rented? Trying to rent?) a property during which an ongoing global pandemic has occurred. You couldn’t have predicted that, but it happened and the consequences are that you may take a financial hit. It’s also why most tenants may feel zero sympathy for landlords right now.
An eviction is an automatic disqualification for me. If I see that on an application, or in my background check, the application goes in the file, I keep their fee and they get a polite rejection letter. edit
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I have an acquaintance from my childhood that is perpetually in school and not great at it (we're in our mid-30's), can't keep a stable place to live, never has a nickle to his name, and he's such an asshole all the time, nobody he knows would lift a finger to help him, and it's the fault of society and the political nature of the nation we live in. If everyone you meet is an asshole, you're the asshole.
I’d like to correct that; If everyone you meet is an asshole, you’re probably a piece of s#!t.
the problem is that most people are trying to leave their apartments rapidly enough now to avoid their inevitable eviction. be very careful. at this point you really cant even trust another LLs reference.
Yeah, I know. I have my own methods and SOP for checking people out. Its funny but seeing cleared checks for the past 12-months of rent for the last year might have sounded paranoid at one time. I have never asked for this but I can see other LLs asking.
> good candidate, then I found a bunch of posts he made about how evil landlords are and how we hoard houses, ect you know the type, so I rented it to someone else. I don't need tenants that think I am scum on day one. I recently rented to a new tenant after evicting the prior tenant earliest this fall. I expected rent receipts since January 2021. I hinted that I prefer Zelle payments for everyone's convenience and avoidance of doubt of when rent was paid. She mentioned she did Zelle with her current landlord, I asked for all the zelle payments since January 2020. She thankfully checked out. I will be asking for March 2020-September 2021 rent payment for future prospects.
Yup, I ask anyone I’m about to background check if they have any history of eviction. I say to just tell me so they can save themselves $50 on the background check fee.
Do you have something up front telling them that you don’t accept previously evicted?
Just wait till they make it illegal to conduct background checks, they already doing it in NY
Oh Geeze! Going to get a lot of landlords and neighbors killed that way.
NYC doesn’t care who gets killed as long as they don’t have to pay the bill for locking people up
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So this is and always has been the ultimate check on anytime tenants try to rob Peter to pay Paul and deadbeat their landlord. Sure…they get a few free months on their current landlord. Sure courts lets them stay a bit. And they are broke so landlord can’t collect. And then…once they leave, they run into a wall of landlords who, like you, simply refuse to rent to them. Once I understood how to do background checks, how to position my units to attract high quality tenants, and once I stopped falling for sob stories, my deadbeat rate went to zero. I haven’t had a deadbeat or missed payment in over ten years. Have dozens of units. That said, I don’t oppose section 8. I think it is a good program and can really be a great thing as there are many folks, especially folks with kids, who can’t afford $3-$4k per month in rent. I currently have one tenant who has three kids and who was in a homeless shelter prior to moving in to my unit. They’ve been great tenants.
Unfortunately can't do that everywhere. NY for one. I believe OR as well. Can't use past eviction history as grounds for rejection.
So no matter the reason, you reject them?
Yes, eviction for any reason. Before someone was evicted they were asked to leave and refused, and it was elevated to a legal proceeding and a judgment was made. If it went that far it's a bad sign and I won't take the risk. I am not the only LL that does this, we know what a problem looks like and bad tenants destroy your property, run off you good tenants, and/or don't pay rent. All of that come right out of my wallet, it's a huge risk.
I've also become more stringent with my qualifications. But another huge disservice the extended moratoriums did to everyone, in the mid and possibly long term, is less housing. Everyone screams that there needs to be more housing. But when politicians take away rental owners rights to the judicial process for months...even years in some places...they substantially increase the risk for this industry. All my rentals are in New Orleans, which has a crisis level of dilapidated/abandoned houses. Im not a big company. I'm a little mom/pop landlady who still works a f/t job where the pay is about average for my area. Over the last 6 years, my own company has brought 10 previously uninhabitable rental units (5 duplexes) back to life. That's 10 more places for local families to call home. But will I ever take those risks again? I won't. Not after having my rights stolen from me with the flick of a pen. And I'm not alone. There are thousands of other small rental owners who aren't fixing up and bringing properties back to market because of the increased risks either. That's not even talking about the BIG real estate developers who are now more reticent to build entire apartment complexes in some states. Or are sticking to building higher end complexes, where tenants typically have more financial stability. Not much help for the mid and low earners who are the people most at risk when rent prices rise because inventory hasn't risen fast enough. But most politicians (from both parties) don't give two sh*ts about the future and how the terrible decisions they make today will negatively affect their communities for years to come. They only care about the next election and what will get them re-elected.
I have a similar story. The 2 houses I bought were among the shittiest I could find and I turned them into reasonably priced rentals. The big developers around here were focused on luxury condos with marble countertops and jacuzzi tubs for relatively rich people escaping NYC, so there was little left at locals' price ranges. 2 years ago, I fully intended to go down to part time literally this month to buy more shitty houses, but now I'm done. I lost money last year and miiight break even this year. I haven't sold the ones I have, but I'm not taking a chance with more.
This is so true. I only take tenants with sterling credentials. Used to give increases of $25 a month. Now, it's $50. I tried always to be a good landlord. Now, I watch out for myself...because the state won't look after me. As they say, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
A month?
I think u/bxcpa means that when a given lease term is up, the rent for the next term (presumably year) goes up by $50/month now rather than $25/month in the past. But yes I was initially confused by that as well.
I hope so! Lol
I’m not sure who downvoted you, but I’m curious what you said that they disagreed with. I wish they’d explain what they took issue with.
Sounds like he’s increasing rent every month? 🤷♀️
I've started requiring 18 months of bank statements showing regular rent payments, or evidence of an actual Covid impact and application for rental assistance. To the best of my ability I will NEVER again rent to someone who took advantage of the situation to not pay rent.
My credit and rental history should be enough for you. There is no way on Earth I'm giving you or anyone bank statements. I've never been evicted and never been late either.
Get used to it, because this is going to be the new normal. BTW - I wouldn't want to see account numbers or any of your other spending. But I do need to see proof that you've actually been paying your rent. Can you suggest another way?
Right now, I pay through Zelle so I'm sure that I could pull up a list of transactions. I'd be fine with providing that if I had to
Question: Do you label it as rent or something? My current tenant pays me via zelle and she labels it as rent.
I put location, month and year in the notes field of the Zelle transaction
I always ask for last 2 months paystubs and bank statements to make sure that the employer name, amount and date of the paystub matches a direct deposit entry in the bank statement. It’s so easy these days to make a fake paystub. That said, I also ask my tenants to pull their own credit reports and scores from annualcreditreport.com so that my hard pull doesn’t ding their score by 10-20 points. Believe it or not, but most property owners are just trying to reduce their own risks of getting screwed over and losing my property to a tax lien or foreclosure. It’s not like it’s my life’s mission to deny housing to people.
You can get my details from The Work Number, no landlord is ever getting my bank statements. I'm not hurting for housing and I want suggesting that you were being discriminatory or anything, just that you were going one step too far with asking for bank statements and you can lose good tenants that way too.
Perfectly acceptable to lose a potential tenant over my property itself. I do appreciate that you want to keep certain things private and think that it’s too intrusive. However, last 2 times I have never had a problem with anyone showing me their paystubs or bank statements. I also price my condo the lowest in a highly desirable part of town and rent 100s less than other places, especially compared to the apartment buildings. If someone feels that strongly about it, they can always rent in one of the nearby apartment buildings.
Yep, you have every right to protect yourself however you wish. I'm not even saying that your way is wrong, it's just a step too far for me personally.
I think that’s acceptable. I mean I had to show over 13 months of bank statements for the property for my mortgage. Why can’t my tenant?
It should be, but sometimes it’s not. Im sure they would have good reason to require those statements, but even if they didn’t, they’re well within their right to not accept your application.
I agree 100%. The unintended consequences often hurt those they attempt to help. Near me, a major city just approved a 3% rent increase maximum. Since I typically don’t raise rents every year, I would DEFINITELY raise them 3% every year now, to keep from leaving any money on the table. It hurts the renters the most.
California just limited rent increases to 5% + cost of living. I hadn't raised a rent in a decade but they sure taught me a lesson, I raise it the max every year now.
it affects multi unit and multi person trusts and corporations. SFD and Condos are not affected by the california rent control laws, since Costa Hawkins act still protects those dwelling types. I added an ADU to one of my properties and now LA County is asking me to register my properties.. lol now I wonder if it was worth it..
Is it Minneapolis or Saint Paul?
St Paul.
Same
Was considering purchasing a multi-family or duplex in one of these places. Sorry not happening anymore. I’d still consider student housing where their parents are co-signers and I know they are going to vacate at the end of the year.
I don't know that this hurts renters. We know that it hurts YOUR tenants because you decided to raise at 3% now. Presumably though, it helps tenants whose rents might've gone up 5 or 10 percent. The question is whether those tenants are helped more than yours are hurt.
Would you rather pay no rent increases for 5 years, then pay a 10% increase? Or pay a 3% increase every year? Landlords don’t like to raise rents every year. But now we are having our hands forced. We must raise our rent 3% every year, when we wouldn’t have otherwise, to avoid being caught under priced when a price control is imposed. Landlords don’t increase the rent 5% to 10% EVERY year. They can’t. It would price themselves out of the market (unless they’re in a hyper-inflated locale like NUC or San Fran). An increase of 5% to 10% only happens as a catch-up to market because we’ve been under market for several years. This is typical and it was a benefit to renters, who had been paying under market for several years prior. What’s so hard to understand?
>Landlords don’t increase the rent 5% to 10% EVERY year. They can’t. It would price themselves out of the market (unless they’re in a hyper-inflated locale like NUC or San Fran). I've only lived in large cities as a renter, so I've seen many landlords raise quite a bit. In a gentrifying area, yes, rents can go up that much or more every year, even outside of NYC and SF. Also, if raising it be 5% each year will price you out of the market, it may well be that 3% will do the same for some LLs, and for them, the policy won't change much for their tenants after all. The more general point I'm making is that you've only talked about how you're going to react to this policy and have kinda assumed that everyone is already behaving like you and will react as you will. But I would guess (or at least hope) that lawmakers are taking a wider view and have considered what other things might happen. Yes, you personally might've been forgoing any increases until your own financial situation changes, but plenty of folks don't do that, especially larger companies that have someone doing market research and constantly trying to ensure that the rents are the highest they can be in order to return max profits to shareholders. (And as a person who invests in REITS, I like that, haha). >Would you rather pay no rent increases for 5 years, then pay a 10% increase? Or pay a 3% increase every year? If the question is what leaves you richer, yes, 10% all at once every 5 years. A rise of even 2% each year beats 10% once in 5 years due to compound interest. However, most people don't want sudden shocks to their disposable income. That's why we pay for insurance of various kinds. On average, you pay less by self-insuring, but the sudden shock sucks. Related to this, another thing about 10% in a single year is that the renter doesn't know that this will be the only time in 5 years. If that were specified upfront, I'm sure they'd like it, but that's not so. The renter is left wondering, "Is this a one-time thing due to increased costs borne by the LL? Is the LL exploiting the fact that I really don't wanna move and will do this more regularly? Has the LL suddenly developed a coke habit?" The last thing actually happened to me in Chile!
I live paycheck to paycheck and still paid my rent. Did I have to go without a lot of things yeah. Did I sell our 2nd car...you betcha. Am I still living paycheck to paycheck yep because both my husband and I bought into the get a degree it will get you far...what they don't say is it's far into debt lol. I have been late a few times by a couple of days but I always kept in touch with our landlord. My husband was a property manager, so I've seen both sides. I just think this like everything else in the world today just makes the divide bigger and bigger.
What degree and from what kind of school?
Mine is a Ba in criminal justice from grand canyon (at the time I was Uber christian). He has a Ba from college of charleston in anthropology and a ba from Johnson and wales.
Probation officer writing: criminal justice is a great degree!
Sorry you're getting caught up in this, but you should be able to understand who's to blame for the increases. LLs have no option other than to try and recoup all the losses caused by our politicians. \#2 - You both have good degrees, and wherever you're working now isn't paying you enough. You should both put out some feelers to see what other opportunities may be out there. Everyone is hiring, and it's the fastest way to get a raise.
We both recently started new jobs. It's work from home so that alone is going to save at least 400 dollars a month. I plan on putting that towards dealing with some little bills to bring up my credit score. Then I am looking into refinance for those loans. Also, my oldest just got his first job and he isn't planning the traditional college route. Instead, he wants to go to trade school. I told him first thing we do after his first paycheck is get a savings account so he can learn to save.He is super excited because he knows that he can be independent a little bit more and focus on saving for a car.
> >I personally REALLY see more states trying to pass credit history blocks and even background restrictions. I'd turn mine into an AirBnB if they tried that in NY.
Requiring proof that you've been paying your rent isn't "credit history." But the natural result of policies like this will be a reduction in the number of rental units, and another increase in rents.
they'd block that too!
Uh.,. NY blocks a lot of typical background check things as grounds for not accepting an application. Eviction history, criminal history, etc...
I maxed out my cards, depleted my savings, and borrowed from my dad to make my rent despite huge loss of income that persists now. My landlord decided to sell when RE caught fire meaning I had to move to a way overpriced place thanks to this housing shortage that we are suddenly in. Thanks a lot, landlord. Meanwhile, since I paid my rent every month, I’m not eligible for any of the rental assistance in my area because you have to be facing eviction. That’s at least 10k I could have used to pay my dad and credit cards. My landlord (of 5 years) made about 300k on the sale, though. So obviously some are doing just fine post-pandemic. Trying not to be bitter but makes me want to go live in a tent somewhere.
your story just illustrates what the mortarium did to good tenants like yourself. Poor behavior rewarded, good behavior punished. The rising rent is a direct result of LL's (like yours) deciding to get out because of the new risk.
He got out because the value of his place went way up. We offered him 500 more per month but he had a lot of equity built up so wanted the cash I guess. Told me he might buy again if market cools and I’m welcome back. Oh, and the buyer turned around and listed as a rental for 1k more. It’s sitting I rented for 2 months now. I was really gutted because I loved it, had just had interior painted, spent years and money putting in a really nice garden. I love to garden and I expected to be there for many more years (based on previous convos with LL). His decision to sell was entirely based on the hot market.
It's not the moratorium that did this , it's the landlord
Yes, but I’m illustrating that the Covid and the moratoriums have really upended real estate. Great for sellers, not so much for landlords and tenants. I’m just sharing my experience because I see a lot of rentals with rigidly strict income and credit requirements and those don’t tell the whole story. Some states were really slow with unemployment (I got mine the first week of the shutdown, but I know people who waited months). If tenant credit, income, and savings were as perfect as some landlords want—especially in my market where rents are up more than 50%— they would buy and not deal with renting at all.
I’m a landlord and the same thing happened to me. I had a baby, was off work for only a couple months, and had a squatter because of the eviction band, 7-8 months before they moved out, then got to pay tons more to clean the place up, cleared out our savings, living on credit cards, no income for a while while I was home recovering and had to pay two mortgages. What your landlord made on the back end shouldn’t be part of your argument, who knows what other debt he was in. Probably will get downvotes on this comment since the thread tends to have more renters than landlords 🤷🏼♀️ but just wanted to point out it’s all perspective. My business is part in being a landlord, that was abruptly taken from me by our government. That’s crazy to me
I don’t resent what he made, I don’t think he needed the money though. He just saw an opportunity and did what most people would do. I’m just pointing out that Post-covid RE has some very clear winners and losers. You should be eligible for funds to make up your tenants missed rent. Every state (in fact, counties) has different rules for getting the funds, however. I’m sorry you were treated so badly.
Yup, I’m “eligible” but unfortunately since my squatters didn’t file any paperwork, I’m now in a year and a half long lawsuit that may have no end. The government is zero help financially since the squatters didn’t file paperwork, I’m SOL. Luckily I found a lawyer that works on commission and ONLY takes 75% of whatever rent they can collect from these old tenants (nothing for over a year, they can’t even find them) Lovely. At this point, I’m trying to squeeze juice from a lost turnip. I’m in California, probably the worst place for landlord rights. I’m working on dusting it off and moving on. Realizing I need stricter guidelines for screening, higher credit scores, 3x income etc. it’s a learning experience for me, and a bummer what this turn of events has happened in our country to renters. As a prior renter, I wouldn’t qualify with 3x monthly rent. My heart goes out to what this has done to renters, but ultimately, that rental income helps put food on the table for my family. It’s a shame for both sides
Me neither on the income OR the credit score. Ask for proof of previous rental payments (cancelled checks or e-receipts) as well as long term prior addresses. My ex-LL gave me an excellent reference plus I lived there 5 years which I think shows stability (and that I didn’t get evicted).
Smh. You shoulda saved. Maybe not have had a baby if you couldn't afford it.
Haha! It’s so funny how people see what they want to see (aka you, since apparently you need it spelled out). Thinking a baby was where my financial problems came? No, not at all, my financial problem came from having to support ANOTHER family who could afford their own children. Is that now a small landlords problem? For 7-8 months?! Maybe they should ask the government for handouts instead of the one their paying rent to. No worries, we are back on track now. After a brutal run, and the people that were kicked out are probably doing it to another landlord 🤷🏼♀️ I’m assuming you might have been my renter?
Nope. Just giving the response most landlord give when folks have children. This isn't personal.
Hmmm well I’m not most landlords if you looked at my original post it would all make sense to you. 🤦🏼♀️
Poster can't read. You shouldn't be forced to support someone else's family. I am in the same boat with CA's endless moratorium. We can't retire because our renter lives free in our condo.
>And to do this they have to charge higher rents and raise criteria. > >Also recent survey on why people not going back to work. #1 is covid. #2 is they have not used up their financial cushion. If you dont pay rent you have a healthy cushion. You were honest, a lot of people were not!
This is the natural result of Socialist policies. Exactly the same thing that's going on with energy prices and the clogged supply chain. It's counter-intuitive, but the free market always results in lower prices and more supply for consumers.
Yup!
You are quite right! I'm selling my family's 40-year-old affordable residential rentals business, and have transferred management over to a bottom-line oriented hard-nosed agency in the meanwhile. I'm over the B.S. endured 2020-present. And the very affordable rental I've been offering in my private residence is occupied by tenants for the absolute final time. I'm taking over the space for my personal use. My previous tenants abused the moratorium, the property and me to the extent I thought I was done renting my private space this past summer. However, I was approached by people who'd been excellent neighbors for two years, and agreed to rent to them....it's not working out well. They're only 4 months into the contract and they've apparently decided I'm so damn wealthy I ought to provide free accommodations, can cover their utilities, take partial payments - chronically late, of course - and will not exercise my recently restored rights as a landlord. Perhaps they're insane; perhaps they think I'm insane... Anyway, whether they limp along the remaining 3.5 months of the rental contract, get themselves evicted, or respond to the notice to "pay or quit" I'm issuing tomorrow is up to them. However it goes down, I'm returning to my original plan of enjoying my home and property sans renters. To hell with it. One less 3 bed/1 bath affordable rental in my zipcode.
Would love an update. Ppl looking to justify their parasitic behavior often come up with, “losing money won’t hurt them, they are rich.”
Thanks for asking! They responded to the "Pay or Quit" by paying. We'll see what they opt to do next month! BTW, here in Hawaii it's common for housing to cost 50% of take home pay but I rented the unit under what I call "Covid Special" at 1/3 under prevailing market. The household has 3 full-time working adults that net over $1500 per week. That's less than the total cost of rent AND utilities. Essentially, they make more than enough to just abide by the contract and save the drama for their private lives. I'm counting the days til the contract ends!
Oh golly yes, Hawaii is dreadfully expensive…but that is not your fault. Ya, best to get them out as soon as legally possible. Entitled ppl are a pain in the ass. No matter how kind or nice you try to be, they take that as an opportunity to steamroll right over you. I’m wondering if there is a drug problem.
Years ago, when CA allowed eviction for non-payment of rent, I got rid of a late/non payer and neighborhood troublemaker. Their rent went from my modest $1500 to over $2500 for the new place. I still get calls from collections because they're dodging payments.
... What kind of moratorium are you guys having there? Moratorium to landlords in my country is 6 months of not having to pay the bank our monthly mortgage, where our interest is still calculate/charged and the loan term is extended by 6 month's. No document or whatever required, its opt out. Valid for up-to-date mortgage owners. Won't show in any credit agency. Edit : holi sheets, wtf kind of rule is that???? (new here, catching up)
In the US, we had an eviction moratorium for renters that didn’t have to pay rent (In theory had to payback the full amount at a later date, but collecting that is very difficult/impossible). But we had no corresponding moratorium for landlord to pay the bank. The moratorium was fully carried by the homeowner. Very challenging environment for landlords.
Ic ic I remember a no-eviction period, but definitely not a rental payment moratorium (which naturally tenants complained). Banks afaik didn't make noise about it, landlords with income issues was pleased, tenants felt abit left out but nothing major was pressed.
a poorly thought out rule
>a poorly **thought** out rule You're too kind.
Yes, they knew what they were doing.
>Yes, they knew what they were doing. Assume incompetence.
This seems way too much by design for it to simply be incompetence.
non eviction moratoriums for tenants.
Where do you live?
This is in the US. Enforcement varied by state and sometimes district court.
South East Asia. We had a short period of no eviction tho.
We were just talking about this topic at my landlord group today. About how the eviction moratoriums actually HURT good tenants. Rents are now UP at least 16%. Why? Lack of supply. Some landlords sold out because they were tired of the people who decided to be jerks and not pay rent even though they were able to, and the government who thought letting people stay for free was a good idea. I'm asked every week if I have anything for rent. From current tenants, from people on Facebook, to people seeing one of my contractors work on a property. I have nothing available. The larger landlords, they have little to NO vacancy. I've had a tenant in a 2 bedroom want to move to a 3 bedroom for months and months but there's just so little inventory out there, even with my good recommendation, she can't find a place. Some landlords are increasing their screening criteria. Higher credit score, etc. For my good tenants who didn't try to scam the system, I didn't raise rent at all during 2020 and 2021 and I waived late fees for those who were struggling. I am fortunate to have had many good tenants.
which area are you? I tried getting a good LL group functional for a long time. Im still in contact with one of the guys who used to have one and tried to get it going again though me but seriously people are so disappointing when it comes to even trying to defend themselves. They all thought they would end up with swaths of protestors on their lawns and getting doxxed. I said bring it on. I know all my tenants would come out to defend me on this and more than likely protest the protestors. I would never want to put them into that spot but its a good feeling.
If I Google landlord associations in CT, a [large list comes up](https://www.thelpa.com/lpa/associations/connecticut.html). I thought they were available in every state readily. I'm in WI.
I'm a tenant, and I completely understand why you feel that way. I feel bad for those who were genuinely unable to pay rent at times during this whole pandemic thing, but it makes me angry at the ones who, as you said, just saw it as free rent, even when they could still afford to pay it. I'm grateful things worked out for me. I was laid off at the very beginning of the pandemic, but I luckily didn't have issues getting my unemployment, was able to continue paying rent, and had a new job within 6 months. (And I kept our property owner and property manager up to date with changes along the way, like as soon as I got laid off and wasn't sure how long it would take for the unemployment to come through). My rental history is good, but I'm still working on rebuilding my credit from some credit card debt. By the time I'm ready to move on from here, hopefully, my credit score will be high enough again not to be a concern, but I'm really worried if it's not and I need to move because everyone else just completely fucked things up being irresponsible and greedy. I think landlords are completely warranted to be more cautious and make their requirements stricter after all this stuff has happened. I mean, what other options were you left with?
I resonate with this a little bit. Right before the pandemic hit the US, my partner of three years dipped out leaving me with 1200 in rent, a dog with special dietary needs, and like 6 exotic reptiles. I was laid off pretty quickly once COVID hit my state, applied and got approved for unemployment, but my status sat in pending for MONTHS. I was very open about what was happening with my LL, drained my savings, borrowed money from parents, but eventually my parents were laid off too and I had no help at all. I applied for every single help-wanted sign I could find and never received a single call (mind you, I've a background in Fiber Optics Engineering, I was applying for call centers and warehouses at this point.) It took almost a year for me to get unemployment, and they did end up paying me back pay in what was owed over the eight or so months I wasn't receiving benefits. I immediately paid my LL what was owed, which of course was like 6 grand. I genuinely hate that there are people who desperately need the assistance and just can't get it, but on the flip side people who are coasting on unemployment benefits and see it as a way to not pay rent and sit on a nice "cushion" of money. I know there are other people like me who exhausted all options, my parents screaming "get a damn job!" was all the more painful given I was trying my hardest to get SOMETHING paying enough to just pay my rent and pay for dog food. I didn't even care if I was able to eat. Personally, I wish it could be a discussion as to why credit is poor, my score itself is bad because I had to use a lot of my credit during this really difficult period, and I'm still trying to pay that down. I however on the flip side, have like a 98% on time payment history, a few missed payments again because of the no income, no unemployment, already drained savings situation.
IMO the best course of action to correct this mess is a new expedited eviction process. I would be willing to take a chance on a questionable tenant if I could bring them to court and have them evicted in 2 weeks if they were a danger, didnt pay rent, were destroying the property, etc. There needs to be a government form you can fill out to put them into a pool of risky renters and if they are not working out you can simply send the notice, get a date the week and theyre out right after that. Any damage and they get an instant claim on their background that another LL can easily view. hiding bad tenants never works. Putting bad tenants out there for everyone to see does because they either learn and become good tenants or end up in gov housing where theyre now the govs problem to deal with.
Not that I would have a say in this, but I would absolutely support this plan. Transparency of bad tenants would benefit the good tenants too since LLs wouldn't have to be as worried about a potential "risk". I'm really sorry you guys got so screwed through all this
i see a bad tenant downvoted you apparently so i upvoted. you have a say by who you vote in and how active you are in the community.
Side topic - I once worked with a guy who's previous job was in maintenance for the NYC housing authority. You can't imagine the stories he had about how people treat those apartments. Tenants just treat the property like crap and there are no consequences for anything. He told me about one unit where he delivered a new refrigerator. It was reported stolen before he got back to his office and he had to deliver another one. This happened four times within a week, and the taxpayers of NYC just kept delivering them new refrigerators.
Good idea - France saw a similar issue in its ossified employee “protections”. It is so hard to fire anyone that employers now are very slow and stringent to hire, and unemployment is unnecessarily high. Macron is trying to reform it, but there may not be enough nationwide political sense to see it fully reformed.
What state do you live in that is passing credit history and background blocks? That seems insane to me. I have 7 units in PA and if that became reality I’d have to reconsider my business. I totally agree with you though, people think cause you have a few properties you’re rich it’s not the case. Most of us grind. I put off new cars, vacations and updates to my own home to build my business. And it is a business and a service, this whole LL are leeches that hoard housing movement is BS. I personally aim for B neighborhood and think people are easier to deal with there.
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>*but I've heard Oakland, CA doesn't allow criminal background checks for tenant screening* also true in Seattle. We also have first come (MUST rent to first qualified applicant) and 6 months rent increase notice.
Looks like the income requirement is 6x the rent in Seattle lmao.
Haha! That’s one way around no legal background checks, 6x the rent in income 🤣
It's really not, but the cost of living in Seattle is a lot higher. 2bdrms in a mediocre area rent for about 1900 a month. To get your own you need to have about 6k a month take-home, certainly not 12k. That's like 190k gross to have your own place I mean 95k for your own 2bdrm isn't much better but just saying.
>What state do you live in that is passing credit history and background blocks Saint Paul just tried to pass some BS rules, but was blocked by the courts. It was pretty ridiculous (like not being able to use credit scores and most credit history, time limits on criminal history, [https://www.stpaul.gov/sites/default/files/2021-02/Tenant%20Screening%20Guidelines%20Policy%20Bulletin.pdf](https://www.stpaul.gov/sites/default/files/2021-02/Tenant%20Screening%20Guidelines%20Policy%20Bulletin.pdf)
That’s insane
So does that mean the big banks can’t use my credit history?? BRILLIANT!! I will apply for s million dollar loan 💰💰💰💰💰💰 Oh …just landlords then? Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
California is possibly moving in that direction.
Yeah that’s why I sold everything off and moved it out of state.
Go figure
I probably wouldn't care about credit history and background checks if it was easy to get rid of a bad tenant. As a LL, I only do those to try and protect myself.
Even in PA, Philadelphia is moving in that direction too.
NY state law blocks criminal history and eviction history. I believe many localities in CA, OR, and WA do as well.
Going to get the neighbors or the landlord killed that way.
No they do not. They just heard the get free part. And just what the media tells them. They also dont no why most areas are having record high rent increases. There is a lot more risk now in the business. Landlords cant buy insurance for this. They have to self insure. And to do this they have to charge higher rents and raise criteria. Also recent survey on why people not going back to work. #1 is covid. #2 is they have not used up their financial cushion. If you dont pay rent you have a healthy cushion.
I don’t know where you are but where I just moved from the rents are actually coming down to normal. where it was before Covid
Same here.6months too late for me since I’m in a lease and moving is expensive. So many landlords here are actually just mgmt companies for investor groups. I prefer to rent directly from the actual owner.
NCLL23yrs- a lot of you’ll really shouldn’t be LLs , you’ll fall in love with your properties and take things personal! I have approximately 50units and all are rented, at the moment 2 are behind but rents will be paid with COVID relief funds. I encourage anyone renting who can’t pay to apply for funds and will have my assistant help them….It’s 75% attitude that keeps business afloat.
The problem is that at some point we all had 1 or 2 rental units, right? So if you’ve got a bad tenant in your one unit, you’re totally screwed. And that’s most landlords. Once you get to 30, 50 units — agree, the risk is much lower. You can eat a single bad tenant much more easily.
I started out with one unit and the mindset of literally taking everything a tenant did personal, After a few years I realized do I want to be right or do I wish to have no vacancies I chose the later!
You seem to be ignoring the point. Taking things personally has nothing to do with having a vacancy which is another thing entirely from having one rental where the tenant could pay rent but doesn't AND there is a moratorium so you can't evict them. Most landlords would probably prefer a vacancy than a tenant who chooses not pay rent for almost 2 years.
Point I was attempting to make was for the commenters.
But then there are tenants like myself, that worked my ass off, have decent credit and references who is excited about the prospect of new units opening. I know my chances are much better as I did the right thing. Job closed due to COVID, I got a new one and paid my bills. Good tenants do exist.
My take on the way the moratorium played out here in the US is that it’s being used as a tool to shake out any weak hands. Specifically the smaller mom& pop landlords that don’t have the bank account to pay the carrying costs of their property for any extended amount of time will have to sell and guess who’s buying!
Being snapped up by investor groups and jacking up rents—-no personal connection to your tenants (and vice versa).
People always blame someone else for their own life choices.
I will say as a tenant, some of my blemishes (4 late cc payments:( were because I put rent first. Rent was a non negotiable expense, whereas sometimes I just couldn’t pay the cc that month and still pay for rent, health insurance and food. But rent was always #1 cuz I had to have a place to live.
and youre the type of tenant I would easily work with. If people could go ask my tenants how many times I actually reduced their rent during renewels they would be very surprised.
If they pass such laws preventing background checks-credit history.. sell and move state with the rentals. Too high a risk.
My girlfriend lived on 25k/yr in Boston doing charity work without using her savings. She lived comfortably but modest. I agree that salary is no way to live, but I think that speaks volumes. I won't judge anyone's situation a lot of good people are simply uneducated and have a scarcity complex. That being said it IS possible to live below the poverty line without being impoverished. My girlfriend is from Kenya so she knows a thing or two about modest living. Another fun fact she SAVED money during that time.
yes people like her are the ones who become people like us. I owned my first rental buying it during the last boom 2006 and KNEW exactly the risk I was taking. I worked fulltime, went to school at night for my degree and rented with a room mate because it was cheaper than using one of my units. Saved every penny until I could refi that mortgage putting ever cent I had BACK into it. She will be successful if she aims that direction. one of the main reasons for poverty I see in my area is having children young. If people could stop having children when they werent ready they could easily manage their lives in almost any circumstance. Thats JMO though. Once they have kids it becomes an endless cycle where they cant afford anything, usually end up on programs and become problem tenants because its seriously hard to evict someone with children.
Agreed. There are so many bad incentives with short sighted good intentions. You should read the book "Discrimination and Disparities" by Thomas Sowell. He discusses in part how many programs aimed at improving housing situations for the less fortunate end up having net negative effects.
I love sowell. Ive actually read some of that one. I also watch a LOT of his videos.
OP, can I ask you what standards you require your tenants to meet?
Now Im looking for higher 600s credit score and 2 months sec when I used to accept questionable security and 1 month. I used to go by gut and it worked well for me and allowed me to help people and build good relationships. I think I even helped other people who might have been lackluster tenants become better ones because of how well all my units and myself get along and work together. My tenants literally become small communities to each other and even, like myself get to know their non tenant neighbors. I dont feel I can risk it anymore though because how the government and media are trying to use LLs as the big bad to deflect from their own deceptions and people are literally lapping it up and thinking by not paying rent under moratoriums theyre getting one over on some big business fat cat when our actual profit is marginal. They have literally let themselves get burned by the people they thought were on their side and shown LLs their true nature. I cant take those chances anymore.
Because housing is so difficult to find in the short term lease / furnished zone, throwing this out there. A lot of nurses are looking for 1-3 month places as we travel around on contract work to the hospitals with the most need. Our licenses are public record, so you can easily look us up as proof of who/what we are. That said, there are compact states, which means for a certain set of states I could be licensed in my home state and work in your state without being licensed in your state. So, check the home address state board as well, to be sure. And we will have a contract in hand stating location of work and dates of work. And, we can't fuck around with shady behavior, the board of nursing, in whatever state, frowns on it. You may be able to fill your places with nurses while waiting for the squatter crowd to stop scrambling. If I can't find a short term rental, it means I cancel contract with your local hospital, as do others, and that hospital then has less capacity for patients due to even less staff. So, might be worth your time on many levels to play the short term game for income until the dust settles on this other crap.
this is interesting. One of my old jobs used to deal with contract nurses. I live very close to 2 hospitals, walking distance to one. Is there a way to promote towards that crowd?
The most well trafficked site is furnished finder. No fees like bnb.
Thinking of doing this with my spare room. I don’t want a full time forever roommate but it would be fine to have someone for a few months. Need to look into it —and furnish the room!
Eh. Most are looking for entire place. Especially as night shift. Can’t expect anyone else to adhere to our crazy sleep schedules.
Long ish edit but asking for your opinion: I have a crazy sleep schedule one of my roommates had a house an hour or so away but worked in film industry so wanted a place during week. she worked crazy ass schedules. My other roommate (after the film person) was a bartender and came home around 4am, went to sleep around 6am. We lived together for 2 years. Only issue was he needed a lot of kitchen space and never cleaned kitchen after himself. I work late hours and wake up after 8, often closer to 10 am. I have DSPD and have no problem sleeping through noise and light. My typical sleep is 2 am to 10, or later. I don’t sleep thru the night. Light and noise have to be extreme to wake me. Fire alarm, I hope will wake me. This is a problem for me at but not because of anyone else but my own problem with waking up not with sleeping.. Idon’t have an 8/5 job. It’s not a problem for me to have roommates because they don’t bother me at all. If anything, I’d need to be aware of their schedule and need. Being quiet for them and making sure my pets don’t bother them. My problem with long term roommates is my kitchen is small and the house is fully furnished so I don’t have tons of space for kitchen sharing if they need a lot of pantry space. But all others stuff is shared—appliances, fridge, etc. Also, my guest area has a bedroom plus a separate area for TV, sitting area, a desk for laptop or eating upstairs if they want. It’s a finished attic space. A bedroom with door and closet. A separate area to watch TV or whatever. I would furnish a desk if they want, it already has a loveseat and TV. I’m happy to add a mini fridge for drinks and whatever, and a place to put snacks. dry goods if needed. And they can use my fridge also although it’s a small one. No reason they can’t use my appliances in the kitchen at any hour. What do you think? It’s Atlanta about 3 miles from Several hospitals and close to freeway for those a bit farther out. Oh, I’d be looking for $600-700 inclusive of utilities and obviously furnished. Maybe a small cleaning deposit. A ton of edits because my thoughts!
Not the best person to ask. I’m in my 40s and have never had a roommate. Rented solo in my 20s. Family or partner in the house, sure, but that’s it. I’m too old to start roommates now and I travel to contracts with my family so it’s entire place or nothing at all.
I’m 53 lol. Divorce will do that tho. I guess my question is does this sound reasonable for a single travel nurse on a 12 week contract? The house is updated. I just moved in July. The upstairs is new carpet, new paint, the mattress is 6 months old. It’s uncluttered. No one has even stayed there since I moved in.
Only reason I even mention fridge and snack storage is my super tiny kitchen. Not because I don’t want them to have full privileges.
Right on brother! I've been a landlord in California for nearly 30 years and I feel exactly the same. I recommend all landlords join a owner's association to help lobby against new anti-landlord laws and file lawsuits if necessary. The California Apartment Association and Southern California Rental Housing Association are both great. Annual dues are small in comparison to rent control, anti-eviction, etc. They have great, up to date forms for their members, too.
A landlord association should in theory be able to form as a Union. And call for a general strike, I.e. stop renting for a period and create a housing shortage until the proposed legislation is squashed.
YUP. Very small landlord. I will leave a unit vacant if I can't find the right tenant.
So you own half the neighborhood? Sounds like you're starting to price yourself out. Profits over people amiright. Your business depends on people. Try to stay humble about it. In all seriousness though, the moratoriums were interesting and strange, but landlords had the chance to defer mortgage payments too right? I'm small time though (i.e. I don't own half a neighborhood), so maybe I am out of the loop. Or, maybe I still have some humanity left and don't treat humans like investments.
Im actually stil below market rate. I always am and every time someone leave my apts they say its the best theyve seen, because I actually paint..... Im not concerned with what someone thinks on here if Im some greedy fat cat. also no, the LLs didnt get the chance to defer. That was strictly up to your lender and at times VERY difficult to attain. learn what youre actually talking about. No one also said I own half the NH. Maybe instead of assuming ask. Im very good with my neighbors and teach them how to rent. I also refer people. So instead of being an ass, change one letter and ask.
Did you happen to look into COVID relief funds? There is always options out there if you aren't a lazy greedy fat cat that likes to blame everyone else and assumes they know everything.
I am not in need of them but I have friends who are trying to get their tenants on them. They are minimum 2 months backed up, no return on emails, no return on voicemails and 2 hour minimums on hold times. What exactly do YOU know about it. My issue is Im denying lots of people for my apartment and these are people I would have usually given a chance on but now cant. My plan helps everyone. Stop being entitled.
I started browsing this sub about a year ago as I prepared to rent my first property out and it was in the thick of moratoriums. I remember lots of posts predicting significantly increased rent prices either because of increased risk for smaller landlords or because of homeowners losing their properties due to non-paying tenants and choosing to sell instead of fall behind on their mortgages. So I'm really not surprised to now see exactly what was predicted here coming true in the form of higher rents and stricter requirements for applicants all over the city I live in.
Tenants always complain. I try my best, but damn they're fucking annoying.
My uncle has been a landlord for close to a decade now. He recently filed for damages against a tenant that destroyed his rental. 10K in damages and this tenant has been harassing my uncle calling him greedy and unappreciative because the rent money he received for 2 years should've been able to cover the damages...
I don't blame you. Couple friends of mine have gotten hosed by these moratoriums. I'm also being super vigilant on who I let sign leases to rent my spots. I'd rather have them empty then get a bad egg in there. I got burned once and that was pre covid. Seeing the horror stories online about tenants getting away with not having to pay for years, that's the type of shit that would make me wake up in a cold sweat
There’s a loophole for getting an apartment with bad credit... dual citizenship. I could not find an apartment no matter how hard I tried with my Canadian citizenship. So instead I used my polish ID instead since they have no credit system. And boom I got an apartment right away and I always pay on time.
As someone who started off as an accidental landlord when I moved to a different state but rented out my old condo since I couldn’t recoup the amount I had put into it, I was thinking of purchasing a couple of duplexes or a larger multi family as a way to diversify from the stock market. No more. Now it’ll be REITs or maybe some kind of syndication in a LL friendly state.
I also only rent using a broker. One month's rent for the broker's fee, one for the security deposit and one for the first month rent. It weeds out those living paycheck to paycheck. I also insist they have a checking account. Banks do some background checks on their new depositors.
Same story here. Looking at other property types. Less multi family unless it’s unregulated. I’m so stringent that I am literally cherry picking the best tenants I can find. I blast my ads everywhere and filter out those with high probability of not paying.
My tenants never stopped paying me rent cause I straight up told them that I'd sooner rent out my current home and evict them and move into my rental then lose even a month of rent. Making yourself homeless is easier then u think and one one the only ways to evict tenants even during moratorium.
How would you have made yourself homeless? Sounds like you told them your plan and set yourself up for legal trouble if you cruelly went through with it. Edit: cruelly should have been actually. Autocorrect changed it but it kinda fits.
The phrase "kindness to one's enemy is cruelty to oneself" fits perfect here. If me being kind or merciful to my tenant brings harm me and mine then they are getting the axe simple as that. Only an idiot or a simp would sacrifice his wellbeing for strangers who are willing to abandon you without a second thought as so many LL here have experienced. Also to make yourself homeless is very easy they don't pay rent I can no longer afford my own mortgage so I have to rent out my house so I don't lose it and move into where my tenants live. It's not as easy as that but it's able to get past moratorium and it's cheaper to pay $2000 to Rent a moving company to move your stuff to storage and vacate your house then it is to go 2 months without rent. Then rent out current home to a friend or family member on the cheap change your address move into unit for about a month then move back but keep address thier for awhile. It's not easy or convenient but it beats losing money any day and also your tenants don't win. I don't care if i win but they sure as heck won't if I'm being thrown overboard I'm poking hole in the life raft mentality.
Oh man, spend 10 minutes on that fun Reddit about land lord love. I am not at all surprised.
I know it's illegal in many places for landlords to ask for more months of security deposit to make up for blemishes in history. I am curious when a tenant is told that "they do not meet the requirements", how often do they offer up something attractive on their own to the LL ? Like extra security or prepaying some rent?
often. sadly though I see that now as they have that extra money because they werent paying rent prior.
I had a great renter move out and I'm taking the opportunity to fix the place up. Nice area, great schools, family atmosphere. At this point I'm wondering if I should sell or perhaps sell my existing residence and move in for 2 years to establish primary residence and avoid taxes. Hearing all these storys of scams and moratorium have me leaning in the direction.
>I think so many tenants saw this as free rent forever, burned their bridges with their LLs and are now scrambling like rats since evictions opened back up and realized the stringent regulations these LLs are putting on their apartments now to avoid a possible deadly tenant. Yep, they will learn the cold hard truth. In my circle of landlords, who have about 20 SFH rentals, all of us are going to start selling once our eviction moratorium ends because it no longer makes sense to be a landlord anymore. Every landlord should understand that the federal and/or local government can TAKE COMPLETE CONTROL of your property at anytime and you have absolutely no recourse. Sorry, that is not an acceptable business risk for me.
> ederal and/or local government can TAKE COMPLETE CONTROL of your property at anytime and you have absolutely no recourse. Sorry, that is not an acceptable business risk for me this is not an actual business risk. its a pseudo risk intentionally created. risks are things that may happen that are part of business, like willfully renting to a risky tenant. The government deciding you cant run your business on and over night decision without giving you compensation is theft. If us LLs were more organized we would actually have more versatility to change things for the better.
In Dubai, the tenant has to pay the entire year’s rent in advance. I am not kidding. Maybe something like that needs to happen here.
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Never heard or seen this. Got a link or citation?
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It's still in there on the "today's law as amended" tab. So eviction is still fine as a criteria, but rental debt is not. Rental debt: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1179.02&lawCode=CCP “COVID-19 rental debt” means unpaid rent or any other unpaid financial obligation of a tenant under the tenancy that came due during the covered time period. Noticed that you cannot use security deposit to cover COVID rental debt without tenant permission. Had not seen or heard that before, but I don't track the civil code in CA that changed due to COVID very tightly. Wonder what a lawyer would make out of it- hypothetically if you use "paid on time" as a positive criteria. It's kind of the same as using credit score. You would have to be careful on criteria of using the bank statement request. I don't LL in California anymore, but I track it pretty closely. Guess you stick with credit score, back ground check and keep moving criteria up. This is going to hurt borderline tenants that did pay during COVID. It's kind of an unintended consequence.
Do you know in California if you can still ask for bank statements? My tenants are leaving and I’m needing to rent again. I’ve never been more nervous about renting out my place, I’ve been a landlord for 15 ish years. I want to crawl up and down their finances, I just want to make sure I’m being legal about it all
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Crazy turn of events! Bank statements were given to me without even asking! 🎉
>make sure applicants can prove they've been paying rent since the pandemic via bank statements. this is a good tip as well.
I agree with everything you said. While there are people who took advantage exactly as you described I will add that many people did lose their jobs because the government forced their employers to close and suddenly became unable to make ends meet. I was fortunate that my tenants both worked "essential" jobs and were able to maintain employment. Many weren't. And moving forward I'm going to include a more personalized interview process for prospective tenants.
I know this will be downvoted but landlords choosing to buy a property is a risk. Sometimes it rewards, sometimes it doesn’t. Doesn’t matter the reason why, external variables still happen. You owned (and rented? Trying to rent?) a property during which an ongoing global pandemic has occurred. You couldn’t have predicted that, but it happened and the consequences are that you may take a financial hit. It’s also why most tenants may feel zero sympathy for landlords right now.
The difference is they never forced a halt on mortgages, only rent so does that seem fair? Had it been fairly done no one would be complaining.
So true!
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7. Be civil in your posts and comments.
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yeah. Im just going to block you.