Archive for the ‘Home Rental’ Category

Owners of house rentals in San Francisco may have to ready themselves for additional challenges to their rental investments after the Board of Supervisors in the city approved a proposal to extend eviction protection laws to rental homes and condos built after 1979, the year the rent control legislation was passed.

Under this new legislation, owners of rental housing built after 1979 will have to follow tenant eviction laws followed by owners of residential rental properties built before 1979. Under tenant eviction laws prior to 1979, landlords are prohibited from evicting renters without a reasonable cause. Tenants can only be evicted by just reasons such as breach of lease contract or failure to pay rent.

The new legislation would affect about 20,000 residential rental properties built after 1979 and about 10,000 units more which are being constructed or being planned.

While tenant advocates were elated at the approval of the eviction protection legislation, they cannot claim complete victory yet because the legislation still needs approval from Mayor Gavin Newsom, who had expressed strong opposition to the legislation that would add more challenges to those currently faced by owners of house rentals.

According to spokesperson Joe Arellano, Mayor Newsom planned to veto the proposal, and his veto can be upheld if the final voting by the board gives him the majority. The latest voting, 7-4, needed one more vote so that the legislation would become veto-proof.

The board will again consider the legislation to get the veto-proof majority, but the swing vote – expected to come from Supervisor Bevan Duffy – may not be easy to get. According to Duffy, he does not plan to change his vote.

But Duffy, who has expressed his plan to run for mayor in 2011, is being pressured by renters and tenant advocates to change his vote. Sara Shortt, head of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, said that voting for the proposal should be an easy decision for any city lawmaker because 60 percent of the city is comprised by renters and there is a shortage of affordable housing.

According to Duffy, he would have voted yes if the legislation focused on evictions due to foreclosures. He argued that the legislation would have unintended consequences.

In addition, real estate owners and investors in San Francisco argued that the new legislation would diminish real estate rights and violate a pledge made by city officials to owners of house rentals when they enacted the rent control law in 1979.

House rentals are in high demand in New Orleans, pushing rents to levels that require renters to spend much of their monthly income for rent, according to a study conducted by the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the center also found that renters in New Orleans spent more for rent and utility bills than renters in the other cities studied in 2008, including Las Vegas, Baltimore, New York City, Milwaukee, Memphis, Phoenix and San Antonio.

Out of all New Orleans renters, 41 percent spent at least half of their pre-tax salaries for their rental housing.
In Jefferson Parish and Saint Tammany, 27 percent of households spent 50 percent of their income for rent.

Last year, the median monthly rent in Saint Tammany was $982. The median in New Orleans was $908 and the median in Jefferson was $854.

According to affordable housing advocates, the burden of paying rental costs in New Orleans is heavier because of increases in costs of living in the metro area.

Landlords in New Orleans also explained that they have to increase their rents because they spent high costs in building and maintaining their house rentals after the Katrina disaster.

Homeowners in New Orleans also bear heavier housing burdens than other cities because of increases in the costs of insurance premiums, taxes and utilities in the metro area.

In Saint Tammany, 27 percent of homeowners spent more than 33 percent of their monthly income on housing costs while Jefferson homeowners spent 26 percent – lower than the nationwide average of 31 percent.

Among lower-income New Orleans homeowners, 36 percent spent more than 33 percent of their income on housing costs. Low-income homeowners particularly have been suffering because 81 percent of them spent more than 33 percent of their monthly income on housing costs.

Housing advocates cite the difficulties of the low- and lower-income families in paying their monthly home loan payments as major reasons for foreclosures in the city. They said that post-Katrina salaries have not increased to keep pace with the increase in rents.

According to the Data Center, the rise in New Orleans housing costs to unaffordable levels is a clear indicator that the city needs to step up its affordable housing programs.

But the State Bond Commission decided to stop subsidizing affordable construction in the city in September until a comprehensive market study on house rentals and affordable housing is completed.

The home for rental market is still favoring renters throughout the country, based on rent data gathered by research firm Reis.

In the third quarter of this year, effective rents dropped for the fourth consecutive quarter, the first time it occurred since Reis began monitoring rents in 2008. Effective rent refers to the final amount after incentives such as free one-month rent are deducted.

Victor Calanog, head of research at Reis, also said that in addition to freebies and incentives, landlords have also been lowering their asking rents sharply to entice tenants. They figured that lower income is better than nothing.

According to Calanog, tenants can ask a lot of concessions from landlords. Some landlords are even offering up to 4 months of free rent. Others are offering interior design upgrades, repainting work and free gym memberships. In some cases, if renters ask for assurance that their rents are not going to be raised after their one-year lease contracts expire, they get the pledge.

Based on data from brokerage Marcus & Millichap, the cities offering the most concessions are Atlanta, Denver, Charlotte, Phoenix and Austin.

In Atlanta, landlords are offering an average of 1.5 months free rent; Denver and Charlotte offering 1.4 months; Austin, 1.3 months; Phoenix, 1.2 months; Dallas-Fort Worth and Detroit, 1.1 months; Portland, 1 month; and Orlando and Salt Lake City, offering 0.9 months.

The cities with the weakest home for rental market are Omaha, Memphis and Indianapolis, but these cities are not in the list of cities offering concessions. As vacancy rates increase in these three cities, landlords are advised by analysts to reduce their rents or provide incentives.

According to Calanog, the depressed rents are not likely to reverse their direction in the next several months because of the continued increase in low-priced residential properties and increase in the unemployment rate.

Nonetheless, there are markets which are experiencing increases in rents such as Long Island and Colorado Springs. Both markets showed a 1.6-percent increase in rent in the third quarter.

In the next two quarters, rents are not expected to increase because historically these quarters are slow rental periods, according to Reis analysts. They projected that the rental vacancy rate will increase from the current level of 7.8 percent and surpass 8 percent in the middle of next year.

According to analysts, the home for rental vacancy rate has already surpassed the peak vacancy rate of 7.2 percent in 2004.

Approximately 1,800 house for rental units operated by Page Mill Properties in East Palo Alto, California will go into foreclosure if Page Mill fails to pay the $50 million due in August on its $250-million loan owed to Wachovia Bank, which was acquired by Wells Fargo Bank last year.
Page Mill was given 120 days [...]

Homes for rental in the Mobley Lane neighborhood of Hemet, California have been foreclosed by banks and most residents are being instructed to leave even if they have already paid their rents.
Based on interviews, the block of apartment units on Mobley Lane has a history of troubled finances. Trilar Realty, which previously managed the property, [...]

Investing in house rentals can take at least two routes: investing in a house rental property acquisition and management firm or investing and managing directly rental properties.
Either way, there is always the possibility of failure, but if one has invested in a real estate investment firm, one can sue the firm if investments fail.
This is [...]

The country currently has 34 million renters. All these 34 million renters have continually experienced difficulties in keeping up with their high rents. Since the decade started, rental homes have increased in prices.
In fact, 50 percent of renters currently spend a minimum of 30 percent of their total income every month. Although this includes [...]

New York City recently had rental homes prices increased. This is despite the pleas to freeze this action. One million stabilized apartments in New York now are expected to increase their rents, as officials approved rent increase. This is a first time in 40 years.
The meeting saw tenants of homes for rent and demonstrators [...]

Iowa City is home to the University of Iowa. Because of this, there are a lot of rental homes in the area. A lot of doctors, professors and students rent out so that they can be near to their work or to their school.
However, over the years, there has been an increase in the number [...]

The City Council’s budget hearing in Tucson, Arizona was well-attended. Even before the meeting on Tuesday started, the 500 seats were already full. Other 200 people were gathered around the hall, around the walls, and in the lobby of the Tucson Convention Center. All of them wanted to have a say on the issues governing [...]