I’m encountering a lot of landlord hate on nextdoor. Are you guys seeing the same stuff?
MC, Woodside Plaza
I was renting a house for 29 YEARS! And they told us by law we had 60 days but if we could be out earlier that would help them out. Can you believe that? How thoughtful of them. We paid their 30 year mortgage, then at the last minute they give us the boot. We could stay if we were willing to fork out 3x 1500.00 a month. Greedy landlords know they can get the asking price because of how housing prices have soared since RWC seems to be the new tech city.
DR, Park Forest (no idea where that is… midpen somewhere?)
The Oasis
The people who own the property decided to sell it and make lots of money . They don’t care about landmarks or any business that is enjoyed by so many residents. The Oasis has something many loyal patrons and feed not only the stomachs but the spirit of the community. The property owners care about money. Selling to a developer enriches their bank account.
It’s the entitlement and victim mentalities. People want to blame others for their poor decisions. Those people could have bought and paid off a home in those 29 years. They didn’t and now they want someone to blame, so they can be the victim.
I don’t have a next door account since I moved but I can see the point. Landlords bear the brunt of bad feelings from tenants. Ironically, if the above person hadn’t had below market rents for years they probably wouldn’t feel bad. That’s why its usually best to keep rates just below market rather than letting them lag. Then the person would not be complaining.
Not many rentals in my neighborhood so very little about that. But I saw similar sentiment around Saratoga neighborhoods. It is evil for the landlords to pursue financial gains while the people who complained are purely driven by their own financial interest.
I wonder what this tenant thinks the landlord should do in order not to be considered a greedy bastard. I don’t suppose he expects the landlord to just give him the house. So if the landlord gives him 6 months or maybe 1 year notice then landlord is not a greedy person? Or he expects the landlord to let him continue to stay with below market rent just because he stayed there for 29 years? Whatever the selling price is, the new owner will most likely not let him continue to pay below market rent if the buyer is an investor, so the tenant has to go either way since he is not willing to pay market rent. The whole reason he stayed there for 29 years is because of the current landlord’s willingness to accept below market rent, and now that willingness is withdrawn so tenant is complaining because he is so used to the handout. I wonder what the landlord thinks when he sees the nextdoor message. Should he feel guilty of mistreating the tenant (like every landlord in SF should feel ) or he should feel sorry for himself because he thought he was helping the tenant before?
Personally I would have given the tenant a longer notice if I were the landlord because he’s been there for a long time, but it’s perfectly normal to give just 60 days. Also there might be things that are not mentioned in that post, like maybe an issue between the landlord and tenant that could put strain on the relationship.
Good thoughts there. We also are quite a bit under the market (now only charge around 60% going rent) rents and have been that way for over 15 years. Our tenants are good long-term tenants that only contact us when something major needs help.
I can tell you what I would think–I would be hurt and offended and feel taken advantage of. And I would never do it again.
A couple of us responded to that woman. In particular, many RWC landlords, including mine, are on nextdoor. There’s been a series of landlord-hate posts, and after seeing them, if/when I am ever a landlord, I for one will probably not give people this kind of break, because I would never want to end up realizing how little the tenant actually cared about me and my gift to them. But I’m also worried that my landlady will see this kind of sh*t and raise our rents because clearly renters in RWC are ungrateful bastards.
You guys charge so low below market?
Assuming charging market rent would result in one month vacancy, the min rent should be 100*11/12 = 8% below market.
So 5-10% below is ideal.
Yes, way below market It’s to keep peace in our long, happy marriage since my husband handles the rentals. Now, you can see why I am considering selling in the Bay Area. My husband said after this, he is letting a PM handle all.
there is a compassion factor for long term tenants. They’ve been with you for so long so it’s hard to ask for more. You have to be more business like and think less about your feelings.
you don’t want to bother with the renovation because you know you’re going to have to put in time, effort, and money to doll up the house to find the next tenant. It’s much easier to sit there and keep collecting the lower rent especially if you are already cash flow positive.
Of course none of the above is an excuse if you are good with landlording and keeping on top of things…
The guy was paying $1500. And getting a $3000/m subsidy… Probably always paid below market rent…And is complaining after being subsidized for 29 years…typical renter attitude…Raise your rents every year…They hate you anyway…Might as well treat it like any other business…Provide a fair product at a fair price…
How many other businesses sell their product at 1/3 market rate??
Anything out of whack with the market is bad. A rent which was not increased for many years is an abnormal thing so it can attract unwanted complains.
Sometimes good intention can produce bad outcome. An abnormally low rent gives the tenant a falsified reality, not a good thing for both the landlord and the tenant.
These low rent was mainly the goodwill of the landlord. Imagine what situation it would be if the low rent was caused by rent control.
Redwood city is gentrifying quickly. These landlord hate message is telling us loudly.
Buy RWC ASAP.
$1500 rent could be the market rent 10 years ago in bad RWC neighborhood. Landlord could be elderly and has no understanding of the gentrification speed
) or he should feel sorry for himself because he thought he was helping the tenant before?
It’s to keep peace in our long, happy marriage since my husband handles the rentals. Now, you can see why I am considering selling in the Bay Area. My husband said after this, he is letting a PM handle all.