Landlords, Frustrated With Eviction Moratorium, Sell to Wealthy Investors to Stem Losses
Amid thousands of dollars in losses in back rent and a federal eviction moratorium extended to October 3, small property owners are selling their units to wealthy investors and equity funds, whom advocates worry will renovate properties and hike up the market rate.
“A lot of landlords are disgusted. They are selling at losses. They are getting out, period,” said Michael Reid, a mortgage loan officer who sold three of his houses.
“The minute they enacted the moratorium, that trigged my decision to sell the properties,” Martin said. “I did not want someone moving in whom I could never get rid of if they didn’t pay rent. That would make the financial situation worse.”
Most evictions for unpaid rent have been halted since the early days of the pandemic and there are now more than 15 million people living in households that owe as much as $20 billion in back rent, according to the Aspen Institute.
A majority of single-family rental home owners have been impacted, according to a survey from the National Rental Home Council, and 50% say they have tenants who have missed rent during the pandemic.
Smaller landlords with fewer than four units, who often don’t have the financing of larger property owners, were hit especially hard, with as many as 58 percent having tenants behind on rent, according to the National Association of Realtors. More than half of back rent is owed to smaller landlords.
David points to two tenants who received paychecks throughout the pandemic but didn’t pay rent or bother to file for rental assistance. Others singled out delinquent tenants who they claimed still managed to drive a luxury car, get food deliveries or go on vacation.
This was absolutely the plan all along.
COVID was the excuse.
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- Impose the eviction moratorium.
- Create a perverse incentive for people not to pay their rent.
- Squeeze and bankrupt the small landlords.
- Small landlords sell cheap the minimize losses.
- Investment banks and real estate mega-corporations end up owning the vast majority of rental properties and dominate the market.
Given that the majority of young people are renters, and because of student loans are a long way from being able to buy a house, the investment banks and real estate mega-corporations will effectively own the lifestyle of a majority of a generation.
This doesn’t happen by accident, the outcome was just too obvious. That was deliberate.
The greatest transfer of property wealth from the middle-class to the elite investment class in history.
Capitalism put an end to feudalism. The people acquired land and grew prosperous.
The elites just had to take it all back and they used COVID to do it.
Even those investment banks, etc that aren’t raging assholes aren’t going to be stupid. Regardless of who owns those properties, expect rents to go up and new rental agreements to require more up front. You want to rent for a year? Sure. Six months rent up front. Don’t like it? Wow, that’s a shame.
Of course that won’t help much. The Congressional Hamas Caucus will keep the moratorium in effect indefinitely, so requiring 6 months in advance merely delays getting screwed by 6 months. After the “tenant” has been squatting for 3 years you’re still in deep trouble.
I would say item 5 is incorrect. What’s actually planned is that the eventual owners will be the government, and of course the moratorium won’t apply to the government.
“the eventual owners will be the government”
There are two ways to parse that:
(1) The State will own all the property; or
(2) The megacorps that own all the property will, for all intents and purposes, be the State.
Socialism, Fascism, take yer pick.
Nailed it. And my guess is, a significant number of those vultures will be from China or funded by the CCP. They have been buying up property in remote as well as urban areas for years now. For “investment.” Sure. Anyone who believes that is welcome to invest in my new unicorn futures mutual fund.
There is another party to this puzzle which is the ability to become a bone owner. I was actively looking to own after being a renter for years. When I applied I was denied because my total debt payments attitude exceed aunt magic number.
When I pointed out that my mortgage plus house repair set aside was less than I was currently paying in rent they told me it didn’t matter.
House ownership is a path to a better future.
I also know that many millionaires started with property investments. Sometimes it was moving and letting the old home as a rental because reasons. Sometimes it was a planned purchase.
Now that path is being taken away. Both at the first rung and as a ladder upward.
If your actual plan were to bring America down to the level of every other 3rd world shithole country, what would you be doing differently?
This is a continuation of the wealth transfer started by lowering the interest rates. Many people took the money they were getting 6% on and saw the rental market as a way to maintain their standard of living.
A little “Jewish lightning” would have been better…