Independent: A Rental Housing Story
Cameron Cowan | Knowledge Steward
Not every landlord is a living caricature of the monopoly man. Most landlords don’t sit around drinking scotch and smoking cigars while getting rich off their tenants.
In fact, that is a very rare situation, especially for the independent landlord. It’s not that small property investors don’t make money from providing rental housing, rental investments are a business. However, usually any excess revenue is put back into the building in the form of repairs, roofs, HVAC systems, landscaping, etc.
Independent landlords typically don’t have staff to help them. Some will have a manager and a list of people to call if something goes wrong, maybe.
Rental property owners are not faceless corporations. They live in our communities, shop at the same grocery stores, and send their children and grandchildren to the same schools.
This is the story that few people tell: the reality of the regular landlord.
A quick tour of online blogs and experiences shows that most independent landlords have a few things in common:
They have a regular, full-time job (this is true for the overwhelming majority of our membership)
They tend to take out mortgages to buy the property
They want to be fair and compliant with the rules
They want to provide a good service and have great tenants
If you look around RHAWA events and seminars, they’re filled with everyday folks. A short tour of the cars in the parking lot proves that. Landlords are a group of regular people willing to take a business risk to provide a valuable service and make an investment for themselves and the community.
When a crisis occurs, there are lots of knee jerk policy reactions to try to force the market to do unnatural things or things that put housing providers at a disadvantage. Regulations meant to change the behavior of corporations and major firms end up hitting the small independent landlord the hardest.
One of our newest members, Carol W. has recently joined RHAWA after 40 years of owning property. Like many of our members, her rental properties were her retirement. Both she and her husband were self-employed and bought real estate for their retirement.
Carol recently sold her two Seattle properties because, after almost 40 years of providing quality housing, she felt the new Move-in Fee and First in Time ordinances were simply too onerous and costly.
The buyers? Two families who will not be renting them out.
“I’m disappointed to become villainized,” said Carol. This was a quote from her tenant, “You’re the best landlord I ever had.” When I spoke with her at a recent class she admitted, “I’m selling them with regret. They made good money for us. I keep the bushes trimmed back. I fix the roof and the toilet always flushed.” Carol W. is like so many landlords that are members of our organization.
“I’m committed to the neighborhood and to the neighbors, they are my friends, I know them. I don’t want to have to take the first person that comes along, that’s not good for me or the neighborhood,” she said.
Because of this, Seattle’s rental housing market has been reduced by two single-family homes.
Imagine how many more owners like Carol W. are making the same decisions. This is no longer a conceptual concern, but a real event with real people.
In the eyes of sponsors of the new Seattle rules their impact seem simple and clear. Often they are passed with much fanfare at city council, but they just make it more complicated to run effective rentals for the small time landlord and have unintended consequences for the neighborhoods.
Cintra R. has recently taken over buildings from her aging mother and even with on-site management finds all the rules overwhelming. Her family has been providing housing since the 1940s. Her buildings are older and in the University district. She admits that, “The tenant law, First-In Time, makes it hard because it’s student housing. It’s been a steep learning curve. I’m trying to understand all the laws and make sure that I’m doing everything properly.” As we spoke she shook her head as signed up for another class to learn more about how to run her rental business.
Rental housing has a lot to do with relationships. Housing is a people business. Dealing with people can have its ups and downs, but fundamentally most landlords want a positive relationship with their tenant.
Lynn T. owns a property in Lake Stevens and worries about how many other cities may adopt Seattle’s rules. “When I look at the stuff going on in Seattle I just get overwhelmed. When will it come here?” she wonders. Her son is getting ready to rent out his basement and she is trying to get educated about all the laws for her own property and for her son. “I think the hardest part is that most of us haven’t rented in decades and we just aren’t familiar with the modern rental market.”
These are the stories and people that the Seattle City Council never seems to hear. This is what the Tenants Union, WashCan!, and other renter advocacy groups ignore. No one seems to care about what small independent rental owners and investors go through to provide housing, and despite their ownership of a rental housing asset, they are regular people.
They want to do the right thing and be honest business people. They take time out of their regular jobs to provide this service and do the best job that they can, even in the face of endless antagonism coming from the Seattle City Council.
More and more independent landlords are asking “Why can’t the city represent both sides of the equation rather than consistently siding with renters and working only in their interest? How many productive policies could be created if the City of Seattle would dialogue with us?”
It’s time to help tell the story of landlords just like the people reading this article.
On May 30, RHAWA filed a lawsuit against the Move-in Fees Cap ordinance. RHAWA is working on telling the story of the everyday landlord. We’re also working hard to defend independent landlords from these ever encroaching rules.
If you want to help us tell this story, now would be a great time to donate to the Legal Defense Fund.
City Council elections are also coming and RHAWA is busy screening candidates for endorsements. Political Action Committee donations are also appreciated.
The best way to make your voices are heard is through donating money to these efforts. If our members pull together and support candidates and advocate within government, we can make property investment better for everyone.
For more information about RHAWA please visit: RHAWA.org
