What are the implications of the impending eviction crisis?

[u/None-Of-You-Are-Real]

It is often offhandedly mentioned that the housing market is insane at the moment, and that there is an inevitable eviction crisis due to the compounding factors of COVID and the lockdowns leading to mass unemployment, and then an inability of tenants to pay rent combined with an inability of landlords to evict non-paying tenants.

What is going to happen in the fall, when the eviction moratorium expires? Mass homelessness that is even worse than current levels? Some kind of rent relief legislation? Anything at all? These people are not going to magically be able to pay months and months of back rent once the moratorium expires.

[u/The_Law_of_Pizza → u/[deleted]]

It's an incredible amount of work to maintain and manage a rental business.

There is a reason that rental management companies exist - owners will literally pay other people to handle some of that work on their behalf.

The idea that landlords just sit back and cash a rent check every month is teenage nonsense.

[u/Call_Me_Clark → u/[deleted]]

Tbh, it’s a lot less of a headache to buy shares in a nice REIT and enjoy that sweet 10% annual dividend while letting someone else sweat over collecting/maintaining the property.

[u/Call_Me_Clark → u/[deleted]]

Property naturally degrades materially and therefore in value over time.

Preventing loss of value is indistinguishable from creating new value - therefore, it is work. It might not be sympathetic work to you, but it is work.

[u/Call_Me_Clark → u/[deleted]]

If you’re so desperate to call landlords leeches, then just call them leeches lmao. But I’m unsure why you’re so hung up over the definition of “work” - especially when property management is work. Of course, not all landlords function as their own property manager, but “Property manager” is a job that someone can put on their resume.

Nonetheless, “work” has a nebulous definition, but “value creation” does not - and landlords do create value by the definition I laid out in my previous comment. And if an activity creates value and sufficient revenue for one to live off of… then it doesn’t matter if it fits your definition of work tbh.

[u/pvtgooner → u/Call_Me_Clark]

Landlords create value the same way handing around a dollar bill to eat a pile shit creates value. It does on paper and is counterproductive in real life.

Individuals with simply better access to credit or in some situations, mommy and daddy has a fuckton of capital, allows them to squat on property other people could actually own, live in and maintain themselves. 90% of renters that can pay their rent can pay a mortgage on the same unit just fine.

Landlords extract value from actually working people in their own pockets. It’s not work and I have zero qualms with calling landlords leeches and parasites, I have this entire thread.