As evictions begin in earnest with delinquent renters looking for a new place to live, Fannie Mae (the organization that underwrites mortgage loans for millions of people around the country) is making it easier for renters to buy a home. Of course, renters with an eviction aren’t likely to be candidates for Fannie’s new program, […]

Half of all renters live in SPRs, industry lingo for Small Property Rentals. The Census Bureau defines those as one-to-four family dwellings, and they make up 76 percent of rentals. Individual owners own 92 percent of them. That’s the good news. I’ll explain why in a minute. The bad news is that SPRs reported a […]

They say they didn’t mean to. They say their intentions were pure, and those intentions were bushwhacked by a “a computer error.” The April 9, 2021 issue of MIT Technology Review reported that Facebook (the company with the pure intentions) “is withholding certain job ads from women because of their gender.” An audit conducted by […]

Less than a year after the end of World War II, 1946, household debt was less than 15 percent of the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Then, in the 1960s, Bank of America, offering the first credit card, BankAmericard (later renamed Visa), sent some 60,000 credit cards out to anyone and everyone in California. Of […]

Just because a debt drops off a credit report doesn’t mean a debtor doesn’t owe it anymore. Just because the statute of limitations for a debt passes, doesn’t mean a creditor can’t still collect it. We’ll look at debts and how they hang around even if people think they’ve gone away or are uncollectible. It’s […]

It’s a business, owning rental property. Even if you don’t think it is, it is. Watching every piece, every penny determines how profitable the investment will be. Think about it. Investors own an operation that may involve millions of dollars in assets but believe it’s just “something to do” or passive income. Then those investments […]

All of a sudden some people seem to have better credit. That came about because they weren’t paying their bills and so may not really have earned it. A Market Watch report from February 17, 2021, said that “While millions of Americans were laid off or furloughed from their jobs, lost their employer-based health insurance […]

Today, renters owe $70 billion in unpaid rent reports Moody’s Analytics. We have to assume that landlords will never see any of that unpaid rent. The real story is who owes the money. The vast majority of the $70 billion owed comes from Class B and C properties, while the Class A properties do just […]

As far as New Year’s resolutions go, this one is easy. It’s one that we need no reminders or extra incentives to keep. Even if we do nothing,we enjoy at least a 90 percent chance of success. The resolution: No bad tenants. That’s one resolution every rental owner and manager wants to keep every year. […]

Just one more step. But overlooked trip hazards endanger that step. Trip hazards are things you would avoid if you saw them, but you don’t because you aren’t paying close enough attention. Trip on one, fall on your face, and who appeared to be the “best” applicant could prove to be the worst. Everything checks […]