With all of this talk about mortgagees and landlords in trouble with their banks and facing eviction/foreclosure, has anyone thought about the plight of the lowly renter? As of today, renters make up about 60% of those being evicted and that number is bound to get worse because they are finding it harder and harder to find new digs that are not going into foreclosure. What is the solution? Right now, I cannot think of any except to first, make sure that whomever you are renting or intending to rent from is thoroughly checked out, second try not to give out too much up front money, and finally, try to stick to rental only communites.
There was once a time when I would run a credit/background check on a tenant, but now I find myself doing the same for landlords! What has the world come to? South Florida has so many unscrupulous landlords out there that one has to be careful. Many are actually collecting the rent and pocketing it while the house goes into foreclosure. This is an act of fraud, but first, how many of them care, and second, how many of them are actually being prosecuted? The answer may astound you. Not many. The feds and local governments are so busy trying to clean up the mess they partly created that they don't have any time to worry about the little things.
My solution; get congress or state government to pass a list or bill of renter's rights, including an escrow program for their security money. Yeah, I know, sounds insane, but not half as insane as giving away $800 billion dollars!!
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