Quote:
Originally Posted by turbo6bar
I personally haven't seen weakness. In fact, I'd say the demand for rentals in western TN has grown due to tightened lending. It's been 6-8 months since I've had a vacancy. My tenants are not getting financing to buy a home, so they stay put. I hold the line on rents and try my best to keep 'em happy. I am still not seeing rents rise with inflation, though.
On the other hand, cities with widespread investor/speculator participation are going to crash. I do not know how this will translate into rental rates, but I would not want to be an owner in the hottest bubble zones.
Renters with good credit ratings and solid jobs are in a great position regardless of location.
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Jurgen, I'm glad things are still strong in your neighborhood. I am seeing weakness in my markets, SoCal and Albuquerque. In Albuquerque, even though they are relatively immune from the subprime mess, I am seeing plenty of walking wounded: very bad FICOs, foreclosures, etc. I raised rents about 8-9 months ago, but can see that I won't get away with that again for quite awhile. At least until the current inventory gets absorbed, which could be quite awhile, as the investors get flushed from the market.
In SoCal, there are so many distressed homeowners willing to put anything with a pulse into their primary homes that rents are tanking like crazy. My recent tenants, whom I evicted, received a judgement on, and filed BK had no problem getting into a 4 bedroom rental home for $2800 per month. If you are a renter here in SoCal with good credit, you are golden.