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“Some people spend their money on a bigger house or a better car or on trips, but we live modestly,” Boyadjian said. “Any money we can raise, we spend it to buy another single-family home to rent.”
Of the three tenants who are behind, one has agreed to pay 25% of the rent now and the rest later. Boyadjian said he’s happy to work with that tenant, because at least an effort is being made and she is getting something. Others, like those who haven’t paid rent since August, leave her feeling like she’s being taken advantage of.
“Owning a property and collecting rent is my way of making a living,” he said. “He has not received any help from the government. Our income has been reduced. We have no unemployment.”
So far, it has been able to continue meeting its financial obligations. Makes property tax payments and pays for insurance. She pays not only for utilities like water, but also for landscaping and pool maintenance.
“We have been able to pay our mortgages, but we really are in danger of not being able to do so on two properties,” Boyadjian said. “This is not sustainable.”
Eviction moratoriums that create uncertainty
“This is becoming a concern for homeowners,” said David Howard, executive director of the National Rental Home Council, which advocates on behalf of the single-family rental industry. “With the moratorium on evictions, you don’t know what the next step is. There is no certainty about when you will be paid.”
“The stories are heartbreaking for everyone – people with medical problems or those who have lost their jobs,” Howard said. “But I don’t see an eviction tsunami or apocalypse coming. I think that message comes from housing advocacy groups as a way to prevent any eviction.”
Still, there is an incentive to support homeowners and keep renters in safe housing, Howard said. But finding the solution is difficult. Advocates for rental assistance in the form of direct payments to landlords or payments to tenants intended for rent.
Single-family homes account for half of all rental homes, he said, and most of those homeowners are family owners, many of whom may be operating on very tight margins, depending on rental income to cover costs. of the property and use what is left as income.
“The government is putting property owners in a situation where they are supposed to be a hindrance,” Howard said. “And many will say, ‘I can’t afford to be in this business anymore.’ “
Unable to maintain property
Peter Gray, president of Pyramid Real Estate Group in Stamford, Connecticut, is not only a landlord who collects rent for 30 of his own properties, but also a property manager who maintains and collects rent for other landlords. While only a couple of your own tenants have stopped paying, some of your landlord clients are having trouble paying you.
“We are generally among the last to be stopped paying,” he said. “We are the ones collecting the rent. If they cannot pay their subcontractors, they are suffering.”
If landlords struggle, tenants will also be affected as home maintenance is reduced.
“I see homeowners who can’t afford garbage collection,” Gray said. “We are getting ‘no heat’ calls. They are not paying property taxes. They are not paying their mortgage.”
He said a property managed by his company had a plumbing problem that cost about $ 38,000. The owner did not pay the bill.
“We had to involve a lawyer and tell them that we would no longer do maintenance or repairs,” he said. “We paid $ 38,000 for the repairs and would you like to owe us one?”
For the typical homeowner in trouble, who said is someone who bought their property in the last five years and is leveraged to the hilt, there are no reservations. “Despite the tenant protection laws, these owners do not have the cash reserves or the value of their building to obtain loans,” he said. “With the moratoriums, they are taking hit after hit.”
Some homeowners, he said, are being paid less and see the wear and tear on their property increase as older children or friends double after losing their own home. The routine maintenance that was supposed to take place this year has been delayed or canceled in some cases because the owners simply don’t have the money, Gray said.
“They can legislate the need for timely repairs,” he said. “But for many homeowners, there is no money.”
Gray said he has some non-paying tenants that he cannot evict due to the moratorium. But he has found that most of his tenants are contacting him and doing their best to pay.
“It’s not my style to take the last penny off the table,” he said. “I want my tenants to do well. At the beginning of my career I thought it might have been bad business not to be more aggressive. But it turns out that working with people is good business.”
