I guess I'm naive enough to believe that the market still dictates rental rates. If the market wouldn't bear higher rents, the corporate owner would either leave their rent alone or sell the property.
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Or leave the house empty and eventually it becomes a moldering wreck, torn down by the city or filled with squatters, or burns, taking other homes with it.
aug 25, 2025, 4:19 pm • 0 0 • view
I'm sad that I tried to have a thread to discuss ways to improve housing for all, and instead of getting constructive ideas, I get nothing but negativity. Yes houses sitting empty is a potential problem. Surely there is some policy way around that problem?
aug 25, 2025, 4:48 pm • 1 0 • view
It's scattered. My city requests that empty houses be reported, but aside from keeping a list for inspectors to target they don't do much. Once a month the grass is cut, a bill tacked onto the taxes, and that's it. Now and then the disrepair is so bad they'll condemn it, knock it down.
aug 25, 2025, 9:31 pm • 1 0 • view
A few have burned. 2 on my street did, one because a squatter lit a fire in the fireplace, it was blocked. The other is still ?? 14 years after. Out of town landlords don't care. Many cannot be traced, it's an LLC owned by another LLC owned by a holding company - no one to hold responsible.
aug 25, 2025, 9:35 pm • 1 0 • view
When ownership is traced to out of state, collecting on demo costs or forcing repairs is difficult, impossible. So a home that might have been worth fixing sits empty, rots, and is demolished. Allowing cities to take ownership and sell the property would help. Not sure how states look at that.
aug 25, 2025, 9:37 pm • 1 0 • view