Friday, September 28, 2007

I Wanna Be a Landlord (Musical Tribute)



It seems there are plenty of single family home alligator properties.



Meanwhile, rent is seemingly higher than the long-term average can support.

In my opinion, this does not bode well for housing prices.



Just installed a range
In my last flip, ouch
I've got my deed, musty

I've got the banker, on the phone
Wants his momomomomomomomoney, oh no

I wanna be a landlord, and you can be my renter
I wanna be a landlord, and you can be my renter
I wanna be a landlord

Flipping was a side hobby, following my man
He's in the red, can you believe that?
Betting on the condos, played havoc with our cash
Makes me feel quite dirty, though we all do sometimes

I wanna be a landlord, and you can be my renter
I wanna be a landlord, and you can be my renter
I wanna be a landlord

Fiddling much like Nero, leverage overdrive, living in denial
Out on the horizon, I think I might be broke
Bernanke's on the right path (but Greenspan had forked tongue), or not

I wanna be a landlord, and you can be my renter
I wanna be a landlord, and you can be my renter
I wanna be a landlord

Source Data:
Housing Vacancies and Homeownership
Consumer Price Indexes (CPI)

4 comments:

Rob Dawg said...

rent is seemingly higher than the long-term average can support.

Yes. This is exactly why I disposed of all my residential rentals by mid 2006. Even the rent increase expectations won't help much as vaccancy rates will eat any profit at any price point.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Rob Dawg,

I can't help but look at those charts and think that people must have convinced themselves that being a landlord is both easy work and easy money.

Man charged with killing landlord in money dispute
http://www.charlotte.com/205/story/292722.html

Rob Dawg said...

The difference lies in the difference between being a landlord and and a landholder. For some reason the difference was lost in the last few years.

Stagflationary Mark said...

There is also a difference in how we react to rising home prices I think.

In 2004, I first turned stagflationist. It concerned me greatly that the price of hard assets was rising so fast and it reminded me what cheap money can do.

I was talking to a neighbor about it. He was downright giddy that his house was rising in value. From my point of view, my house was not rising in value. It was the exact same house. I didn't feel more "prosperous" but instead felt that my remaining savings could no longer buy as much house.

My house is paid off and I never intend to move. At some point, if the exponential trend were to continue, I'd be forced to sell some of my house (refinance) just to pay for some of my house (property taxes). That sure doesn't feel more prosperous to me.

I feel for the renters most of all though. Our government did them a great disservice in order to prop this economy up. Perhaps it was only temporary though (by the looks of the housing bubble potentially popping).