I'm late to the party on this article. Perhaps you'll see this and like my story though.
My mother has owned investment properties for decades. I have managed her rentals since I was 20, while picking up more responsibility as I got older. I am 40 now and I will eventually sell this real estate portfolio because it's just not worth the headache.
We are located in Nevada and the laws are becoming more onerous for landlords. Late fees were capped a few years ago. I can no longer serve eviction notices and have to pay process servers $50 for simply affixing a pay rent or quit notice on non paying tenant's front door.
I do all my own evictions from filing with the court, to attending the court hearing. A lawyer would charge $400 for this.
I used to do much of the turn over process when a tenant vacated a property. I've...
Scrubbed toilets. Hauled mounds of garbage. Done dangerous landscaping requiring going up a ladder. Repaired irrigation. Repaired toilets. Changed out faucets, angle stops. Done basic electrical. Replaced a garage door motor. Painted. Replaced dishwashers. Looked for "hot deals" on appliances, and delivered on site whenever something broke. Repaired appliances if the fix was simple enough.
I could probably be a handyman. But my body is not up for this type of work anymore.
From 2015-2022, things have been smooth sailing. Tenants wouldn't trash houses and I didn't have many evictions. Then covid came.
18 months ago I had a tenant who was receiving assistance from the federal government who paid her rent and utilities. When that assistance dried up, she didn't pay rent. It took me 3 months from filing the eviction to getting a court date until the constable locked her out.
She trashed the place and the remodeling cost was $27k. Couple that with non payment of rent for 3 months we're talking $32k of damage.
2 years of rental income evaporated, just like that.
I have at least one tenant that is "always late" paying. He eventually pays, but every year as I ratchet up the rental rate closer to the market, it gets harder for him.
Oh and my relatives are not listening to me when I say I am getting out of the business in a few years and will be selling my own properties. I've been managing their rental for 15 years and they don't realize how stressful managing all this *&#$ is. They bought 3 condos within the last 10 months and yours truly is responsible for that ever growing investment.
Even if everything goes normally and a tenant is paying on time, I have to deal with contractors who want to rip me off, HOAs who hassle me about BS, and just staying educated about the market.
For making 4% ROI on the value of the property and POTENTIAL appreciation of the house at 4%(that seems to be the average appreciation of housing yoy), you'd be better off putting your money in an S&P500 index fund which gives you 9% you returns if you average it's performance over the decades. You'll have liquidity and it's truly an investment, not a job.
Real estate is a dirty business. I tell everyone who wants to buy a rental property not to do it.
As far as what lies in store for the future. I call it "Walmartization". You will have entire neighborhoods owned by corporations that can eat the cost of squatters and non paying tenants. Eventually this will cause rents to go up as there is less competition(that's what governments want though when they make the eviction process difficult).
Mom and pop landlords are already exiting the market. It's happening faster in tenant friendly places like CA/NYC/Oregon/Washington State.
Buying a single family residential to make into a rental is a mistake no matter where you are though. The bigger the house, the more junk you have to maintain. Walls, pipes, A/C, roofs. All these maintenance items increase as the size of the house does. I don't even offer maintenance on fridges/washers/dryers anymore because everyone abuses those appliances instead of taking care of them(why should they, they're only renting!).
Never too late to join a discussion. I'm always heartened to see people are reading and engaging older posts.
Sorry to hear what you're going through. Owning and renting property seems like yet another thing for a homogeneous, high-trust, culturally strong society. It's not something that seems you can manage through a bureaucracy. The problem with bureaucracy in general is that it sidesteps the most glaring of issues. Ironic, because isn't it the Left (who are most pro-bureaucracy) always the one talking about addressing root causes? But they never do, yet they still insist on having your money.
I, too, fear that property ownership is going to become less common in the decades to come. It's a dangerous development, because it's really the only way to produce wealth. More importantly, the more the state or large entities own, the more power they have. The government acts like its at the mercy of these corporations, yet not only is the government their greatest enablers, the government is absolutely getting a kickback through all the taxes and all the regulations.
I don't know how this gets fixed, beyond a catastrophic market collapse, which nobody wants. But a hard reset is the only way things have a chance of getting better, that much is clear. It's yet another reason why I believe this country is headed for conflict.
If the government wants to go gang busters on public housing to make landlords an obsolete concept, I'm fine with it.
The other solution is to increase the homeownership rate through a multi prong attack of lowering interest rates, giving down payment assistance and/or saturating the market with a flood of towers apartments, I'm also fine with that.
That way someone other than a landlord is handling all the maintenance issues that are involved in the current system. But don't hold your breath...
The federal and city housing bodies prefers to cut a monthly check and not be landlords themselves. That's why NYC housing authority is selling off and evicting their "tenants"(more like wards of the state).
Landlording is a nothing but a headache. I would've made more investing in FAANG stocks. And I wouldn't be called a blood sucker by deadbeats that don't want to learn anything about home maintenance.
Not sure if I'm "professional". I have ~20 rentals. It feels like I don't know what I'm doing a lot of times. Right now I have a rental, a condo and there is a leak coming from somewhere unknown upstairs. The usual contractors can't find the source of leak so I got insurance involved which I never do.
I'm always biting my nails in fear over the next maintenance item(usually A/C dying) and being hit with a $7000+ bill for replacement.
The last bill that really stung was $4k to replace a mainline going from the water meter to the house. I couldn't even get a plumber to do it and had to get a landscaper to do the project instead.
He's not allowed to do this, but WTF am I going to do? Report the guy saving my ass to the contractors board? I was scrambling for a solution as the tenant was without water for 1 day. That repair cost only $1k only 15 years ago. Things are getting downright scary.
The only people who should be mom and pop landlords now are HVAC techs and plumbers. That's 90% of my maintenance issues. Carpenters/roofers would also be okay.
Otherwise? You will be swimming in an ocean of sharks, all trying to rip you off.
Not only have I all but given up on home ownership, I know I'm never going to rent out property to anyone. The risk doesn't seem worth the reward, not anymore. Renting out property is for people who have deep pockets and a rock-solid understanding of the law.
Former landlord and real estate broker. Perhaps rents are "so damn high" in part BECAUSE being a landlord is so damn risky. Something like 75% of non-owner-occupied, single family homes in America are owned by small, family landlords (not corporations). Between squatters, liability, and rent control, fewer people take the risk without a higher reward level. Someone has to pay for the cost of squatters, and that someone is the law abiding tenant who just wants a yard instead of a corporate-owned pod.
Regarding lethal force on the border:
When my wife and I became parents 18 years ago, we were given a basic axiom by more parentally experienced friends: "do not ever give a command you are not prepared to backup all the way." As a result, our true commands are sparse, but obedience to them is absolute. My 3 daughters (yes, including my almost adult) know very well that any command carries a threat of not sitting down comfortably for the remainder of the day. That credible threat has resulted in no young lady in this house having to endure the actual application of said punishment for several years.
What does this have to do with the border? Do not give a command (for example: "you are not allowed to cross this line") unless you are willing to back up that command all the way. With violence if necessary. With lethal violence if warranted. I watched the video. You're correct that no lethal force was needed there, since those 500 people just ran to another fence, where they could easily have been turned around and forcibly sent back. (The fact that they were NOT turned around is a political not a military problem.) However, if there had been no other fence, I believe firing on any adult who crossed the final fence line would be entirely appropriate. It sounds cold, but you must back up your commands with violence when defied, or your commands will be ignored.
Whether at an individual level or a national one though, we're unwilling to swiftly and efficiently deal with squatters. And as you said, "what the state fails to do, the citizenry [likely via a state government] eventually will".
My my, you've been everything in life, haven't you? Only you've been more successful at many things as opposed to Peter Griffin from "Family Guy," who's worked just about every job on the planet.
Combined with the increasing inability of younger generations to ever own property, I think we're definitely looking at a future of diminishing property ownership. And why would they? Owning property entails costs that instantly create diminishing returns. At the very least, I'm not sure why anyone would want to rent to anyone, outside a trusted circle.
I'm of the belief deadly force is absolutely authorized when it comes to defending the border. If I can't trespass on a military installation or the local police station without getting shot, nobody should be allowed to cross the border after being told to stop without getting lit up. By the way, if you try to make it past a TSA checkpoint at the airport or any "official" border crossing, deadly force is absolutely authorized.
Yeah, I've had a fun life, Max. You know how? I'm reasonably intelligent, got lucky, and whenever an opportunity (as long as it wouldn't get me seriously injured) came my way, I always said "yes". Even if I was terrified, I still said yes. 80% of the time it worked out. A few times it didn't -- lasted 5 days as a bookkeeper -- but as Clarence Thomas said once, "the way you develop good judgment is by life experience, and the way you get life experience is by not having had good judgment."
The real problem here is these crazy tenancy laws. Require people to have a copy of their lease. Or require leases to be filed in the courthouse. If you don't have a lease, or any other actual proof that you belong there and have lived there as long as you claim, you don't get to stay there if the owner tells you have to leave. I understand the concern about "tenants rights" and all that stuff, and I understand that shady landlords can cause problems too, but clearly those tenancy laws require honest actors and that the people claiming to be tenants are actually tenants. Just showing up and claiming you live there without any proof at all and being allowed to stay indefinitely is ridiculous and biased too far against the property owner. We've gone too far in the opposite direction trying to fix one problem and created another.
It tracks with the attitude towards having ID to vote. We have ID for literally every other activity in life. Why the hell wouldn't you have it to vote, which is only supposed to be for citizens and residents of a locale, anyway?
Yep. Makes no sense at all except that they don't want ID precisely for the one reason we suspect and they deny. They know they benefit to some degree from fraudulent votes and they know that there are bad actors on their side who take advantage of the lax security on a larger scale. But they can't admit that so they hide behind the "racist!" excuse and don't bother making any other arguments beyond calling normal people conspiracy theorists.
It was something to see the Left say that nobody had an excuse for not having vax records on them, but ID for voting? Only a bigot would demand such a thing.
At the risk of sounding totally paranoid, it sure looks like state and federal governments (and their pals like the Fed) do not want ordinary people to own any income producing assets. No participating in the FIRE economy for you, Silly Peasant! If you do, the risks are amplified and you're on your own if things go sideways. During the Housing Bubble ordinary people looking to get ahead were viciously pumped and dumped. We all know who got bailed out. And who didn't. This looks like a DEI eminent domain move. Except without any compensation. Big Mommy insists that you be kind™ and let that poor kid keep the toy they stole. They're unfortunate. Sad and oppressed! You must share!
Our society is increasingly managed like its a public school. Despite there being no gulags, it's still soul-sucking and oppressive. Their ultimate objective is to make the school day never end.
Squatting really bothers people in a way that other forms of theft do not. A home should be a safe haven, a place of rest. Furthermore it represents a lifetime of effort. So it deserves a special status in law and practice.
The problem encompasses a number of trends, including police neglecting their duties and seeing themselves more as peacekeepers than defenders of the law abiding. They shouldn’t be surprised if the public begins to see them as one more gang, as already is the case in many parts of the world.
I think word will get around that the police and law are useless and people will resort to self-help. It’s risky, but a lot of people will see it as worthwhile. We could also see large corporations purchase these properties at a discount, as they can afford the cost and develop expertise in dealing with these pests.
As usual, you make more sense than I do. The home is your castle, your red line, your last line of defense. Once your home has been violated, there's nowhere else to seek refuge.
Also liked what you said about police being peacekeepers, not defenders of the law-abiding. By being peacekeepers, they operate only by the state's tempo. The government could care less whether the issue gets resolved or not, as long as they retain the monopoly on violence.
I have thankfully never had to deal with a squatter. But I do rent my basement out. Before I bought my house I actually rented out the basement of another guy. Anyway, I basically use his lease (with names and addresses changed) for my own tenants.
He put a sweet little clause in there. Where rent doubles in price if they don't vacate when told. It basically means that we get to skip small claims court and go to the big leagues fairly quickly. Thankfully I have never had to do an eviction, this is because I do my homework on every potential renter. Background checks, credit checks, job history. If they are iffy I don't want them. 90% of landlord work does not happen if you properly screen tenants.
I'm late to the party on this article. Perhaps you'll see this and like my story though.
My mother has owned investment properties for decades. I have managed her rentals since I was 20, while picking up more responsibility as I got older. I am 40 now and I will eventually sell this real estate portfolio because it's just not worth the headache.
We are located in Nevada and the laws are becoming more onerous for landlords. Late fees were capped a few years ago. I can no longer serve eviction notices and have to pay process servers $50 for simply affixing a pay rent or quit notice on non paying tenant's front door.
I do all my own evictions from filing with the court, to attending the court hearing. A lawyer would charge $400 for this.
I used to do much of the turn over process when a tenant vacated a property. I've...
Scrubbed toilets. Hauled mounds of garbage. Done dangerous landscaping requiring going up a ladder. Repaired irrigation. Repaired toilets. Changed out faucets, angle stops. Done basic electrical. Replaced a garage door motor. Painted. Replaced dishwashers. Looked for "hot deals" on appliances, and delivered on site whenever something broke. Repaired appliances if the fix was simple enough.
I could probably be a handyman. But my body is not up for this type of work anymore.
From 2015-2022, things have been smooth sailing. Tenants wouldn't trash houses and I didn't have many evictions. Then covid came.
18 months ago I had a tenant who was receiving assistance from the federal government who paid her rent and utilities. When that assistance dried up, she didn't pay rent. It took me 3 months from filing the eviction to getting a court date until the constable locked her out.
She trashed the place and the remodeling cost was $27k. Couple that with non payment of rent for 3 months we're talking $32k of damage.
2 years of rental income evaporated, just like that.
I have at least one tenant that is "always late" paying. He eventually pays, but every year as I ratchet up the rental rate closer to the market, it gets harder for him.
Oh and my relatives are not listening to me when I say I am getting out of the business in a few years and will be selling my own properties. I've been managing their rental for 15 years and they don't realize how stressful managing all this *&#$ is. They bought 3 condos within the last 10 months and yours truly is responsible for that ever growing investment.
Even if everything goes normally and a tenant is paying on time, I have to deal with contractors who want to rip me off, HOAs who hassle me about BS, and just staying educated about the market.
For making 4% ROI on the value of the property and POTENTIAL appreciation of the house at 4%(that seems to be the average appreciation of housing yoy), you'd be better off putting your money in an S&P500 index fund which gives you 9% you returns if you average it's performance over the decades. You'll have liquidity and it's truly an investment, not a job.
Real estate is a dirty business. I tell everyone who wants to buy a rental property not to do it.
As far as what lies in store for the future. I call it "Walmartization". You will have entire neighborhoods owned by corporations that can eat the cost of squatters and non paying tenants. Eventually this will cause rents to go up as there is less competition(that's what governments want though when they make the eviction process difficult).
Mom and pop landlords are already exiting the market. It's happening faster in tenant friendly places like CA/NYC/Oregon/Washington State.
Buying a single family residential to make into a rental is a mistake no matter where you are though. The bigger the house, the more junk you have to maintain. Walls, pipes, A/C, roofs. All these maintenance items increase as the size of the house does. I don't even offer maintenance on fridges/washers/dryers anymore because everyone abuses those appliances instead of taking care of them(why should they, they're only renting!).
Never too late to join a discussion. I'm always heartened to see people are reading and engaging older posts.
Sorry to hear what you're going through. Owning and renting property seems like yet another thing for a homogeneous, high-trust, culturally strong society. It's not something that seems you can manage through a bureaucracy. The problem with bureaucracy in general is that it sidesteps the most glaring of issues. Ironic, because isn't it the Left (who are most pro-bureaucracy) always the one talking about addressing root causes? But they never do, yet they still insist on having your money.
I, too, fear that property ownership is going to become less common in the decades to come. It's a dangerous development, because it's really the only way to produce wealth. More importantly, the more the state or large entities own, the more power they have. The government acts like its at the mercy of these corporations, yet not only is the government their greatest enablers, the government is absolutely getting a kickback through all the taxes and all the regulations.
I don't know how this gets fixed, beyond a catastrophic market collapse, which nobody wants. But a hard reset is the only way things have a chance of getting better, that much is clear. It's yet another reason why I believe this country is headed for conflict.
If the government wants to go gang busters on public housing to make landlords an obsolete concept, I'm fine with it.
The other solution is to increase the homeownership rate through a multi prong attack of lowering interest rates, giving down payment assistance and/or saturating the market with a flood of towers apartments, I'm also fine with that.
That way someone other than a landlord is handling all the maintenance issues that are involved in the current system. But don't hold your breath...
The federal and city housing bodies prefers to cut a monthly check and not be landlords themselves. That's why NYC housing authority is selling off and evicting their "tenants"(more like wards of the state).
Landlording is a nothing but a headache. I would've made more investing in FAANG stocks. And I wouldn't be called a blood sucker by deadbeats that don't want to learn anything about home maintenance.
Professional landlords tend to be fine. Private, part-time landlords are less reliable because they're not 100% dedicated to the task.
Government landlord? Forget it. Ask the people who lived in communist countries how reliable the government is as landlords.
Not sure if I'm "professional". I have ~20 rentals. It feels like I don't know what I'm doing a lot of times. Right now I have a rental, a condo and there is a leak coming from somewhere unknown upstairs. The usual contractors can't find the source of leak so I got insurance involved which I never do.
I'm always biting my nails in fear over the next maintenance item(usually A/C dying) and being hit with a $7000+ bill for replacement.
The last bill that really stung was $4k to replace a mainline going from the water meter to the house. I couldn't even get a plumber to do it and had to get a landscaper to do the project instead.
He's not allowed to do this, but WTF am I going to do? Report the guy saving my ass to the contractors board? I was scrambling for a solution as the tenant was without water for 1 day. That repair cost only $1k only 15 years ago. Things are getting downright scary.
The only people who should be mom and pop landlords now are HVAC techs and plumbers. That's 90% of my maintenance issues. Carpenters/roofers would also be okay.
Otherwise? You will be swimming in an ocean of sharks, all trying to rip you off.
Not only have I all but given up on home ownership, I know I'm never going to rent out property to anyone. The risk doesn't seem worth the reward, not anymore. Renting out property is for people who have deep pockets and a rock-solid understanding of the law.
The solution would be saturation. Build so many apartments and condos that housing prices tank.
It would suck for me, but that's the right policy for city and state officials.
Former landlord and real estate broker. Perhaps rents are "so damn high" in part BECAUSE being a landlord is so damn risky. Something like 75% of non-owner-occupied, single family homes in America are owned by small, family landlords (not corporations). Between squatters, liability, and rent control, fewer people take the risk without a higher reward level. Someone has to pay for the cost of squatters, and that someone is the law abiding tenant who just wants a yard instead of a corporate-owned pod.
Regarding lethal force on the border:
When my wife and I became parents 18 years ago, we were given a basic axiom by more parentally experienced friends: "do not ever give a command you are not prepared to backup all the way." As a result, our true commands are sparse, but obedience to them is absolute. My 3 daughters (yes, including my almost adult) know very well that any command carries a threat of not sitting down comfortably for the remainder of the day. That credible threat has resulted in no young lady in this house having to endure the actual application of said punishment for several years.
What does this have to do with the border? Do not give a command (for example: "you are not allowed to cross this line") unless you are willing to back up that command all the way. With violence if necessary. With lethal violence if warranted. I watched the video. You're correct that no lethal force was needed there, since those 500 people just ran to another fence, where they could easily have been turned around and forcibly sent back. (The fact that they were NOT turned around is a political not a military problem.) However, if there had been no other fence, I believe firing on any adult who crossed the final fence line would be entirely appropriate. It sounds cold, but you must back up your commands with violence when defied, or your commands will be ignored.
Whether at an individual level or a national one though, we're unwilling to swiftly and efficiently deal with squatters. And as you said, "what the state fails to do, the citizenry [likely via a state government] eventually will".
My my, you've been everything in life, haven't you? Only you've been more successful at many things as opposed to Peter Griffin from "Family Guy," who's worked just about every job on the planet.
Combined with the increasing inability of younger generations to ever own property, I think we're definitely looking at a future of diminishing property ownership. And why would they? Owning property entails costs that instantly create diminishing returns. At the very least, I'm not sure why anyone would want to rent to anyone, outside a trusted circle.
I'm of the belief deadly force is absolutely authorized when it comes to defending the border. If I can't trespass on a military installation or the local police station without getting shot, nobody should be allowed to cross the border after being told to stop without getting lit up. By the way, if you try to make it past a TSA checkpoint at the airport or any "official" border crossing, deadly force is absolutely authorized.
Why should it be different anywhere else?
Yeah, I've had a fun life, Max. You know how? I'm reasonably intelligent, got lucky, and whenever an opportunity (as long as it wouldn't get me seriously injured) came my way, I always said "yes". Even if I was terrified, I still said yes. 80% of the time it worked out. A few times it didn't -- lasted 5 days as a bookkeeper -- but as Clarence Thomas said once, "the way you develop good judgment is by life experience, and the way you get life experience is by not having had good judgment."
The real problem here is these crazy tenancy laws. Require people to have a copy of their lease. Or require leases to be filed in the courthouse. If you don't have a lease, or any other actual proof that you belong there and have lived there as long as you claim, you don't get to stay there if the owner tells you have to leave. I understand the concern about "tenants rights" and all that stuff, and I understand that shady landlords can cause problems too, but clearly those tenancy laws require honest actors and that the people claiming to be tenants are actually tenants. Just showing up and claiming you live there without any proof at all and being allowed to stay indefinitely is ridiculous and biased too far against the property owner. We've gone too far in the opposite direction trying to fix one problem and created another.
It tracks with the attitude towards having ID to vote. We have ID for literally every other activity in life. Why the hell wouldn't you have it to vote, which is only supposed to be for citizens and residents of a locale, anyway?
Yep. Makes no sense at all except that they don't want ID precisely for the one reason we suspect and they deny. They know they benefit to some degree from fraudulent votes and they know that there are bad actors on their side who take advantage of the lax security on a larger scale. But they can't admit that so they hide behind the "racist!" excuse and don't bother making any other arguments beyond calling normal people conspiracy theorists.
It was something to see the Left say that nobody had an excuse for not having vax records on them, but ID for voting? Only a bigot would demand such a thing.
At the risk of sounding totally paranoid, it sure looks like state and federal governments (and their pals like the Fed) do not want ordinary people to own any income producing assets. No participating in the FIRE economy for you, Silly Peasant! If you do, the risks are amplified and you're on your own if things go sideways. During the Housing Bubble ordinary people looking to get ahead were viciously pumped and dumped. We all know who got bailed out. And who didn't. This looks like a DEI eminent domain move. Except without any compensation. Big Mommy insists that you be kind™ and let that poor kid keep the toy they stole. They're unfortunate. Sad and oppressed! You must share!
"You will own nothing, and you will be happy." - WEF
https://twitter.com/wef/status/983378870819794945
But remember, it's just a conspiracy theory.
Our society is increasingly managed like its a public school. Despite there being no gulags, it's still soul-sucking and oppressive. Their ultimate objective is to make the school day never end.
Squatting really bothers people in a way that other forms of theft do not. A home should be a safe haven, a place of rest. Furthermore it represents a lifetime of effort. So it deserves a special status in law and practice.
The problem encompasses a number of trends, including police neglecting their duties and seeing themselves more as peacekeepers than defenders of the law abiding. They shouldn’t be surprised if the public begins to see them as one more gang, as already is the case in many parts of the world.
I think word will get around that the police and law are useless and people will resort to self-help. It’s risky, but a lot of people will see it as worthwhile. We could also see large corporations purchase these properties at a discount, as they can afford the cost and develop expertise in dealing with these pests.
As usual, you make more sense than I do. The home is your castle, your red line, your last line of defense. Once your home has been violated, there's nowhere else to seek refuge.
Also liked what you said about police being peacekeepers, not defenders of the law-abiding. By being peacekeepers, they operate only by the state's tempo. The government could care less whether the issue gets resolved or not, as long as they retain the monopoly on violence.
I don't trust myself (or our overlords) to say what really should happen to invaders and squatters.
I have thankfully never had to deal with a squatter. But I do rent my basement out. Before I bought my house I actually rented out the basement of another guy. Anyway, I basically use his lease (with names and addresses changed) for my own tenants.
He put a sweet little clause in there. Where rent doubles in price if they don't vacate when told. It basically means that we get to skip small claims court and go to the big leagues fairly quickly. Thankfully I have never had to do an eviction, this is because I do my homework on every potential renter. Background checks, credit checks, job history. If they are iffy I don't want them. 90% of landlord work does not happen if you properly screen tenants.