alt Hacker NewsMany valid reasons for a property to be vacant. It may need renovations or repair and that can take a lot longer than 30 days. But maybe there's some time frame that makes sense.
I'm not convinced that commercial ownership is the problem. Or if it is, it's not a new problem. Slumlords have been around forever.
The main problem is we just don't have enough housing supply. Investor-owners can only hold units vacant to support higher rents up to a point. If there are enough vacant units available and enough supply that property values are not appreciating like crazy, someone will crack and cut the rent or sell out so they can get a better return on their money.
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I refuse to buy that argument of availability alone (or hell, any standalone argument) when we have continued reporting of landlords and PE leveraging services like RealPage that are designed to maximize rents and revenue, including by keeping units vacant. Every time I’m driving through a dark city at night, residences and condos devoid of furniture (or using an interior design motif with no signs of life), I’m reminded how many of these are investments by a vacant owner designed to capitalize on lax regulation and lack of supply in in-demand areas. I drive by huge corporate plazas clustered together on high-value land because companies demanded everyone live in the same areas rather than spread out to reduce costs, driving up demand further.
I am unbelievably sick of seeing the symptoms go unaddressed while commenters and armchair economists bicker and debate who is the sole source of blame that must foot the bill. We need action, and we need to be brave enough to be willing to admit this isn’t working for the masses anymore.
I’m unbelievably tired of this cowardly pussy-footing by people who can’t or won’t envision a better future that also doesn’t involve number go up on property forever without further investment.
> If there are enough vacant units available and enough supply that property values are not appreciating like crazy, someone will crack and cut the rent or sell out so they can get a better return on their money.
Your thesis here is disproven in large cities like the one I live in, Miami. Many investors / property owners here don't give a damn on getting a return on their investment so long as it doesn't go to $0 - they buy real estate sight unseen because it's a good way for the well-to-do in LatAm and Russia to get their money out of developing/regressing economies and into the USA. Half the units in the building I live in are vacant - they are owned by Brazilians, Argentines, Venezuelans, etc who want a safe haven for their money (and for Brazilians, as a base to buy loads of Apple products that they can turn around and sell back in Brazil for a 2-3x markup).