Is this Oregon's fault? Looking to hear opinions about Cali!

[Robert C.]

Hey,

I don't know if people caught this little bit of news today: California Rent Stabilization Bills

Thanks for the "great ideas" Oregon! Looks like the state is looking to enact a bunch of rent control measures and our new governor may be on board. I'm curious to hear some feedback from our talented CA investors!

1.) What do you think could get passed?

2.) Assuming some of this gets through, what do you think the market effects might be?

3.) How would you position yourself assuming California enacts statewide rent increase limits?

In the short run, I agree it would be wise for landlords around here to keep their rents close to market. I'm on the fence as to whether this would be detrimental as a state wide measure. Perhaps it could create inefficiencies that will be exploited by smart investors, widening the gap between winners and losers.

[KJ L.]

It's funny that Oregon put rent control in place. One of the major reasons why Oregon's rents were soaring was because of the Californians who moved to Oregon to escape the high housing costs in CA (Austin TX had similar problems). Oregon's rent control isn't terribly suffocating compared to Los Angeles' (and probably SF's) rent control rules. California should know that the reason why CA has high rents is largely because of the extremely expensive and extremely restrictive building process  that was established BY California. So now that their anti-development rules have restricted development to the point of causing skyrocketing rents while more people continue to move to CA, the government wants to force private individuals to partially subsidize for the public so they (the govt officials) can continue to get voted into their positions.  

I'm hoping rent control eventually becomes debated by the Supreme Court. The government should be responsible for subsidizing housing, not private citizens.