WSJ: The Invasion of the Renters

MrRational

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119033237399734594.html

"Mark Spector was happy with his new neighborhood. Then the renters started moving in."

kpom

Cue spooky music...

Night Of The Living Renter!!!

biliruben

"I have more problems with owners, by far," Ms. Bower says. "They get stubborn."

Home ownership in the U.S. has declined slightly since 2004, when a record 69.2% of households owned their homes, to 68.2% in the second quarter of 2007, according to the Census Bureau. More people who stretched to buy homes have returned to the rental ranks, while others, limited by tightening credit, have delayed jumping into the ownership pool. At the same time, after years of existing apartment buildings being converted into condominiums, the trend is reversing; according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York-based research company, "reversions" -- condo buildings that were turned back into rentals -- outstripped condo conversions in the second quarter of 2007, the first time that has happened since the 1980s. In Baltimore, for example, there have been 1,430 reversions since January, 2006, while only 430 rental units have been converted to condos.

george

I like this line from the article - since I expect it will happen here as well. Property owners won't drop prices right away:

"In another manifestation of the housing slump, thousands of property owners across the country are now renting out homes they cannot sell."

carlislematthew

george wrote:

I like this line from the article - since I expect it will happen here as well. Property owners won't drop prices right away:

"In another manifestation of the housing slump, thousands of property owners across the country are now renting out homes they cannot sell."

It's amazing that people are willing to rent out a house that they "cannot sell" for years. They'll rent it at a loss, eating some of the mortgage every month just so they don't lose money by selling it for less than they bought it for, or less than it is "worth". There is no such thing as a house that cannot sell (unless there is a dead body in it or something). Lower the price, the house will sell. Easy!

I suppose it's easier to bleed money slowly over a few years than to sell at a loss and look like an idiot to your friends who all thought you were some kind of Trumpesque investor.