All Forum Posts by: Nick Kenrick

@Bruce Woodruff I think you raise a valid point - there is certainly a lot of hysteria around the topic. Hysteria is very popular, and validates a lot of people's ineptitude and/or laziness and allows them to dismiss the idea of buying a home as impossibility without thinking critically or creatively.

That said, there are many markets, and I live in one of them, where even if two people are working full time at good jobs they can't really ever even dream of affording that "American Dream" house. I know couples who make combined ~$200k, but the average mortgage payment in most of the South Bay Area is like $8k and lenders won't consider their applications.
Yes, they could move out of state (as many have). Yes, they could lower their standards or find better jobs or start a side hustle or borrow private money to house hack or whatever. But that's the social contract we've come to expect - people willing to put in an honest days work 5+ days a week for 40+ years of their life ought to be able to live the American dream. And if they can't... why work a job at all? Why even live here? 

I think our populace lacks financial savvy, but I also don't think it should be as hard as it is.

 Oh I'm hardly qualified to find a solution. I just don't want to be a part of the problem if I can help it.

@Kelly Asmus, Great point. My investments have all been BRRRRs, I hadn't considered that adding previously unlivable housing stock is what the market needs at the moment. Thanks for your input!

Thanks for that. I did get some good replies, actually some of them were even from you :P

My takeaway is this: If I spend too much of my energy worrying about people who won't help themselves, I'm hurting both them and myself. So long as I'm not being a crappy lazy landlord, and as long as systems are in place to provide good service to my tenants, investing does much more good for local economies than bad.

Didn't mean to virtue signal, but yeah I can see how it gives off those vibes.

Hey man, I don't want any trouble. This isn't a competition. You just came in and assumed I was rich and out of touch just for being born in San Jose. You don't like me, that's fine. Just spare me the vitriol, I'm not trying to prove anything here.

Yes. I paid rent through college and my entire adult life until I closed on my personal residence last year at 30 years old. Given that most of that rent was paid in San Jose, I've probably paid more in rent in my life than both of you combined. I won't deny that I'm privileged, but it hasn't exactly been a cake walk.

I don't mean to offend. You're not wrong - this is in many ways a first world problem. But Silicon Valley has a massive homelessness and affordability crisis. I've seen it first hand too many times and I don't want to cause issues in markets I invest in. This isn't meant to be accusatory or to say that investors are to blame, I'm just trying to do my part.

Hey all, I really appreciate the great discussion and ideas here. There were a lot of great actionable ideas - like considering lease options, rent to own, buying 1 bedroom condos/studios, or even getting into the developing game that I think directly address my concerns.

Ultimately, I've had a lot of hesitancy and I've struggled to discern if it's truly a moral quandary holding me back or if I'm just making excuses to sit on the bench. I think ultimately the points about us doing a better job than the government and being able to give back to our communities better really highlight a lot of the positives that us investors bring. So this helps a lot.

I mentioned these concerns to my cousin once, and he said "it sounds to me like you haven't had a bad tenant yet". He's right. I sometimes have a hard time accepting the reality that not all people are looking to better themselves, and that a lot of people are out there to make a quick buck and don't care who they hurt. If I'm fixing otherwise unusable properties and renting to good people and being decent, I'm doing a lot more good than harm.

Thanks again all.

Hi all,

I've done a little bit of real estate investing - I currently own 3 single family rentals in Indianapolis. I also own my primary residence and plan to convert the garage into a studio. I'm doing fine and see opportunities to grow my portfolio, but the housing affordability crisis has been bothering me lately and has got me questioning if scaling is a morally acceptable thing to do in this climate.

For the longest time, owning a home was the only way for blue collar workers to achieve the American Dream. With interest rates rising and no real decline in demand, it's becoming harder and harder for regular folks to own their own place. And now regular folks who are hoping to afford their own place have to compete with institutional capital and hundreds of out of state individual investors who can afford to take some losses for long-term appreciation plays.

It's just gotten harder and harder for the little guy and I'm wondering - is there more we as real-estate investors should be doing to help? Are we partly to blame? Or are my concerns overblown?

Thanks in advance.

@Account Closed I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping to attend the local meetup on December 7th, in what looks like East SJ. Are you going to be at that one? Would love to meet up! Thanks!