I'm looking at the multiplying "ISO" posts on FB and the shrinking list of rentals on CL (7!!!) Literally thousands and thousands looking, literally only a handful of units out there.

I know some of this is unique to our "destination" area but it seems to be a growing problem across the US: anywhere there are jobs, there's no housing.

And that's for people who can afford housing, not people on voucher programs. I don't know WHAT they are facing.

However, FB marketplace is notorious for their low quality inquiries. Many of the thousands are no where near ready or even willing to move to your town.

I know, Sisco but I'm not even talking about the marketplace (which I agree is not worth even checking.) I'm talking about LOCAL groups looking for housing RIGHT here. Two counties MAX, about 5 towns.

And the story is always the same: "I had a house, I've lived here ten years, but my landlord is selling." "I had a house, I've lived here forever, but my landlord is going AirBnB.

I'm seeing plenty of ISO posts on FB, and I get dozens of emails from Zumper, Apartments, etc per day for the couple of units I have remaining, but most of those who reach out ignore my first instruction - fill out my pre-showing survey.

Plus, they all seem to want something now, and my first opening is June 1, which I'm pre-leasing for now.

Then, I'm also getting a lot of inquiries from people moving to the area without a job. "Oh, I'll get a job once I'm there. "

Um - no? Doesn't work that way... You may be moving to be "closer to family" but I see your family on FB and not just no, but OMG NO!

That said, my older units are not going over well with my target market. The newer units from 2018 are all rented. The older units from the 1940s are not. I'm actually dropping the rent to get a decent tenant from my target market in.

Hit enter too soon -

Even with lowering the rent a little, I am still doing OK on the older units.

In 1995, we bought these 2 little duplexes. Closed on Friday of Labor Day Weekend, spent the weekend painting the outside. I was 7 months pregnant with my son, and my huspand was freaking out that I was up on the ladder. :)

At the time, rent was $150/month per unit, and included not only water/sewer, but also the shared water heater per unit, so I was stuck with the gas bill. One of the first updates we made was to add water heaters to the other side!

My lowest rent is now $400/month. Now, we've done plenty of updates, but I'll agree they are starting to look like the time has come. I just want to get a couple more years out of them before we tear down and rebuild.

Barb, correct me if I am wrong but, you seem to do a lot of tear downs and rebuilds?

I agree that people are desperate.

I agree with Robin about the law of unintended consequences, which is why we land lords know to fear the statement, "Hi, I'm from the Govt, and I'm here to help."

Rents are rising steadily in my market. For every vacancy, I get 40-50 inquires. Maybe 1 or 2 qualify. The rest may be tire kickers or are crashing on a friend's/parent's couch.

Money is stupidly cheap right now. I checked the 30-year mortgage rate for own-occ three days ago: 2.1% for conventional with only 5% down. I hear it could go lower. Some European countries are offering negative interest rates now: deflation....something we haven't seen in decades!

There is tons of Govt interference in the market right now, and until they get out of the way and allow the market to correct itself, I believe it will only get worse. Keep your reserves--both financial and day-to-day living necessities--stocked up. TP disappeared from shelves about this time last year, along with a whole lot else. It's happened before: we should expect it to happen again, especially if the Govt decides to slap price controls and anti-hoarding laws in place.

Well what is the statistic -- half of Americans can't afford to pay for $400 emergency -- or something like that.

I get at least 10 calls daily from folks looking for a rental. There is nothing out there in Southern Maryland.

There's a local FB group that brings together LL with places to rent and tenants in my area. Many of the tenants are loudly complaining about how difficult it is to find a place and are looking for "private LLs" in the hopes that screening is not as stringent. Many will post that they need a place but don't want a credit check. A quick check of PA Courts on many poster reveals sullied backgrounds as far as evictions goes. Others have "emotional support animals" they want to slip in. I saw one applicant to my place pictured with a pit bull as her ESA which is a non starter for most LL who know what they're doing. She conveniently left this off of the pre-screening form. The shortage is felt most acutely by the bad actors. Most decent tenants still have choices. The bad actors are running into "deflector shields". Gotta protect the Enterprise from the Klingons!

6x6 -

To answer your question about tear down and rebuild

We've done a couple - not that many yet.

The duplex we built in 2011 was on a vacant lot. The 8-plex we built in 2018 was on a vacant lot.

We did tear down a little house a few years ago, and built a duplex last year, after probably 7 years of the lot being vacant. The little house on it was in very poor condition when we purchased it, and when the roof failed, the HVAC failed and we realized the condition of the cellar was incredibly poor, it made more economic sense to tear it down than to sink money in to refirb a funky little house.

We also tore down a second home about a year after that one - as it was also in very poor condition. Again, the home was in very poor condition when we purchased it -and was poor construction to start with. The sewer line failed, the roof failed and there was no insullation to speak of, plus the furnace (no ac there) was on its last legs. Again, not worth refirbishing poor construction. In both of these situations, the homes were built in the early part of the 1900s, in what is locally called the shoe-factory addition. The were often built one room at a time, as the family had money, and were more like barn raisings than real decent construction. We ended up getting the home next door as well, for $8K, which we immediately tore down. It had been scavenaged for copper, had an extensive roof leak, and had mold growing pretty much everywhere. Again, did not make sense to refirbish.

The ones I'm currently scheduling for removal in a few years are 520 sq ft units, with Williams Wall Furnaces for heat, and window AC. They were built in the early 1940s, so-so construction. The crawlspace is so cramped that I can barely get anyone to go in there. The wiring is still the old ungrounded, but with the crawlspace so small, it is amazingly difficult to rewire. The plumbing is the old galvanized pipe and is starting to show it. We have done new roofs for them, twice for one of them. We replaced all the windows and added vinyl siding in 1999. The vinyl windows from 1999 are starting to fail. The vinyl siding is startig to crack in a couple of places. I expect the sewer line to be the next problem, and there are two duplexes on one sewer line. So, when the sewer fails, I'll be required to do two sewer taps.

6X6 and NE,

[[[[[........ I can't remember any other time in my life when the US gov't has given out these repeated payments.....]]]]]]

Not since the bread and circuses of ancient Rome. The USA is also in decline and on its last gasp.

On Craigslist, the rentals available section will have 31-32 ads for the entire county and half of those are misclassified "housing wanted". Of the remainder, many are "under construction coming soon". There might only be 4-5 actual rentals available.

Its a shortage, but the "housing wanted" people have no hope at all. They have a fancy wish list and can pay $500 a month under the going rate. They can't afford a one bedroom apartment. Many of them are admitting to serious negatives like bad credit or multiple pets.

While we all love the political spin you assign to make yourselves feel better it is really just a supply and demand problem. In addition it is not just rental property, homes are affected too. I have multiple real estate agent friends and they all say the same thing. If you sell your house make sure you have a place to go because inventory is really low all around.

"Well, when you only earn $1800 a month, you can't expect to pay $1200 a month in rent!"

No, but you can expect to owe $1200 a month in rent if you don't plan on paying it.

It's okay, Biden is going to "tax the rich" to pay for all these giveaways.

He's also going to "tax the rich" to pay for expansions to Medicare for All and more subsidies for everyone.

He's also going to "tax the rich" to pay for the $3 Trillion in added spending to "Build American Back Better."

He's also going to "tax the rich" to improve education and doll out student loan forgiveness.

Anyone besides me think that "the rich" will soon feel very unwelcome and might decide to exit the nation and/or offshore a heck-uv-a-lot more of their wealth? Rich people didn't get to be rich by being stupid, and the idea that they will simply fall down and let this happens is laughable.

Even if they stay, he's promised something to the tune of $10 Trillion in added spending. Do "the rich" even have that much? The stats I see say the top 1% has $34.2 Trillion, but as we all know the vast majority of that is not in cash. It is in hard assets that would have to be sold and converted to pay taxes.

Requiring billionaires to dump billions of $$$ in stocks and real estate would flood the market, depressing prices for all assets across the board. My guess is too that if the US starts getting hyper aggressive with tax policy we will see a lot more...shall we say...creative accounting to hide/shelter/recharacterize income and assets? Because....that's what the rich do right now to avoid paying current taxes. Pass another, more expensive tax law = get less compliance. Who thinks they will actually sit there and let their pockets get picked?

I say you are stuck on replay. The same old tired argument about socialism when we are no where near that and nothing that is being proposed is near it.

Bread and circuses--very apt for what is going on. And the endless discussions of race, transgender and how many angels can dance on the head of a pin are starting to seem like just a lot of noise to distract.

For every action there is an equal and opposite action.

Where actions were taken because there was an "emergency" The price for that emergency will many years of both financial pain for all. Jac is right that more selectivity in tenants will be another byproduct. The more you help some, you will hurt others.

Come on JAC, you troll, go back to your forest. If any tenant had your attitude about "fairness" you would never rent to them.

A very interesting thread.

A very informative thread. I do not allow pets, smokers, or anyone without a car. I also will not rent to family, friends of the family, coworkers and friends or family of coworkers.

We have a painter. We like him. He's been looking for housing. Four of our places have come and gone without his following the FIRST step: answer the pre-screening questions online. Another one - he's starting to paint it tomorrow - will be coming up Mid-May or something. He wants it, wants it - doesn't act on it.

Another painter: signed a lease on a $2100/month 4-bedroom house for just his wife and him, it was all he could find (I believe it.) We asked if they will get roommates to help pay, "no we want to be by ourselves."