There's a lot of other info to consider, especially as relates to our individual situations. I can give mine, but it will be different from each other person.

I'm retired. I've got enough to last the rest of my life.

My rental properties are completely free and clear. I can get by even if I don't get a penny from any property.

So my problems with tenants not paying is not as serious as others who may have mortgages, high taxes, etc.

They could easily be in serious trouble.

If I was in that situation, I'd start selling immediately. Create a list of the properties and rank them. Get rid of the worst first and then on down the line.

Who can guarantee anything in these times.

If you get to a balanced,manageable position, you can always rebuild, be it in this country or another one. Be it in single family homes, multi's, or something else. Opportunity always presents itself. One year you are the owner mobile homes and houses in the midwest. The next year you are a Bulgarian timber baron or own a coconut plantation in central America or property in Panama, Belize, or Japan.

A few for many many years. Some until I was forced to sell. I would then list the underperforming ones to sell as soon as possible in order to save the better ones.

Of course this is hypothetical. If I/We lost all of the income, on all our properties with no end in sight, we as a nation will have more to worry about than collecting rent on our properties. We're talking apocalypse scenario.

Decades....but I have had them a long time. If I were a newer landlord an eviction moratorium could end my landlording.

I purchased a foreclosure from the Bank as an REO. It had 10 years worth of neglect, vandalism, and 2 years with the tenant paying no rents to the previous owner and the Bank (loan holder). Took me 9 months to Evict and fix up everything from the foundation to the roof. Then re-rent.

My gift for providing low cost housing was an audit from the IRS. I had to fight them too with tooth and nails...

Another property I purchased from a owner who never ran a credit check and rented to illegals. The apartment property had 25% vacancy, 25% of the tenants paying no rent and the balance of 50% paid in installments. That building took me 5 months to evict half of the tenants and 2 months to fix up the place. So about 50% of the rent from day one...

Ah! I was thinking vacant houses, like if we had 100% vacancy and couldn't get things rented, and just had to worry about yards 15 times a year, and taxes once a year, and no insurance for empty houses.

Lived-in houses... no. I wouldn't keep lived-in houses that weren't generating income. The income is what helps me grow, and helps me maintain what I already have. I wouldn't be interested in growing if there was no financial benefit to growth, and I wouldn't be interested in maintaining if I was already providing someone with free housing. A good person with their life together would pay; a person who can't keep their problems to themselves, and lets their problems affect me, needs to find elsewhere to live.

I don't have any debt, so I'm fortunate that I don't have to worry about someone taking my stuff away from me. But each house represents $x of my personal money that's invested in it, with the expectation of an annual return of $y, and the hassle of running the biz is what's necessary to make the math happen in reality. If I get all the hassle, but none of the return, I might as well sell and stick it in the bank for 1% interest. I much prefer the 10-15% I get each year from the rentals... but I wouldn't have to worry about all the roofs, major systems, minor upkeep, and routine maintenance...

It's hard to digest that question. Guess I'd look to sell.

I think Laura(MD) nailed the problem. All the do-gooders who think they are saving everyone have no idea how badly this will impact available affordable housing down the road a few months/years.

We went through the same thing in 2004-05-06 when politicians stepped in and said everyone should own a house. The banks started lending money to anyone that could walk into a bank. No doc loans, loans larger than the home's value, variable rate loans, negative amortization loans, etc.

Never did they stop to think what might happen if a recession hits? What if these folks who are living on the edge with no savings and no financial sense lose their jobs?

So, as we all know, those folks got slaughtered. Most lost their homes and were many times worse off because those politicians wanted them to "own their own homes." Many of those folks have never recovered and are among the homeless folks suffering today.

The problem with the current situation is that there isn't an end-date. It's like an oil spill, it keeps flowing down hill until it reaches the bottom. Unfortunately we can only see about 1-2 months of the slope and the bottom is not in sight.

And like they're proposing in Barcelona, it could get worse. The Barcelona government is demanding that landlords fill all vacant properties or the government will seize vacant apartments from the owners and pay the owner half the market value then turn them into public housing.

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-16/to-fill-vacant-units-barcelona-seizes-apartments

Sisco,

Have you been looking at my roster of props I boight and have not yet rehabbed them?

Mine are all paid for. I refuse to spend my savings to keep them long term if they don’t produce income so like Mike, I’d sell them. I didn’t invest in them to become a free housing provider at the risk of my own savings.

Could - until death.