Not a dime collected today in rent, just flew a trip (I’m an airline pilot) and flew around the country almost empty, and getting calls from good tenants saying they can’t pay. One tell the 8th, and the other tell the 15!
On top of that, my wife found out yesterday that she is being furloughed. She is paid by the state and they are broke according to our governor. Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2009/04/27/daily17.html
I only believe what I see with my own eyes, and up until this point, it hadn’t been much.
John
John,
I think you’re right! Things are STARTING to get worse. People are losing their jobs in great numbers and prices continue to increase in many areas. Businesses are beginning to shut down. Industry is shutting down for weeks at a time.
Having said all that, I don’t think this is a time to worry. The Chosen One says that the worst is over!!!
Mike
It’s all a matter of degrees…We were hours away from a nuclear financial meltdown of our entire banking system. That didn’t happen.
It didn’t happen because the then REPUBLICAN GOVERMENT stepped in and put out a FIRE…They immediately notified banks that MONEY MARKET ACCOUNTS would be 100% covered by the full faith of the Federal Goverment. Those accounts were being closed at a rate that was UNSUSTAINABLE to our banking system. They stopped the fire…
NOW…IF…like some people here suggested…they just let it all go???
John… you’d be getting a LOT more phone calls from tenants no longer having money to pay for anything with.
And as romantic as it sounds to JUST LET THEM FAIL!!! I can assure you…The same people screaming for that failure would be screaming even LOUDER when THEIR bank accounts vanished into thin air!!
Let’s be careful what we wish for.
I’m not doubting what your seeing John…I’ve always thought your own backyard could tell you more about what’s REALLY going on than any Wall St Newspaper ever written. This is going to be a process…It’s going to take a long time…BUT…Consumer sentiment is UP…unemployment looks like it MIGHT have hit a plateau. All we can do is pay attention…Just like you’re doing.
Here we have been isolated from the bubble, and also from the crash but it is changing.
Now we are are running 10-20% vacant all the time, in our fully-furnished homes. EVERYONE is asking for a discount. The hospitals quit signing long-term contracts with the temporary nurse agencies, and the agencies are squeezing the nurses’ pay. The hospitals are staffing short, so patient care will be less.
We have adjusted by letting some of our leased homes lapse instead of renewing. We have quit renovating basically. Three owned units sit vacant and unrenovated. Why fix up another unit when there is vacancy?
We have cut staff from 8 to 4. We are trading work for rent. We are turning down all offers to advertise. Office staff is now doing minor repairs, yard clean-ups and housekeeping. We are only contracting stuff we can’t do easily like major grass-cutting and sprinkler repair.
On the bright side, we have cut office overhead more than half. We are lean and mean. It is getting much easier to say “No” to requests. We are doing major number crunching and planning. Our worst possible case plan – pulling out all furniture and renting unfurnished – doesn’t seem as drastic as it used to.
We are adjusting and learning.
Furnishedowner
We’ve got court Monday for two evictions (our first ones ever). A couple who had been paying in full and on time sent only 1/3 of the rent this month. They didn’t return my call or send the rest of it. My wife with two degrees can’t get a job. Lots of businesses are closing up shop. The other night on the news there was a story about a fancy restaurant downtown possibly closing. The city council pleaded for people to frequent there so it wouldn’t shut down because it supposedly has historic value to the town.
We need a govt that actually has ran a business instead of a bunch of lawyers who “try” to fix stuff only to make it worse.Reagan fixed carter’s mess,sure it ran up national debt,But this "messiah"has spent more in 100 days than the hisory of all presidents combined.I can tell by your post that its having the same effect with yall as my city,NONE,only worse.Hopefully we can all last till 2012.What a price to pay for “change”,what a lie.