Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Vacant Rentals

I have noticed this past month that there are a handful of homes with for rent signs in front that are staying up which makes me wonder if there are too many hoops to jump through for most renters be approved or the monthly rent is too high. Around here a vacant rental, historically, has not stayed vacant long - as in a sign goes up one day and right back down the next.

I definitely understand why the new cottage homes that were just built in Andalusia still have several vacancies. They want proof of 3 times the rent in income for units that cost over $1500/month and most of the folks that need to rent are not making that kind of money here. Lots of jobs locally aren't paying more than $10/hour and if one can even get 40 hours a week, those folks are not even grossing enough to afford rent. Even with a roommate it would still be over half the gross for half the rent for a 2 bedroom unit there.

https://cp.cityofandalusia.com/latest-news/developer-plans-20-rental-houses-at-packer-field.html

And the older generations don't understand why kids are living at home with their parents for so long these days.

We have a lot of empty homes for sale around here too. Folks cant afford them on Lower Alabama wages much less rent them at those prices. The money just aint there. When the newest latest greatest thing to come to Andy in a long time is a sausage factory that moved over from the neighboring county it shows just where things are headed.

There’s a whole lot of pine trees and poverty in the lower 1/3rd of Alabama.
Of course there’s exceptions to that like Fairhope, Gulf Shores etc but for those couple there’s more places like Bullock Co, Macon Co, Washington Co

I think this is becoming more common in all areas. And a lot of these rental homes now are owned by corporations that keeps the rates extremely high

House directly next to me is a rental that’s owned by a local lady.
3/2 1500ish sqft $2,000 per month which means the tenant needs to make $6,000 per month.

It’s been lingering on the market and remains not rented.

Not much profit in vacant rentals

I think too on the buying side, the days of buying with no down payment are gone as well. Hard for folks to find 15-20 percent cash.

Interesting factoid on Bullock Co

“A National Center for Education Statistics report released in January 2009 showed that Bullock County had the highest illiteracy rate in Alabama at 34 percent.”

We got homes in chilton county that are worth less than $50k but currently on the market for $150k and up. There ain’t no way on earth I’m paying that price for a 1200 sqft house on 1/4 acre. I guess I’m a millionaire on paper but everything I own costs money and ain’t making none.

Chicago is not much better than that

We looked pretty hard at buying a 2/2 Condo in the Plantation across the street as a vacation rental, but once I looked at realized returns vs the hassle and the risk it just didn't add up. You really have to have multiples to make it worth the hassle and we just really don't need the money in retirement. We're fixin' to start travelling again. Boho says we ain't been spending enough money.

I'm certainly no expert, because we've just been living down here for one season, but the vacation rental market didn't really seem that it was all that robust this year.

Noticed it was lighter on Lake Martin.

When consumers are getting squeezed, vacations are often downsized or eliminated completely.

Yeah... We have some friends in Birmingham that are those "Salt Life" type people. Yet this year they are only taking one trip to the beach and it's in September.

Investors bought up every house they could get for a while. It did two things. It drove up home prices and helped create a housing shortage. Those homes were listed to rent after a short delay. And the rents are higher than a damned mortgage. My sons neighborhood is almost all 5 yo homes or younger. There are always 3 or 4 up for rent in a very small neighborhood. Even when rented it's vacant again shortly after. And people can't afford those rentals. Not on todays $ and cost of living. Something has to be sacrificed. I predict a trend in the near future. Extended families living in one home. Just to help offset the costs. I'm already seeing it a little bit.

Something is gonna break soon. It has to.

Breakdown by Age Groups
Ages 18–24: About 57% to 58% live at home.
Ages 25–29: Over 20% live with their parents.
Ages 30–34: More than 10% reside in a parent's household.
Ages 25–40 (Working Adults): A LendingTree study using census data found that 11.8% of employed adults aged 25 to 40 live with their parents.
Key Factors Behind the NumbersEmployment: Roughly 70% of the young adults living at home are employed. The trend is driven heavily by housing costs and affordability rather than a lack of jobs.

Deportation is making a dent. We need to deport about 20 million more. Plus every democrat.

I saw this scenario a lot in Marietta just recently when helping my daughter find an apartment. A large complex with multiple apartment buildings. Each building has 12 units of two bedroom apartments. Several buildings are fully rented out to large extended Indian families. I asked the property manager about it at one complex. He said one of the apartments usually serve as a family dining and family room the other apartments are where the people sleep.

So, Outback kinda hit on one of the things I was trying to say. I've responded to medical calls, before retirement, where I went into an apartment and had to be guided to the patient. Messicans, south Amaricans, whatever. There were single mattresses in the floor all the way through the home. Every surface except a walkway. They knocked out walls between apartments to expand. They worked in shifts A bed was shared by 3 different people. So there were between 40 and 60 people staying in the apartments over a 24 hour period. All paying a little rent. The person on the lease was making bank cleaning and feeding them.

I've seen indians and arabs do similar. But not to that degree. Now, if a company knows this is happening, they can charge much higher rents and it won't impact the illegals much. But a kid starting out trying to work their way up in the world, it's kinda hard to do with those rents.

Sounds like Skinny is talking about them renting multiple units so the family could live close together and another for their dining social space? Did I understand correctly?

Yes, you read Skinny's post correct. I was referring to Outbacks as well as Skinny's