4 ms·

This is flat out false, at least in Texas: https://www.keranews.org/business-economy/2022-06-14/investors-bought-nearly-a-third-of-all-homes-in-texas-last-year

This is flat out false, at least in Texas: https://www.keranews.org/business-economy/2022-06-14/investors-bought-nearly-a-third-of-all-homes-in-texas-last-year https://www.keranews.org/business-economy/2022-06-14/investo... Also, there have been other articles I read during the pandemic (the topic was how long eviction moratoriums were killing small landlords while corporate landlords could weather it) that small, individual landlords do a much better job at renting out housing more affordably, being more willing to work with renters when they are behind on their payments, etc.

Obscurity4340 3y ago
Individual landlords also tend to play games with renovictions or personal-use evictions to inflate their rents. I would never rent from someone who can decide their "nephew" wants the space and they just couldn't say no to him but then that fell through and meanwhile you're out on the street.
- hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
  > I would never rent from someone who can decide their "nephew" wants the space and they just couldn't say no to him but then that fell through and meanwhile you're out on the street. I never understood that attitude. I always took leases as a two-way street. That is, I'm free to leave and go somewhere else at the end of my lease, but the owner is also free to not rent to me at the end of my lease (with appropriate notice). It seems weird to me to have the expectation that if I sign, say, a 1-year lease that means I should have the right to renew that lease in perpetuity.
  - Obscurity4340 3y ago
    Do you really only plan ahead 1 year at a time? Seems like an enormously inefficient use of one's time to lily-pad their housing year to year.
  - whimsicalism 3y ago
    Well, in lots of parts of the country, that 'weird expectation' is the law.
    - simonsarris 3y ago
      Where in the US are perpetual rights to extend 1 year leases the law?
      - whimsicalism 3y ago
        Where I live in California, for the large majority of rental properties, the owner cannot evict me unless they plan on exiting the rental market or I have somehow violated the lease. I think this covers flat out most rental properties in California as well. So the answer: California
        sershe 3y ago
        Stuff like this, broadly, is why California is known for its affordable rents and sane housing markets :)
        seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        Even if there is a right to lease renewal, how much the lease will increase is often not regulated or loosely regulated. So…you can always price out a tenant you don’t want to keep, but there are often some extra laws around that.
        whimsicalism 3y ago
        Not in California, where the rent increases are limited in the vast majority of units (pretty much anything built before 2007) :) I agree that this has an absolutely massive chilling effect on leasing & building, given that, reasoning from the past, any new development is almost certain to be subject to rent control within 20 years at most. I've never lived in a state nuts enough to have state-wide rent control before, it's interesting.
whimsicalism 3y ago
Dig into that number and you'll see that it is including relatively small landlords with more than 1 other property as 'institutional investors.' Regardless, these investors are paying way below the typical average for new homes in Texas, but somehow responsible for the affordability crisis?

Obscurity4340 3y ago

Individual landlords also tend to play games with renovictions or personal-use evictions to inflate their rents. I would never rent from someone who can decide their "nephew" wants the space and they just couldn't say no to him but then that fell through and meanwhile you're out on the street.

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
> I would never rent from someone who can decide their "nephew" wants the space and they just couldn't say no to him but then that fell through and meanwhile you're out on the street. I never understood that attitude. I always took leases as a two-way street. That is, I'm free to leave and go somewhere else at the end of my lease, but the owner is also free to not rent to me at the end of my lease (with appropriate notice). It seems weird to me to have the expectation that if I sign, say, a 1-year lease that means I should have the right to renew that lease in perpetuity.
- Obscurity4340 3y ago
  Do you really only plan ahead 1 year at a time? Seems like an enormously inefficient use of one's time to lily-pad their housing year to year.
- whimsicalism 3y ago
  Well, in lots of parts of the country, that 'weird expectation' is the law.
  - simonsarris 3y ago
    Where in the US are perpetual rights to extend 1 year leases the law?
    - whimsicalism 3y ago
      Where I live in California, for the large majority of rental properties, the owner cannot evict me unless they plan on exiting the rental market or I have somehow violated the lease. I think this covers flat out most rental properties in California as well. So the answer: California
      - sershe 3y ago
        Stuff like this, broadly, is why California is known for its affordable rents and sane housing markets :)
        seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        Even if there is a right to lease renewal, how much the lease will increase is often not regulated or loosely regulated. So…you can always price out a tenant you don’t want to keep, but there are often some extra laws around that.
        whimsicalism 3y ago
        Not in California, where the rent increases are limited in the vast majority of units (pretty much anything built before 2007) :) I agree that this has an absolutely massive chilling effect on leasing & building, given that, reasoning from the past, any new development is almost certain to be subject to rent control within 20 years at most. I've never lived in a state nuts enough to have state-wide rent control before, it's interesting.

whimsicalism 3y ago

Dig into that number and you'll see that it is including relatively small landlords with more than 1 other property as 'institutional investors.' Regardless, these investors are paying way below the typical average for new homes in Texas, but somehow responsible for the affordability crisis?